It's based on X11, unfortunately. I've fully transitioned to Wayland based deskt...

andydotxyz · 2025-10-03T13:19:45 1759497585

Plans shifted due to external factors - the next release will be X11 but after that (later this year) work begins on the Wayland transition.

Ideally we will support both through the transition but unclear at this time.

hu3 · 2025-10-03T12:17:13 1759493833

> You can expect work (on Wayland) to begin on that after the upcoming major release. We are waiting on a fix in an upstream library.

from the Author

shrubble · 2025-10-03T12:31:14 1759494674

I was under the impression that there’s a seamless compatibility layer for running X11 under Wayland?

eadmund · 2025-10-03T15:39:31 1759505971

Nope, while it is possible to run normal X11 apps under Wayland, there is no support for running X11 window managers.

Which is a damn shame, because window managers are where some of the greatest innovation is happening.

em-bee · 2025-10-04T19:27:30 1759606050

X11 window managers are replaced by wayland compositors. they are more complex, but multiple alternatives already exist.

eadmund · 2025-10-06T08:25:34 1759739134

Sure, but those are not backwards-compatible. If Wayland let me run my existing window manager then I would be glad to try it out.

em-bee · 2025-10-06T18:12:35 1759774355

i am responding to "window managers are where some of the greatest innovation is happening"

innovation is happening with compositors too.

dijit · 2025-10-03T12:32:53 1759494773

Xwayland exists, but you need a compositor to be running to encapsulate the Xwayland container.

aboardRat4 · 2025-10-03T14:29:51 1759501791

Wayland is a dead end. It will never replace X11 because it's architecture is fundamentally flawed and prone to lags by design.

It's support for CJK input is also basically broken with no chance of ever getting revived.

Our best bet on a solid Linux gui lies with XLibre.

However, saying that, a gui written in Go has very little reason to exist, because we already have excellent GUIs written in lower-level languages.

If there is anything Linux doesn't lack it it's desktops.

andydotxyz · 2025-10-03T14:38:47 1759502327

If you want to code everything in low level languages feel free. I guess assemblers still work well or you can just list machine code.

For those who want a fast to learn and use higher level language for this Go is a great tool and there are great projects out there. Two of them in the top 10 for all cross platform beating out a lot of other languages (no presence of GTK or Qt up that high... https://ossinsight.io/collections/cross-platform-gui-tool/)

aboardRat4 · 2025-10-04T05:51:20 1759557080

>For those who want a fast to learn

Why would I want something "fast to learn"? That sounds like one of the most ridiculous arguments when choosing a tool to master ever. On the level of "I chose this university because it was walking distance from home".

I'm choosing a tool I'm going to be using for the next 40 to 50 years. Whether it takes a month or a year to learn makes no difference whatever.

I want a tool language which is widely portable, so that I could run my programs without rewriting them on as many machines I own as possible.

I also want them to run as fast, as possible, because I want to run many useful programs on moderate hardware.

I want to be able to use as many libraries and external utilities as possible, because nobody knows when I might need them.

It should also work without internet, because who knows when exactly the government is going to cut the wire.

These core features are what I b would not even consider a language at all. The rest is bells and whistles. Nice to have, but completely optional.

>Two of them in the top 10 for all cross platform

I've never heard about any libraries from that list. In any case they seem like tools to write webpages, not tools to write desktop software.

LollipopYakuza · 2025-10-03T16:56:35 1759510595

I would argue that regardless of Go is low-level, for something as fundamental as a desktop environement, a lower level language makes sense.

andydotxyz · 2025-10-03T18:39:29 1759516769

I guess that's an interesting opinion to have. Is this based on having built your own desktop environment or some other project that led you to this conclusion?

For me I prefer higher level code and tooling wherever possible. Building this has been blazingly fast compared to previous window managers I have worked on.

em-bee · 2025-10-04T21:01:29 1759611689

I prefer higher level code and tooling wherever possible

exactly this.

go actually strikes a balance of being one of the few high level languages that can compile directly to binary. there are not many languages that can do that. common lisp, erlang, o'caml and maybe red are a few others that i am aware of. there are probably a few more that are less popular that i don't know.

for me high level implies at least automatic memory management and high level data types.

cozzyd · 2025-10-04T13:39:57 1759585197

I mean much of gnome shell is written in JavaScript. But of course GTK is C.

Does Fyne have bindings to other languages? A search for fyne python gave some hilarious AI slop from Gemini suggesting pip install fyne, but the fyne python package is something completely different and unrelated. The nice thing about GTK is it can be used from virtually any language (QT a bit less so but still a lot)

andydotxyz · 2025-10-06T16:20:17 1759767617

No. Fyne does not have any bindings and never will in the official project. The API is designed to work perfectly with the Go idioms and using it from any other language will be no where near as intuitive. Not to mention it would slow down the developers of the toolkit as well!

cozzyd · 2025-10-04T13:14:32 1759583672

The metrics on that ranking are super questionable. Not least of which because gtk and QT are not developed on GitHub.

vhantz · 2025-10-03T19:04:44 1759518284

This takes forever to load.

kannonfodder555 · 2025-10-04T14:56:47 1759589807

First of all cool concept. I'm looking forward to playing with the DE even if it doesn't replace my daily DE. In my experience, extending an existing project in Go is much faster than lower level languages. The opinionated build and dependency system can seem limiting but really helps one get up to speed quickly on a new project. Just setting up a build environment for a low level language based project can be enough of a hassle/time sink to dissuade me from attempting with a quick toy project.

antonvs · 2025-10-03T16:55:00 1759510500

> However, saying that, a gui written in Go has very little reason to exist, because we already have excellent GUIs written in lower-level languages.

You say that as if it's a good thing. The fact that our platforms depend on C and C++ is not a feature, it's a bug.

hyperbolablabla · 2025-10-03T17:02:48 1759510968

I really dislike the way xdg-desktop-portal works though. Ive been totally unsuccessful trying to implement colour picking in Arch/Hyprland with it. The API is absolutely abysmal

hsbauauvhabzb · 2025-10-03T11:01:56 1759489316

Your comment seems very entitled.

When it’s ready, and faster if you help.

dang · 2025-10-13T18:27:01 1760380021

No doubt it could be read that way, but this is where the following site guideline (from https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html) is helpful: "Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."

Clearly there are stronger plausible interpretations of the GP. Following that guideline tends to prevent getting caught in snags like this little subthread, making discussion more enjoyable for everyone.

(I don't mean this as a criticism! it's just a nice case to comment on because it's particularly clear.)

SpaceNugget · 2025-10-03T11:33:08 1759491188

It's not entitled to not want to try out some new thing if it has major drawbacks over what you are already successfully using.

If someone randomly comes up to you and offers you an apple with a rotten spot and you say "No thanks, there's a big rotten spot" would you expect them to scold you for being entitled and looking a gift horse in the mouth? _They_ came up to _you_ offering an apple!

hsbauauvhabzb · 2025-10-03T11:46:53 1759492013

Nobody came up to them though, they opened a hn article that wasn’t posted _for them_, decided the product isn’t for them, which is fine, but then decided to post about how it’s not for them. The project maintainer didn’t ask if the project suited gp, nobody did.

rootlocus · 2025-10-03T11:59:43 1759492783

Nobody asked anyone anything. It's a post with people sharing thoughts. You don't even know if the maintainer is the same person as the author. As far as feedback goes, if the comment gets enough upvotes it shows a significant number of people share the sentiment, and would be something for the maintainer to consider if he wants a broader audience. Nobody expects the maintainer to respond or care though.

hsbauauvhabzb · 2025-10-03T22:09:41 1759529381

That’s like me abruptly telling you I don’t like the way you dress or the shape of your body. Unless you ask, it’s an unwelcome comment.

em-bee · 2025-10-04T19:37:19 1759606639

actually, it's more like you are selling clothes, and i don't like the style, and i am telling you which style i'd like to buy.

you don't have to produce my style, and i don't have to buy your clothes, but it's good to talk about our preferences so you have a better idea of the potential market.