XWAYLAND MARKS THE SPOT
Backward compatibility is always a good thing when migrating away from a fundamental part of your operating system, which is where XWayland comes in.
Legacy programs will only support the X windowing system, and XWayland provides Wayland with an X Server to facilitate them. The good news is that XWayland is installed alongside Wayland by default, so it’s just there, ready to provide you with X Server support when you need it, which covers most games.
Better still, you only need know that XWayland exists, and there’s no configuration involved. You needn’t worry about performance, either. Benchmarks indicate that performance in Wayland is virtually identical (except with Nvidia drivers, hence the block).
To find out if an open window is using Wayland or XWayland, launch xeyes from the Terminal. Roll your mouse over an open window—the eyes will only move if that window is using XWayland.
XWayland isn’t a perfect workaround. You may encounter specific issues with certain programs, such as those trying to do things that fall foul of Wayland’s security settings.
There may be some outstanding performance issues too, for example, where input events are tied to your monitor’s refresh rate. This can cause problems with mouse movement and clicks.