Canonical Announces Mir Display Server
New X replacement will support the Unity desktop in future Ubuntu releases.
Canonical has announced development of a new open source display server called Mir. This server is intended as "a replacement for the X Window server system to unlock next-generation user experiences for devices ranging from Linux desktop to mobile devices powered by Ubuntu."
According to the Mir spec page, the purpose of Mir is to enable the development of the next generation Unity and, contrary to some previous speculation, it will not be based upon the Wayland display server and protocol, which has received attention recently as a possible X replacement.
The Mir specification page gives three principal reasons why Canonical wants to replace the venerable X Window, which has served the Linux and Unix communities for 30 years:
- X Window shares too much system state across process boundaries.
- The complexity of X Window leaves room for applications to spoof input events they don't own.
- The compositor hierarchy ends on the session level. (The graphical shell starts after boot, with no ingrataion of the shell from boot time).
Canonical's grand vision of a single platform for mobile and desktop systems has already led to the development of the homegrown Unity desktop; Mir now takes that integration down deeper into the system.
The roadmap states that, by May 2013, the project intends to integrate "Unity Next with Mir and provide enough facility to start iterating the actual shell development, providing developers with a solid platform and designers with means for rapid prototyping." By October 2013, Unity Next and Mir window management should be completely integrated to support an Ubuntu Phone product. According to the spec, the developers want to fully replace X in user sessions and provide a legacy mode to support X clients. By April 2014, they plan to achieve "complete convergence across the form factors."
The Mir project will produce the libmir-server and libmir-client libraries.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
![Learn More](https://www.linux-magazine.com/var/linux_magazin/storage/images/media/linux-magazine-eng-us/images/misc/learn-more/834592-1-eng-US/Learn-More_medium.png)
News
-
Debian 12.6 Released with Plenty of Bug Fixes and Updates
The sixth update to Debian "Bookworm" is all about security mitigations and making adjustments for some "serious problems."
-
Canonical Offers 12-Year LTS for Open Source Docker Images
Canonical is expanding its LTS offering to reach beyond the DEB packages with a new distro-less Docker image.
-
Plasma Desktop 6.1 Released with Several Enhancements
If you're a fan of Plasma Desktop, you should be excited about this new point release.
-
SUSE Offers CentOS 7 Support with Liberty Linux Lite
SUSE's Liberty Linux support offering now includes CentOS 7, which means businesses won't be forced to migrate those servers for some time.
-
Ubuntu's App Center Finally Supports Local Installs Again
If you regularly download .deb files and would prefer a GUI method of installing, Ubuntu has your back.
-
AlmaLinux Now Supports Raspberry Pi 5
If you're looking to create with the Raspberry Pi 5 and want to use AlmaLinux as your OS, you're in luck because it's now possible.
-
Kubuntu Focus Releases New Iterations of Ir14 and Ir16 Laptops
If you're a fan of the Kubuntu Focus laptops or have been waiting for the right time to purchase one, that time might be now.
-
NixOS 24.05 Is Ready for Prime Time
The latest release of NixOS (Uakari) has arrived and offers its usual reproducible, declarative, and reliable goodness.
-
Linux Lite 7.0 Officially Released
Based on Ubuntu 24.04 and kernel 6.8, Linux Lite version 7 now offers more options than ever.
-
KaOS Linux 2024.05 Adds Bcachfs Support and More
With updates all around, KaOS Linux now includes support for the bcachefs file system.