topic Using Alternative Wayland Compositors on i.MX8MP in i.MX Processors

Using Alternative Wayland Compositors on i.MX8MP

pratham_malaviya — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 09:55:49 GMT

We are considering using the i.MX8MP for one of our multimedia products. For this, we require a Wayland compositor with behavior different from Weston.

I came across a Yocto meta layer that supports other compositors such as Hyprland and Labwc (https://codeberg.org/flk/meta-wayland).

My question is:
Is it possible to use a compositor other than Weston on the i.MX8MP?
If so, what potential issues or limitations should we expect, and are there any specific features that might be challenging to implement or support?

Thanks and Regards,

Pratham

Re: Using Alternative Wayland Compositors on i.MX8MP

Bio_TICFSL — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 14:18:19 GMT

Hello,

While Weston is the recommended Wayland compositor for i.MX8, alternative options like Sway and other wlroots-based compositors are possible with extra effort and potential challenges. It's crucial to weigh the benefits of these alternatives against the potential difficulties they might introduce. This are not supported by nxp, but alternatively :

Sway: A tiling window manager based on wlroots, known for being a near drop-in replacement for i3 (an X11 window manager).

Other wlroots-based compositors: Compositors like Wayfire, River, and DWL are also based on wlroots and might be considered, though they require more effort to set up.
Hyprland: Another tiling Wayland compositor with a focus on dynamic tiling

Regards

Re: Using Alternative Wayland Compositors on i.MX8MP

pratham_malaviya — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 14:31:17 GMT

Hi @Bio_TICFSL ,

Thanks for the response, But I am worried about people facing issues in GLES3 and GLFW by using wlroots based compositors on IMX8MP as dicussed in the threads given below,

issue-1 : https://community.nxp.com/t5/i-MX-Processors/GLFW-Vulkan-applications-crash-on-imx8mp-with-wlroots-based-WM/m-p/1572600

issue-2: https://community.nxp.com/t5/i-MX-Processors/glfw-apps-crash-when-used-with-wlroots-based-compositor/m-p/1496531

issue-3: https://community.toradex.com/t/opengl-not-working-on-wlroots-based-compositor/18238

Could you please confirm whether these issues have been addressed / resolved in the Scarthgap BSP?

Best Regards,

Pratham