KDE's Plasma 6.8 no longer lets users start a new X11 session, ending native support for the 42-year-old display protocol on one of Linux's major desktops.
The project released the update on October 14, the 30th anniversary of KDE, and called it the "30th Anniversary Edition." KDE also debuted a movie to mark the date. Plasma now relies fully on Wayland, the newer system that draws windows and handles input. Legacy X11 apps will keep working through XWayland, a compatibility layer that runs them inside a Wayland session. KDE's own applications will also keep supporting X11 when run under other desktop environments. Anyone who stays on Plasma 6.7 will keep their existing sessions.
The release is not only a removal. Plasma 6.8 adds better support for window decorations such as shadows and rounded corners on third-party apps, along with a more streamlined Union theming system. Nvidia triple buffering, a technique that can smooth frame delivery, is now on by default. The Kup backup utility is integrated into Plasma, and a new command-line tool, kscreenctl, lets power users adjust display configurations.
The move was expected. GNOME dropped X11 sessions by default in 2025, so the two best-known Linux desktops have now both turned away from it, and the Wayland shift looks settled rather than contested.
The break is at the session level, not the application level. Most people will notice it only if they depend on a workflow that needs a true X11 session, and for them the options are Plasma 6.7 or another desktop environment, where KDE's apps still run on X11.