25 Jul 2014

Wayland protocol design: object lifespan

Now that we have a few years of experience with the Wayland protocol, I thought I would put some of my observations in writing. This, what will hopefully become a series rather than just one post, considers how to design Wayland protocol extensions the right way.

This first post considers protocol object lifespan and the related races between the compositor/server and the client. I assume that the reader is already aware of the Wayland protocol basics. If not, I suggest reading Chapter 4. Wayland Protocol and Model of Operation.