KDE turns 30 with Plasma 6.8, but the X11 session isn't invited

KDE has published the second and final beta of Plasma 6.8, the release that ends the desktop's X11 session. Barring delays, the finished version is scheduled for October 14, the project's 30th anniversary.

The X11 session bows out

From 6.8 onward the desktop itself runs on Wayland, and X11 applications keep working through XWayland. Plasma 6.7 still shipped the X11 session as an optional installation. The beta also continues the public preview of the Union theme engine, which can now style QtWidgets applications such as Dolphin and Kate, though KDE describes that support as preliminary. The revived Oxygen theme is being polished further, and developers have already begun landing changes for Plasma 6.9.

Klassik rebuilds KDE 3

A separate project called Klassik recreates the KDE 3 desktop on modern foundations. It is neither a fork nor a port: it rebuilds that era's look and behaviour inside Plasma 6 using Qt 6, Qt Quick and KDE Frameworks 6, with support for Wayland and fractional scaling. The project reimplements the early-2000s panel, K Menu, Quicklaunch, Task Manager, the lock and logout buttons and the old clock. KDE 3.0 appeared in April 2002 and the series ended with KDE 3.5.10 in August 2008.

Four forks for older tastes

Klassik is not the only attempt to preserve an earlier KDE experience. The oldest is Trinity Desktop Environment, which maintains its own fork of Qt 3 called TQt; its latest release, version 14.1.6, arrived in April and is already available for 14 distributions. Sonic desktop, a younger fork, keeps its own KWin derivative, Sonic-win, with X11 support. MiDesktop reaches further back, reworking KDE 1.1.2 on the Osiris toolkit. Katana, built from KDE 4, shows no commits or releases in the past three years.

A documentary for the anniversary

KDE's 30th-anniversary programme includes a feature-length documentary about the project from Irish video producer Cult.Repo, and a trailer is already online. The milestone falls on the same day the new release is expected.