Sway, the i3-compatible Wayland compositor built on wlroots, has reached version 1.12 with HDR10 rendering support, individual window capture, and five newly adopted Wayland protocols. The release also removes the hard block on unsupported GPU drivers, introduces a default configuration with media key bindings, and formally supports display manager startup.
The headline feature is HDR10 support when using Sway's Vulkan renderer. HDR10 is the most widely adopted open HDR format, enabling wider color gamuts and extended luminance ranges on compatible displays. A new --device-primaries flag lets the compositor pull color primaries directly from a monitor's EDID data, improving color accuracy for users working with calibrated panels. HDR functionality requires a Vulkan-capable GPU stack and an HDR-certified display — it is not automatic on all hardware.
Sway 1.12 adopts five new Wayland protocols: color-management-v1, color-representation-v1, xdg-toplevel-tag-v1, ext-workspace-v1, and wl_fixes. The color management protocols pair with the HDR10 additions to give applications finer control over output color spaces. The workspace and toplevel tagging protocols improve how compositors organize and label windows across multiple outputs — a meaningful upgrade for developers running complex multi-monitor setups.
Other additions include support for capturing individual windows during screen sharing, handling for keypad slide switches, and a shipped default configuration file pre-wired with playerctl key bindings for media control. The compositor also no longer refuses to launch on systems with unsupported GPU drivers such as NVIDIA's proprietary stack, instead displaying a warning and continuing startup. Display managers are now officially recognized as a supported method for starting Sway sessions.
The wlroots foundation continues to serve Sway well, keeping the codebase lean while surfacing upstream graphics improvements across the Wayland ecosystem. By sharing display and protocol handling with other compositors, the project avoids duplicating work and can adopt new specifications as they stabilize.
Users upgrading should review the release notes for protocol identifiers and any configuration adjustments. Those enabling HDR10 will need to confirm their GPU driver exposes the required Vulkan extensions and may need to set output parameters in their Sway config. The full release is available on GitHub.
Sway 是一款建基於 wlroots 且與 i3 兼容的 Wayland compositor，現已推出 1.12 版本，支援 HDR10 渲染、獨立視窗擷取功能，以及五項新採納的 Wayland protocols。是次發布同時移除了對不支援 GPU drivers 的強制限制，引入附帶媒體按鍵綁定的預設配置，並正式支援透過 display manager 啟動。
是次更新的重點為 HDR10 支援，該功能於使用 Sway 的 Vulkan renderer 時可用。HDR10 是現時最廣泛採用的開放 HDR 格式，可在兼容的顯示器上實現更廣闊的色域及擴展亮度範圍。新增的 --device-primaries 指令讓 compositor 可從顯示器的 EDID 資料直接讀取 color primaries，為使用校準面板的用戶提升色彩準確度。HDR 功能必須配合支援 Vulkan 的 GPU stack 及通過 HDR 認證的顯示器方可使用，並非所有硬件均可自動啟用。
Sway 1.12 採納了五項新的 Wayland protocols：color-management-v1、color-representation-v1、xdg-toplevel-tag-v1、ext-workspace-v1 及 wl_fixes。色彩管理 protocols 與 HDR10 新增功能相輔相成，讓應用程式可更精細地控制輸出色彩空間。workspace 及 toplevel tagging protocols 則改善 compositor 如何在多個 outputs 之間組織及標記視窗——對於運行複雜多螢幕設置的開發人員而言，這是一項重要的升級。
其他新增功能包括在螢幕分享時擷取獨立視窗的支援、keypad slide switches 的處理，以及隨附的預設配置檔案（已預設綁定 playerctl 按鍵以控制媒體播放）。compositor 現不再拒絕在配備不支援 GPU drivers（如 NVIDIA 專有 stack）的系統上啟動，改為顯示警告並繼續啟動程序。display managers 現已正式獲認可為啟動 Sway sessions 的支援方法。
wlroots 基礎繼續為 Sway 提供強大支援，保持代碼庫精簡的同時，將 Wayland 生態系統中的上游圖形改進引入項目。透過與其他 compositors 共享顯示及 protocol 處理，項目避免了重複工作，並能在新規範穩定後迅速採納。
升級用戶應參閱 release notes 以了解 protocol identifiers 及任何配置調整。啟用 HDR10 的用戶需確認其 GPU driver 已公開所需的 Vulkan extensions，並可能需要在 Sway config 中設置輸出參數。完整發布版本可於 GitHub 下載。