Module smithay_client_toolkit::shell

Shell abstractions

A shell describes a set of wayland protocol extensions which define the capabilities of a surface and how the surface is displayed.

Cross desktop group (XDG) shell

The XDG shell describes the semantics of desktop application windows.

The XDG shell defines two types of surfaces:

• Window - An application window¹.
• Popup - A child surface positioned relative to a window.

Why use the XDG shell

The XDG shell is the primary protocol through which application windows are created. You can be near certain every desktop compositor will implement this shell so that applications may create windows.

See the XDG shell module documentation for more information about creating application windows.

Layer shell

The layer shell is a protocol which allows the creation of “layers”. A layer refers to a surface rendered at some specific z-depth relative to other layers. A layer may also be anchored to some edge and corner of the screen.

The layer shell defines one type of surface: the wlr_layer::LayerSurface.

There is no guarantee that the layer shell will be available in every compositor.

Why use the layer shell

The layer shell may be used to implement many desktop shell components, such as backgrounds, docks and launchers.

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1. The XDG shell protocol actually refers to a window as a toplevel surface, but we use the more familiar term “window” for the sake of clarity. ↩

Modules

• wlr_layer
• xdg
  Cross desktop group (XDG) shell

Structs

• Unsupported
  An unsupported operation, often due to the version of the protocol.

Traits

• WaylandSurface
  Functionality shared by all wl_surface::WlSurface backed shell role objects.