Canonical upgrades gdm3 package so Ubuntu 24.10 users with Nvidia chips default to Wayland

In May, Neowin reported that Canonical wanted to switch on Wayland as the default display server for Nvidia users. Now, Canonical’s Daniel van Vugt has updated the gdm3 package for Ubuntu so that people with an Nvidia card will use Wayland by default.

The enablement of Wayland on Nvidia systems comes following improvements to the proprietary Nvidia driver. With this change to Wayland, Nvidia users will benefit from smoother performance, enhanced security, less screen tearing, and better support for display enhancements like HDR. Behind the scenes, Wayland has a simpler codebase, which makes it easier to maintain, so fewer bugs should crop up.

The exact patch notes read the following:

“Remove the Ubuntu-specific rules that made Xorg the default for Nvidia. Updated Revert-data-Disable-GDM-on-hybrid-graphics-laptops-with-v.patch to ensure Nvidia 5xx drivers always get Wayland as the default unless there's a stronger reason why it won't work (like modeset has been disabled on the kernel command line). Also refresh the patch description with a more recent justification.”

The good thing about switching on Wayland for Nvidia users in 24.10 is that it can be tested in the real world over several Ubuntu releases before Ubuntu 26.04 LTS drops. Most production machines will be running the more stable long-term releases as they’re supported for longer, and it’d be bad to introduce a potentially buggy Wayland experience in one of those releases; by introducing it in October, Canonical has 18 months to polish it up.

In other Ubuntu news, if you are still rocking Ubuntu 23.10, you really need to think about upgrading to Ubuntu 24.04 LTS soon. Neowin reported earlier this month that 23.10 would be reaching the end of life on July 11, so it won’t get any more security updates, leaving systems potentially vulnerable to exploits and other security issues.

Source: Launchpad via Phoronix

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