With the operating system Raspbian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm) it is possibile to choose between the traditional X11 graphical backend and the new Wayland. With X11 you can use only the Openbox window manager, while in Wayland you can choose Wayfire or the Labwc window manager.

Start the raspi-config and navigate the Advanced Options ⇒ Wayland to make your choice.

If you are using the default LightDM desktop manager, the settings are saved into /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf. Here are the entries for Wayland Wayfire and Labwc respectively:

greeter-session=pi-greeter-wayfire
user-session=LXDE-pi-wayfire
autologin-session=LXDE-pi-wayfire
fallback-test=/usr/bin/xfallback.sh
fallback-session=LXDE-pi-x
fallback-greeter=pi-greeter

greeter-session=pi-greeter-labwc
user-session=LXDE-pi-labwc
autologin-session=LXDE-pi-labwc
#fallback-test=
#fallback-session=
#fallback-greeter=

From a terminal running in the graphical environment:

set | grep XDG_SESSION
XDG_SESSION_CLASS=user
XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP=LXDE-pi-x
XDG_SESSION_ID=1
XDG_SESSION_PATH=/org/freedesktop/DisplayManager/Session0
XDG_SESSION_TYPE=x11

the output for a Wayland Labwc session:

set | grep XDG_SESSION
XDG_SESSION_CLASS=user
XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP=LXDE-pi-labwc
XDG_SESSION_ID=1
XDG_SESSION_PATH=/org/freedesktop/DisplayManager/Session0
XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland

You can also check the running processes:

ps uax | grep labwc
pi   786  3.3  7.6 287268 72252 ?   Ss   11:00   0:11 /usr/bin/labwc -m

On my Raspberry Pi there is a problem which prevents Wayland Wayfire from starting. Fortunately enough the raspi-config added into the etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf configuration file the fallback-session option, which launches the legacy X11. I discovered it because I installed the hide-cursor Wayfire plugin, but the plugin did not work. Actually the entire Wayfire was not running! How to get the Wayfire running. ===== Starting the Wayland backend manually ===== First of all you have to stop the running graphical environment. Stopping the LigthDM desktop manager will close the graphical screen on VT#7: <code> sudo systemctl stop lightdm.service </code> Then, as the unprivileged user, you can run the commad <code> wayfire-pi </code> or <code> labwc-pi </code> This can be useful to capture stdout and stderr** messages from the window manager.