If Nate thinks that wayland only on Plasma 6 is the way to go then I feel like we as a user should trust him.

Well... that is not what he is saying. X11 will be supported for a long time still. In fact KDE has not even set a deadline for ending support for X11^*^. It will definitely not end with the release of Plasma 6.

The point is that not adapting software to Wayland is a mistake. It may be a pain, but X11 is virtually abandonware. The developers have moved on (to Wayland) and there are no new versions coming out -- unless someone forks it, of course, but that would probably be another mistake, as the codebase is an unsustainable mess.

This implies that, yes, when most software projects have got their applications working on Wayland, X11 will be phased out as a platform Plasma works on, but there is no date for that yet.

-- ^*^ Other projects are less coy. Fedora is considering removing support X11 from their very soon, maybe in their next releases. This is what sparked the discussion. Not KDE.

The risk existed but did it plague X11?

Yes, and it still does. Practically every X11 installation is vulnerable.

(If you're nitpicking my use of the word plagued, though, note that I am talking about the vulnerability, not the exploit.)

I never heard about any app logging keystrokes and sending theme somewhere.

That's because of a variety of external factors, including:

• X11 desktops aren't common enough to be priority malware targets, yet.
• People who run only open-source software typically get it from trustworthy channels, like their OS distro's package repository.
• Devices likely to attract malware, such as game consoles and mobile phones, have avoided X11. (Android phones and Steam Deck are examples.) This is no accident; lack of app isolation was a factor in that decision.

I don’t think normal uses had to worry about it.

We've been lucky so far, in that our circumstances have kept us mostly safe. However: Linux malware is on the rise. Commercial games, both on their own and through anti-cheat systems, are making opaque software more common on our desktops. Flathub is working on paid apps, which could likewise create malware opportunities that weren't there before. The Epic Game Store has already been caught collecting data from other apps, so the intent is clearly present already.

It's generally just a matter of time before exploitable systems become exploited systems. We would do well to close the door on unauthorized key logging, clipboard snooping, screen scraping, and input injection.

this!)