# Wayback

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/wayback/

6 people recommended Wayback in Hacker News comments and none criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 12 months, in 4 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Runs X11 window managers and desktops on top of Wayland, keeping X11 desktops supported; people see it as a better investment than an X11 fork.

Summary written by Claude from 6 comments.

## Why people recommend it

- Keeps X11 desktops supported (2 comments in the sample): "For those who actually care about X11 DEs being kept supported, there's" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46106704)) "there's always https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/wayback/wayback for that" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46399585))
- No compatibility break with X11 (2 comments in the sample): "It is a different X11 server implementation that uses Wayland under the hood, and is enough to run your WM." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46059161)) "Best of both worlds, no compat break." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46455701))

## Other compatibility layers people recommend

- [Proton by Valve](https://hackerapproved.com/p/proton/): 328 recommend, 39 mixed, 34 criticize
- [Wine](https://hackerapproved.com/p/wine/): 257 recommend, 61 mixed, 74 criticize
- [Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/windows-subsystem-for-linux/): 116 recommend, 36 mixed, 83 criticize
- [WSL2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/wsl2/): 84 recommend, 23 mixed, 51 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Wayback", https://hackerapproved.com/p/wayback/ (6 recommend, 0 mixed, 0 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.