Yes, that attempt has been discarded in favor of building a compositor based on smithay.
You can read about the details of decision here:
https://alexxcons.github.io/blogpost_15.html
RE: https://floss.social/@xfce/115970296452344995
A short update for March 2026.
We are continuing to actively fundraise for financial support to develop a Wayland compositor for Xfce(xfwl4).
In the month of February, we have received 52 donations (Xfce: $419.61 & Xfce(EU): β¬634.10).
To date, we have paid out $15,050 for work completed on xfwl4.
Thanks again for your generous support and ongoing donations. We are grateful for your commitment to help improve Xfce.
Replacing labwc with xfwl4 would be the goal, yes.
Whether that happens with the upcoming 4.22 release, or not, is still TBD.
We'll have a much clearer plan & roadmap after the 1st development release of Xfwl4 (expected to be sometime mid-2026).
Xfce's Wayland Transition: The xfwl4 FAQ
Xfce lance xfwl4 : Le futur compositeur Wayland
Xfce startet Entwicklung eines nativen Wayland-Compositors
A FAQ page is now available regarding the work Xfce/Brian is doing to build Xfwl4, an Xfce Wayland Compositor:
Traditionally, #Xfce is newsworthy perhaps once every other year.
It's part of the reason I've been using it for 20+ years and volunteering with the project for...um *cough* 13+(!) years. Quiet, stable, predicatble. Boring, even. I prefer that in my Desktop Environment.
It's not even the end of January and we've already had one big announcement with #Xfwl4 and there are probably two more on the way this year:
1. The initial development release of Xfwl4 sometime mid-year.
2. The probable release of Xfce4 4.22 in December(Our release roadmap still needs to be updated, real soon now).
I hope that I handle this much Xfce excitement this year. π€£ π
Kevin Bowen 
Xfce
jloc0
hbrpgm
Marcel SIneM(S)US