This major change won’t affect existing EndeavourOS users as they will be able to continue enjoying the Arch Linux-based distro with their favorite desktop environment. On the other hand, the devs removed the Sway, Qtile, BSPWM, Openbox, and Worm community editions from the Calamares installer as there’s no one left to maintain them.
May also be relevant to some users.
The devs explain the switch from Xfce to KDE Plasma as a way to make EndeavourOS development and maintenance easier for them as they have a more native experience with the Calamares installer.
Could someone explain to me why the Calamares installer would have to do with them deciding on KDE over XFCE?
Probably to drop support for xorg. Plasma 6 is going to be wayland by default, while xfce is slow when it comes to wayland adoption
Calamares uses the QML / Qt toolkit. Most of the people involved in Calamares are also involved in the KDE Project.
XFCE use the GTK toolkit.
So, it is totally reasonable to say that KDE is “more native”.
While Wayland maybe a factor, KDE itself will not be fully Wayland compatible until Plasma 6 next year. So that does not really explain the timing of this move.
I use XFCE myself so I am a bit nervous about the change. We will see.