NeoWall v0.4.5

NeoWall 0.4.5

GPU-accelerated live shader wallpapers for Wayland & X11.

Changes

• Add binary builds to release workflow
• Bump version to 0.4.5
• Fix OpenGL 3.3 Core compatibility for transitions
• Get rid of shitty readme (#34)
• Get rid of shitty readme (#33)
• Add train shake and optimize wires
• Add multipass optimizer with smart per-buffer resolution, half-rate updates, and synchronized optimization modes
• Add pass type comment markers for multipass detection
• Fix multipass shader format - use comment markers instead of ifdef guards
• Add optimized train journey shader with ~40% performance improvement
• Industry-grade adaptive scaling: percentile targeting, spike filtering, thermal throttling, emergency mode
• Optimize adaptive resolution: GPU timing, EMA, predictive scaling, use config shader_fps
• Switch to desktop OpenGL 3.3 for Shadertoy compatibility
• Bump version to 0.4.5
• Enhance shader lib (#32)
• feat: improve neowall list output
• Fix formatting inconsistencies in README.md
• Set train_journey.glsl as default first-run shader
• Add train journey shader (single-pass conversion)
• Fix PKGBUILD to use meson instead of make

Downloads

File	Description
neowall-linux-x86_64-arch.tar.gz	Binary for Arch Linux
neowall-linux-x86_64-debian.tar.gz	Binary for Debian/Ubuntu
neowall-linux-x86_64-fedora.tar.gz	Binary for Fedora
neowall-0.4.5-source.tar.gz	Source code

Installation

From Binary

# Download the appropriate binary for your distro
tar -xzf neowall-linux-x86_64-*.tar.gz
sudo mv neowall /usr/local/bin/

# Copy shaders (optional - download source for shaders)
mkdir -p ~/.config/neowall/shaders

Arch Linux (AUR)

yay -S neowall-git

From Source

tar -xzf neowall-0.4.5-source.tar.gz
cd neowall-0.4.5
meson setup build
ninja -C build
sudo ninja -C build install

Requirements

• OpenGL 3.3+ compatible GPU
• Wayland compositor with layer-shell support (Hyprland, Sway, etc.) OR X11

Release v0.4.4

NeoWall 0.4.4

Changes

• Fix release workflow to use meson instead of make (a382c50)
• Release v0.4.4 (a877518)
• Document KDE desktop icons limitation (83b0eca)
• Add GLEditor section to README (c3ca0ee)
• Fix shader rendering: match gleditor, restore GL state after FPS overlay (672361e)
• Improve vec3 texture coordinate detection for environment mapping shaders (8831f07)
• Fix cycle_list path to match state file location (9e09932)
• Remove unverified performance claims (c4d921d)
• Fix comparison table with real competitors (e20284b)
• Revamp README with modern design and better documentation (947dbc8)
• Add 'list' command to show all wallpapers with indices (1d2a23c)
• Add 'set ' command to jump to specific wallpaper in cycle (0c170f0)
• Remove Fedora CI job (5b4c189)
• Migrate build system to Meson and fix KDE desktop integration (#29) (2c836ed)
• docs: simplify video layout with autoplay for better presentation (63c7fbe)
• docs: use video tags for consistent sizing (e65ac1d)
• docs: fix video rendering by using raw URLs (97825de)
• docs: display demo videos side-by-side in compact layout (5da9a56)
• docs: swap videos - mouse interaction at top, transitions in features (3c95287)
• docs: relocate mouse interaction demo to Features section (e811778)
• docs: display videos at full width for better visibility (cda6b87)
• docs: increase logo size and fix video display format (1e050c2)
• docs: increase logo size for better visibility (b163fd5)
• docs: enhance header with logo and demo videos (b1a353c)
• refactor: modernize README with professional documentation style (1601edd)
• docs: improve README layout and media display (5e6d4a7)
• docs: improve README presentation and professionalism (83df259)

Installation

Arch Linux (AUR)

yay -S neowall-git

From source

tar -xzf neowall-0.4.4.tar.gz
cd neowall-0.4.4
meson setup build
ninja -C build
sudo ninja -C build install

Release v0.4.3

Neowall 0.4.3

Changes

• Bump version to 0.4.3 (10565a8)
• Fix shader_fps not working for FPS <= 1 (timerfd tv_nsec overflow) (#28) (318215a)
• fix: add explicit WAYLAND_BACKEND=no and X11_BACKEND=no options for CI (04296c6)
• ci: add Debian X11-only build, fix Wayland backend detection (9d30f44)
• fix: make Wayland protocols and deps conditional for X11-only builds (2b9c72a)
• docs: add mouse interaction video and streamline README (cadc83e)
• Fix X11 backend: call init_outputs to create X11 screen output (2749f9b)
• Fix X11 backend: require both libX11 and libXrandr (43f2555)
• Add Arch-based CI for Wayland-only and X11-only builds (73363a3)

Installation

Arch Linux (AUR)

yay -S neowall-git

From source

tar -xzf neowall-0.4.3.tar.gz
cd neowall-0.4.3
make
sudo make install

Release v0.4.2

Neowall 0.4.2

Changes

• Merge refactor/take-compositor-out: Full platform abstraction for compositor layer (39998c8)
• Bump version to 0.4.2, update copyright to 2025, clean up code (2003635)
• Make Wayland and X11 backends conditionally compiled based on available libs (f4736f9)
• Add resize_egl_window and get_native_window backend ops for full platform abstraction (d5dbb0e)
• Refactor: Treat all backends equally, add sync() op, fix EGL platform include (bcdc836)
• Refactor: Remove Wayland types from core neowall_state, isolate in wayland_t (a8bab09)
• Refactor/take compositor out (#27) (234851f)
• refactor: complete compositor-agnostic architecture with working output detection and rendering (1d83087)
• refactor: unify compositor initialization and make EGL platform-agnostic (f08e961)
• refactor: make event loop and core state compositor-agnostic with backend abstraction (9b3b993)

Installation

Arch Linux (AUR)

yay -S neowall-git

From source

tar -xzf neowall-0.4.2.tar.gz
cd neowall-0.4.2
make
sudo make install

Release v0.4.1

Neowall 0.4.1

Changes

• chore: bump version to 0.4.1 (83c5c92)
• Merge branch 'fps_fix' (263282e)
• fix: respect frame timer in vsync-off mode for accurate shader FPS (e4ad7a4)
• feat: add mouse event support for X11/Wayland with shader iMouse (#24) (77b1555)
• feat: add mouse event support for X11/Wayland with shader iMouse integration (a4cd8ea)
• add iMouse support (fadd5eb)
• Make logo full width in README (20c6d75)

Installation

Arch Linux (AUR)

yay -S neowall-git

From source

tar -xzf neowall-0.4.1.tar.gz
cd neowall-0.4.1
make
sudo make install

Release v0.4.0

Neowall 0.4.0

Changes

• Fix CI: add X11 and XRandR development libraries to workflows (4eb6fa6)
• Add centralized version management system with v0.4.0 (e35ee23)
• X11 port (#23) (69787fe)
• Yagni/config hotreload (#22) (397d940)
• refactor: move vibe parser to src/config module (#21) (2da10df)
• fix: implement high-precision frame timer using timerfd for accurate FPS targeting when vsync disabled (#20) (4aae769)
• the log won't shut up (546eeb4)
• Merge branch 'refactor/decouple' (3ceff9a)
• refactor: extract image module to src/image/ with clean API separation (8d645b3)
• Refactor/decouple (#19) (d1a7104)
• refactor: decouple render module behind output facade, add OOP design doc (6909a5c)
• refactor: decouple eventloop from render module by adding output wrapper functions (cba5df1)
• fix: channel seg fault (f3e659e)
• feat: add configurable vsync option with tearing control protocol (5aed0ea)
• Sane refactor (#18) (c15ef48)
• feat: add configurable vsync option with tearing control protocol (4791ed8)
• Refactor: Decouple output module - move output.c to src/output/ with self-contained header (22ec90a)
• take ouput related data to /src/output (e9af771)
• Fix HiDPI scaling handling (#16) (861f990)
• Preserve shader clock across reloads (#17) (f0ee1be)
• Streamline KDE backend with wlr-layer-shell, add validation for (#15) (c837003)
• fix: register missing fps options (6c38b13)
• int restore_cycle_index_from_state(const char *output_name); (#14) (8a8912a)
• int restore_cycle_index_from_state(const char *output_name); (#12) (0bf303a)
• Refactor: Move all Wayland code to backends/wayland/ for cleaner architecture - Wayland is now a backend, not core infrastructure (04e17d2)
• Feature/shader fps (#11) (5021969)
• Fix: Prefer connector_name over model for write_wallpaper_state calls to ensure consistent monitor identification (d67fa24)
• hot reload is causing a lot of trouble, lets only ennable this when we specify -w for nonw (8791cf5)

Installation

Arch Linux (AUR)

yay -S neowall-git

From source

tar -xzf neowall-0.4.0.tar.gz
cd neowall-0.4.0
make
sudo make install

Release v0.3.7

Neowall 0.3.7

Changes

• nasty jitter bug fix (4b9dcde)
• fixed per monitor config (3407c34)
• fixed multi monitor config sync (83577f2)
• fix multi monitor bug (05a840c)
• Fix transparency: force opaque alpha channel and set compositor opaque regions (1099d33)
• fix opacity (3f392ee)
• Smart compositor detection with native backends - KDE uses wlr-layer-shell (works), implemented full KDE backend (protocol limitation prevents use) (3e1bebd)
• Add native KDE Plasma backend with org_kde_plasma_shell protocol support (8f040bb)
• Fix compositor abstraction integration and reorganize headers (#8) (bd816b5)
• Clean up things nicely when hyprland exits (27dfd02)
• wait for compositor to start if it is not started already (483c6d7)
• Fix installation paths - use PREFIX consistently for data files and improve directory creation (6e7e654)

Installation

Arch Linux (AUR)

yay -S neowall-git

From source

tar -xzf neowall-0.3.7.tar.gz
cd neowall-0.3.7
make
sudo make install

Release v0.3.1

Neowall 0.3.1

Changes

• nasty jitter bug fix (4b9dcde)
• fixed per monitor config (3407c34)
• fixed multi monitor config sync (83577f2)
• fix multi monitor bug (05a840c)
• Fix transparency: force opaque alpha channel and set compositor opaque regions (1099d33)
• fix opacity (3f392ee)
• Smart compositor detection with native backends - KDE uses wlr-layer-shell (works), implemented full KDE backend (protocol limitation prevents use) (3e1bebd)
• Add native KDE Plasma backend with org_kde_plasma_shell protocol support (8f040bb)
• Fix compositor abstraction integration and reorganize headers (#8) (bd816b5)
• Clean up things nicely when hyprland exits (27dfd02)
• wait for compositor to start if it is not started already (483c6d7)
• Fix installation paths - use PREFIX consistently for data files and improve directory creation (6e7e654)

Installation

Arch Linux (AUR)

yay -S neowall-git

From source

tar -xzf neowall-0.3.1.tar.gz
cd neowall-0.3.1
make
sudo make install

0.3.6

Full Changelog: 0.3.5...0.3.6

0.3.4

Full Changelog: 0.3.3...0.3.4