Winit Backend
The Winit backend uses the winit ↗ library to interact with the windowing system.
The Winit backend supports practically all relevant operating systems and windowing systems, including macOS, Windows, Linux with Wayland and X11.
The Winit backend supports different renderers. They can be explicitly selected for use through the
SLINT_BACKEND environment variable.
| Renderer name | Supported/Required Graphics APIs | SLINT_BACKEND value to select renderer |
|---|---|---|
| FemtoVG | OpenGL | winit-femtovg |
| Skia | OpenGL, Metal, Direct3D, Software-rendering | winit-skia |
| Skia Software | Software-only rendering with Skia | winit-skia-software |
| Skia OpenGL | OpenGL rendering with Skia | winit-skia-opengl |
| software | Software-rendering, no GPU required | winit-software |
If no renderer is explicitly set, the backend will first try to use the Skia renderer, if it was enabled at compile time. If that fails, it will fall back to the FemtoVG renderer, and if that also fails, it will use the software renderer.
Configuration Options
Section titled “Configuration Options”The Winit backend reads and interprets the following environment variables:
| Name | Accepted Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
SLINT_FULLSCREEN | any value | If this variable is set, every window is shown in fullscreen mode. |
Linux Dependencies
Section titled “Linux Dependencies”On Linux, the Winit backend requires either X11 or Wayland to be available.
Support of either can be enabled or disabled at compile time by setting the
backend-winit-x11 or backend-winit-wayland features (instead of backend-winit).
For X11 the following runtime dependencies are required: libx11-xcb, xinput, libxcursor, libxkbcommon-x11, libx11. On Debian-based systems, these can be installed with:
sudo apt install libx11-xcb-dev xinput libxcursor-dev libxkbcommon-x11-dev libx11-dev© 2025 SixtyFPS GmbH