@pq @frog @emersion @krh I think you've kind of hit the nail on the head as to why we have a problem now and why frog-protocols now exists.
When I talk to folks who develop compositors, the majority of them don't support this idea that protocols need to be perfect before they land. On the contrary, it seems to be burning people out to try to deal with that expectation. Also, I think that the "principles" had little influence on adoption of Wayland, but rather desperation to replace X11.