diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 2e409cbf..b4eef6c1 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -56,6 +56,9 @@
   `double-width` to `wcswidth`.
 * INSTALL.md: `--override tweak.grapheme-shaping=no` added to PGO
   command line.
+* Foot now terminates if there are no available seats - for example,
+  due to the compositor not implementing a recent enough version of
+  the `wl_seat` interface (https://codeberg.org/dnkl/foot/issues/779).
 
 
 ### Deprecated
diff --git a/wayland.c b/wayland.c
index 22e3d6dc..44157ab2 100644
--- a/wayland.c
+++ b/wayland.c
@@ -1238,6 +1238,10 @@ wayl_init(const struct config *conf, struct fdm *fdm)
                 "(wl_data_device_manager not implemented by server)");
         goto out;
     }
+    if (tll_length(wayl->seats) == 0) {
+        LOG_ERR("no seats available (wl_seat interface too old?)");
+        goto out;
+    }
     if (wayl->primary_selection_device_manager == NULL)
         LOG_WARN("no primary selection available");