Why I use compiz: It came pre-installed on Mate 18.2. It seems to effortlessly fix a lot of issues with tearing and OpenGL with my Nvid 1080ti. I like the infinite flexibility of keyboard and other layout configurations. The bazillion crazy FX tools are fun to play with.
I am trying to debug a Unity-based app I am testing, and this has led me down a compiz tunnel.
First, background so that you understand why I feel this is important to figure out and why I am confused.
1. A history of Compiz, it's "death," and why it should be confusing. A "biased" post from 8 days ago by an original dev: https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments ... ompiz_die/
2. Compiz exists in a "post-mortem" state, apparently still being maintained with an eye for Unity, I think, I am not sure: https://launchpad.net/compiz
If you came to Compiz as a new Mint user, you might be thoroughly confused by the desolation of their original homepage and their spam-ridden forums. Marco is involved with its maintenance, as is indicated on Launchpad, which is comforting because I recognize that name, "Marco." Oh, the Marco guy, Marco!
compiz 2843 - 2017-07-03 - Ubuntu Artful 1:0.9.13.1+17.10.20170703-0ubuntu1 2017-07-03 None
^From Marco's update page. Can I install this as a PPA on 18.2 Mint MATE 4.10.0-37-generic? Is this the same as the version in the above paragraph? Will the real compiz please stand up?
https://launchpad.net/~3v1n0/+ppa-packages
3. Why a MATE user would want to update to .9.13: The release claims to offer significant improvements to MATE integration. The version that is on the MATE install ISO was released in 2015. This version came out in 2016, source package notes last activity 01-09-17, depending where you look. Marco indicates last work on 07-17. Are there two compizzes?
From release notes:
Release notes
- Start using C++11
- Support for grabbing keyboard or mouse separately
- Dropped gconf support
- Update cursors on theme or size changes
- Add cursors cache to reuse common cursors
- Lots of improvements for MATE profile
- Many refactoring and cleanups for gtk-window-decorator
I am confused about install instructions here. I would like those MATE improvements and Unity tweaks, as the bugs I'm getting seem connected to Unity. What is the correct method of updating Compiz? I hope I'm mistaken, but it seems the only way to do this is via compiling, and even then I don't know if this is the right source.
I am not quite at the level of compiling and debugging Linux windows managers on my lonesome. From the 0.9.13.1 launchpad install readme:
Code: Select all
compiz uses libstartup-notification which is available at
ftp://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/sources/startup-notification/
compiz uses out-of-tree builds with cmake, in order to generate the Makefiles for compiz use:
$ mkdir build
$ cd build
$ cmake ..
If you have multiple versions of Python installed, you will need to specify the version like this:
$ cmake .. \
-DPYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR=/usr/include/python2.7 \
-DPYTHON_LIBRARY=/usr/lib/libpython2.7.so
After that, standard build procedures apply:
$ make
# make install
In order to build other plugins, you will need to install the compiz cmake set
# make findcompiz_install
I tried quite hard to figure this out myself before posting this. I also apologize for how long this post is, I just hope that my confusion is understandable. Any help or clarification would be greatly appreciated.