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Richard Grenville 725bc40a65 Improvement: --glx-copy-from-front & benchmark mode
- GLX backend: Add --glx-copy-front, which copies all unmodified regions
  from front buffer to back buffer instead of redrawing the whole
  screen. Unfortunately, probably because glCopyPixels() isn't usually
  well-optimized on graphic cards, this option appears very unstable in
  its effect: Over 20% boost in performance when only 1/4 of the screen
  is modified, but 10% decrease when the whole screen is. Thus, not
  enabled by default.

- GLX backend: Add glx_blur_dst(), to prepare for the background blur
  feature. It currently is capable to modify background in the desired
  way, but the core blur shader is absent. glConvolution2D() seemingly
  relies entirely on CPU and has horrifying performance. I've hesitating
  about whether I should use ARB assembly language or GLSL for the
  shader.

- GLX backend: Invert y-axis GL matrix. It's upside-down previously
  because that's what dcompmgr uses. Seemingly a "normal" y-axis is
  required for glCopyPixels() to operate correctly.

- GLX backend: Fix some GLX_TEXTURE_RECTANGLE compatibility issues.
  Still, not actually tested.

- Add benchmark mode (--benchmark & --benchmark-wid).

- Misc changes.
2013-03-19 20:58:55 +08:00
bin don't depend on bash, our script is POSIX anyway 2013-01-28 17:31:16 +01:00
dbus-examples Improvement: ARGB window matching & Enable track_focus with D-Bus 2013-03-10 18:45:54 +08:00
man Improvement: ARGB window matching & Enable track_focus with D-Bus 2013-03-10 18:45:54 +08:00
src Improvement: --glx-copy-from-front & benchmark mode 2013-03-19 20:58:55 +08:00
.gitignore Bug fix: GLX: ARGB texture too dark & Jitter when resize & others 2013-03-18 13:29:14 +08:00
CPackConfig.cmake Bug fix: Window rendered incorrectly if has no border with -e 2012-11-06 11:37:29 +08:00
Doxyfile Feature #51: Re-initialize when SIGUSR1 is received 2012-11-19 11:44:58 +08:00
LICENSE update readme and man page. 2012-10-22 07:50:18 -05:00
Makefile Improvement: GLX: Use SCISSOR_TEST instead of STENCIL_TEST when possible 2013-03-18 19:01:18 +08:00
README.md Improvement: Change VSync mode with D-Bus & Makefile update & Misc 2013-01-31 22:56:54 +08:00
_CMakeLists.txt Merge branch 'master' into richardgv-dev 2012-11-14 18:46:26 +08:00
compton.desktop Bug fix: GLX: ARGB texture too dark & Jitter when resize & others 2013-03-18 13:29:14 +08:00
compton.sample.conf Bug fix: GLX backend incompatibility with mesa & others 2013-03-16 22:54:43 +08:00
desc.txt Misc: #49: Add CMake support 2012-10-03 13:34:54 +08:00

README.md

Compton

Compton is a compositor for X, and a fork of xcompmgr-dana.

I was frustrated by the low amount of standalone lightweight compositors. Compton was forked from Dana Jansens' fork of xcompmgr and refactored. I fixed whatever bug I found, and added features I wanted. Things seem stable, but don't quote me on it. I will most likely be actively working on this until I get the features I want. This is also a learning experience for me. That is, I'm partially doing this out of a desire to learn Xlib.

Changes from xcompmgr:

  • inactive window transparency / dimming
  • titlebar/frame transparency (specified with -e)
  • menu transparency (thanks to Dana)
  • shadows are now enabled for argb windows, e.g. terminals with transparency
  • removed serverside shadows (and simple compositing) to clean the code, the only option that remains is clientside shadows
  • configuration files (see the man page for more details)
  • colored shadows (--shadow-[red/green/blue])
  • a new fade system
  • VSync support (not always working)
  • Blur of background of transparent windows, window color inversion (bad in performance)
  • Some more options...

Fixes from the original xcompmgr:

  • fixed a segfault when opening certain window types
  • fixed a memory leak caused by not freeing up shadows (from the freedesktop repo)
  • fixed the conflict with chromium and similar windows
  • many more

Building

Dependencies:

B for build-time

R for runtime

  • libx11 (B,R)
  • libxcomposite (B,R)
  • libxdamage (B,R)
  • libxfixes (B,R)
  • libXext (B,R)
  • libxrender (B,R)
  • libXrandr (B,R)
  • pkg-config (B)
  • make (B)
  • xproto / x11proto (B)
  • sh (R)
  • xprop,xwininfo / x11-utils (R)
  • libpcre (B,R) (Can be disabled with NO_REGEX_PCRE at compile time)
  • libconfig (B,R) (Can be disabled with NO_LIBCONFIG at compile time)
  • libdrm (B) (Can be disabled with NO_VSYNC_DRM at compile time)
  • libGL (B,R) (Can be disabled with NO_VSYNC_OPENGL at compile time)
  • libdbus (B,R) (Can be disabled with NO_DBUS at compile time)
  • asciidoc (B)

How to build

To build, make sure you have the dependencies above:

# Make the main program
$ make
# Make the man pages
$ make docs
# Install
$ make install

(Compton does include a _CMakeLists.txt in the tree, but we haven't decided whether we should switch to CMake yet. The Makefile is fully usable right now.)

Known issues

  • VSync does not work too well. It's widely reported that tearing still happens on the top of the screen. I do not know how to fix the issue.

  • If --unredir-if-possible is enabled, when compton redirects/unredirects windows, the screen may flicker. Using --paint-on-overlay minimizes the problem from my observation, yet I do not know if there's a cure.

  • compton may not track focus correctly in all situations. The focus tracking code is experimental. --use-ewmh-active-win might be helpful.

  • Compton may give ugly shadow to windows with ARGB background if -z is enabled, because compton cannot determine their real shapes. One may have to disable shadows on those windows with window-type-specific settings in configuration file or --shadow-exclude.

  • The performance of blurring is terrible, probably because of a problem in the X Render implementation. Its behavior is driver-dependent: With nvidia-drivers it works but there are strange 1px lines remaining when you operate on windows (not sure if it's a bug in compton or in the driver); with nouveau it's utterly broken.

Usage

Please refer to the Asciidoc man pages (man/compton.1.asciidoc & man/compton-trans.1.asciidoc) for more details and examples.

Note a sample configuration file compton.sample.conf is included in the repository.

Support

  • Bug reports and feature requests should go to the "Issues" section above.

  • Our (semi?) official IRC channel is #compton on FreeNode.

  • Some information is available on the wiki, including (and presently, only includes) a FAQ.

License

Although compton has kind of taken on a life of its own, it was originally an xcompmgr fork. xcompmgr has gotten around. As far as I can tell, the lineage for this particular tree is something like:

  • Keith Packard (original author)
  • Matthew Hawn
  • ...
  • Dana Jansens
  • chjj and richardgv

Not counting the tens of people who forked it in between.

Compton is distributed under MIT license, as far as I (richardgv) know. See LICENSE for more info.