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According toWikipedia:
There are two versions of Compiz available, the 0.8 series which is written in C and the 0.9 series which is a complete re-write of Compiz in C++. Both series are actively developed. Compiz 0.9 is developed by the Compiz Maintainerson Launchpad whilst Compiz 0.8 is developed by the Compiz Reloaded projecton GitLab. The two series cannot be installed side by side.
Required:
Highly recommended:
Optional:
Before starting Compiz, you should activate some plugins to provide basic window manager behaviour or else you will have no ability to drag, scale or close any windows. Important plugins are listed below:
Alt+Tab switcher - there are numerous alternative application switcher plugins, for example: Shift Switcher, Static Application Switcher and more. Not all of them use theAlt+Tab keybinding.To be able to switch to differentviewports you will need to enable one of the following:
The window decorator is the program which provides windows with borders. Unlike window managers such as Kwin orXfwm which provide just one decorator, users of Compiz have a choice of three: GTK Window Decorator, KDE Window Decorator and Emerald. The GTK Window Decorator and the KDE Window Decorator are included in the Compiz source and can be optionally compiled whilst building Compiz. Emerald, on the other hand, is a separate, standalone decorator. TheWindow Decoration plugin in CCSM must be ticked otherwise no window decorator will be started.
The window decorator that will be started is specified under CCSM ->Effects ->Window Decoration ->Command. The default command iscompiz-decorator which is a script which will attempt to locate theemerald andgtk-window-decorator executables (and also thekde4-window-decorator executable if you are using Compiz 0.9). It will then start the first decorator that it finds, according to the search order and conditions (such as session detection) specified in the script. Note that the script provided by Compiz 0.8 differs significantly from the one provided by Compiz 0.9 so the behavior may be different.
Thecompiz-decorator command can be replaced with one of the executables listed above. If you find that your preferred decorator is not being started, try appending the--replace switch to the command, for example:emerald --replace.
compiz --replace ccp[2]You can start Compiz using the following command:
$ compiz --replace
Seecompiz --help for more options.
To start Compiz using Fusion Icon, execute the command below:
$ fusion-icon
To ensure thatfusion-icon then starts Compiz, right click on the icon in the panel and go toselect window manager. ChooseCompiz if it is not selected already.
SeeDesktop environment#Custom window manager.
A standalone Compiz session can be started from adisplay manager. For most display managers -LightDM for example - all that is required is to create a.desktop file in/usr/share/xsessions that executescompiz (with command line options if needed) orfusion-icon. See the article for your display manager. SeeDesktop entries for information on creating a.desktop file.
One way in which you could start programs with your Compiz session, when it is started from adisplay manager, is to use anxprofile file. Another option is for the.desktop file in/usr/share/xsessions to not executecompiz directly but to execute a script which starts the programs you wish to start and also starts Compiz.
A Compiz session can be started withstartx. Define eithercompiz orfusion-icon in your.xinitrc file. See thexinitrc article for more details.
SeeAllow users to shutdown#Using systemd-logind: you can assign a keyboard shortcut tosystemctl comands using theCommands plugin in CCSM.
You can switch back to your desktop environment's default window manager with the following command:
wm_name --replace
usingkwin,metacity orxfwm4 for example instead ofwm_name.
Enable theGnome Compatibility plugin in CCSM.
There are two ways to enable MATE Panel's run dialog in Compiz. You can either:
Alt+F2 key combination using theCommands plugin in CCSM.mate-panel --run-dialog
Map the command below to theAlt+F2 key combination using theCommands plugin in CCSM.
lxpanelctl run
When Compiz is used in an Xfce session, the run dialog (provided byxfce4-appfinder) should work without intervention. If you are using Xfce Appfinder in a standalone Compiz session, map the command below to theAlt+F2 key combination using theCommands plugin in CCSM.
xfce4-appfinder --collapsed
Map the command for arun dialog of choice to theAlt+F2 key combination using theCommands plugin in CCSM.
Start CCSM and navigate to theWindow Decoration plugin. Then in theDecoration Windows field, changeany to!state=maxvert.[3]
A possible issue withGLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap on ATI cards is that the card can only render it indirectly. If so, you have to pass the option to your libgl as shown below:
LIBGL_ALWAYS_INDIRECT=1 compiz --replace &
Use the following command to start Compiz (this command must be used every time).
LIBGL_ALWAYS_INDIRECT=true compiz --replace --sm-disable &
Firstly, ensure that your window decorator settings are configured correctly - see#Window decoration. If window borders still do not start try addingOption "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True" andOption "DisableGLXRootClipping" "True" to your "Screen" section in/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-nvidia.conf. If window borders still do not load and you have used other Options elsewhere in/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ try commenting them out and using only the aformentioned ARGBGLXVisuals and GLXRootClipping Options.
If you receive a blank screen with a responsive cursor upon resume, try disabling sync to vblank. To do so, open CCSM, navigate to theOpenGL plugin and untick theSync to VBlank option.
NVIDIA and Intel chips: If everything is configured correctly but you still have poor performance with some effects, try disablingCCSM > General Options > Display Settings > Detect Refresh Rate and instead choose a value manually.
NVIDIA chips only: The inadequate refresh rate withDetect Refresh Rate may be due to an option calledDynamicTwinView being enabled by default which plays a factor in accurately reporting the maximum refresh rate that your card and display support. You can disableDynamicTwinView by adding the following line to the "Device" or "Screen" section of your/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-nvidia.conf, and then restarting your computer:
Option "DynamicTwinView" "False"
To fix this behaviour create the file below:
/etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf
options nvidia NVreg_RegistryDwords="PerfLevelSrc=0x2222"
If you experience video tearing when using Compiz, try enabling theWorkarounds plugin in CCSM. Once enabled, ensure that the following options are enabled in Workarounds:Force complete redraw on initial damage,Force full screen redraws (buffer swap) on repaint.
If you are usingIntel graphics and the workaround above does not fix the video tearing, seeIntel graphics#Tearing.
Also see,#Poor performance from capable graphics cards.
If you get an output like this from the command line:
$ fusion-icon
* Detected Session: gnome* Searching for installed applications...Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/bin/fusion-icon", line 57, in <module> from FusionIcon.interface import choose_interface File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/FusionIcon/interface.py", line 23, in <module> import start File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/FusionIcon/start.py", line 36, in <module> config.check() File "/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/FusionIcon/util.py", line 362, in check os.makedirs(self.config_folder) File "/usr/lib/python2.5/os.py", line 172, in makedirs mkdir(name, mode)OSError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/home/andy/.config/compiz'
the problem is with the permission on~/.config/compiz/. To fix it, use:
# chown -Rusername /home/username/.config/compiz/
If Compiz replaces Xfwm4 at login, this can cause theAlt+F4 keybinding to become non-functional. To avoid this issue, ensure that only Compiz is started at login - seeXfce#Use a different window manager.
You may find that Emerald crashes when selecting certain themes (especially themes that use the legacy engine). If this occurs, select another theme in Emerald Theme Manager and then run the commandemerald --replace.
You may find that the system bell (such as the drip sound played when pressing backspace at the beginning of a line in GNOME or MATE Terminal) will not sound if Compiz is running. See the followingupstream bug report.
PulseAudio users, as a workaround, can force PulseAudio to handle the system bell, seePulseAudio#X11 Bell Events.
If you are using the GSettings backend, you may find that Compiz crashes if you try to enable theGnome Compatibility plugin. In order to enable this plugin whilst using the GSettings backend you need to open CCSM and navigate toPreferences. Under the headerIntegration untick the box labelledEnable integration into the desktop environment. After unticking this option, you should find it possible to enable theGnome Compatibility plugin.
You may find that certain windows (such as aChromium window) will lose focus when unminimised. See the followingupstream bug report. One possible solution is to enable theKeep previews of minimized windows option, located within theWorkarounds plugin.
You may find that popout windows for panels which are placed at the bottom of the screen are offset by a few pixels so that the window appears to float above the panel. This problem is known to affect Xfce and KDE and may affect other desktops as well. Listed below are a number of workarounds that might fix some cases.
For more information, see the followingupstream bug report.
You may find that theAlt-Tab switcher (provided by the staticswitcher or switcher plugins) has a completely transparent background when using Emerald as well. This can make it hard to differentiate window thumbnails from the desktop background behind them. As of Compiz 0.9.12 (revision 3975) a workaround is available. In CCSM, navigate toApplication Switcher orStatic Application Switcher depending on which plugin you are using. For the former, theBackground settings are located underGeneral and for the latter the settings are located underAppearance. Once you have found the settings, ensure that theSet background color box is ticked. The default is a dark grey which can be optionally changed.
Alternatively, use GTK Window Decorator instead of Emerald or use a different window switcher altogether such as the shift switcher. Note that even if you are using the GTK Window Decorator, you can still change the background color as described above.
SeeCursor themes#Change X shaped default cursor.
Some plugins that were popular in Compiz 0.8 were disabled in Compiz versions 0.9.8 and above in order to completeOpenGL ES support. A few of the disabled plugins have since been re-enabled; for instance, theAnimations Add-On plugin was re-enabled for the Compiz 0.9.13.0 release. Other currently-disabled plugins that receive patches for this issue may well be re-enabled in future releases. For more information, see theCompiz 0.9.8 release notes.
Likewise, Compiz Plugins Unsupported (a package which includes plugins such asAtlantis) is unavailable in recent versions of Compiz 0.9. It has not been developed for the Compiz 0.9 series since Compiz 0.9.5 and no longer builds successfully.
When Compiz is used with Xfce Panel 4.11 and above, the workspace pager will use the width of only one workspace but will divide this space into ever smaller bars, according to how many viewports Compiz specifies. This issue can be fixed by replacingxfce4-panel withxfce4-panel-compizAUR which incorporates a patch for this issue. For more information, see the followingupstream bug report.
TheD-Bus plugin will cause Compiz to crash if enabled in conjunction with certain other plugins such as theCube plugin. See the followingupstream bug report.
Only a fewtaskbars are compatible with Compiz'sviewports. Incompatible panels and docks may display issues such as showing all window buttons in all workspaces or the workspace pager may only show one workspace available. The panels listed below are known to be compatible: