Really interesting bug with Compiz, not sure how to label it

MaroonR · 2014-10-31 06:18:31

Hi forums, I really promise I searched around for this, so if this is a super common bug, I apologize in advance (I really wasn't sure how to even label what was happening). All I know is that when compiz is enabled, I'm getting super weird behavior in programs, mostly with terminal and system menus. The only way I know to show this is by a screenshot:

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/ … 0c7d62.png

As you can see from the pic, there are multiple menu objects highlighted (I promise I don't have 3 mouse pointers!). I couldn't capture this via screenshot, but the highlighted elements are actually alternating between this set and another. I could show more instances of this, but I think it would just be redundant. Another (possibly related) issue is the odd behavior in terminal. When I am using terminal to do something, be it accessing the AUR repository or editing a file somewhere, or anything really, the terminal scrolls up and down exactly 1 line, repeatedly (very fast). The only other place I experience significant issues is with compizconfig settings manager (ccsm). When trying to access a different menu, the ccsm window flashes very quickly back and forth to the previous menu screen. All of these things make it incredibly difficult to make selections. My browser (chrome) is fortunately exempt from this dilemma.

The only thing I know for sure is that this is caused by compiz. Disabling compiz (going back to xfwm or using another window manager) eliminates the issue. I hadn't had this issue until yesterday, but I really hadn't changed anything.

Things I've tried:
- Reinstalling compiz
- Enabling/Disabling Emerald
- Installing compiz-bzr
- Fooling with metacity
- Restarting

Any advice or words of wisdom on this would be very appreciated

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ewaller · 2014-10-31 16:21:30

Digging through the dark recesses of my mind (it has been a couple years since I used Compiz), I seem to recall it having controls for rendering method. OpenGL [2,3] or xv, maybe others. You might try changing that setting. Also, I would turn off just about everything effect and see if you can isolate it. I remember becoming frustrated with the instability and I moved on to other solutions.

MaroonR · 2014-10-31 18:58:27

I remember becoming frustrated with the instability and I moved on to other solutions.

I am steadily moving in this direction, as this is becoming ridiculous. I had taken some steps to reduce the effects/plugins that were enabled to isolate the issue, like you said, but I went further and just started unchecking literally everything until the issue went away. The issue finally stopped after unchecking OpenGL. I suppose this means I have a video driver issue? Everything seems to work other than compiz, and I can't find other instances of this issue elsewhere.

Trilby · 2014-10-31 19:32:29

What video driver do you use? Some of these descriptions sound similar to a variety of issues I had with SNA on intel, but when I switched to UXA all the problems were gone (though performance was slightly lessened). Luckily, with a recent mesa and friends udpate I was able to go back to SNA. But perhaps trying other acceleration methods/parameters for your video driver would be worthwhile.

MaroonR · 2014-11-01 05:44:57

Thanks for the reply. I'm actually using a slightly older nvidia gpu (480 GTX) with nvida-340xx, which is what nvidia recommends. I've worked with changing video driver parameters, and nothing there has seemed to change this much. I was afraid this was being caused by a mistake of mine, but it seems more and more likely that this is a problem with compiz: to test, I made a virtual machine and installed arch there (same setup as mine, only completely fresh) and I'm having the same issues. I like compiz because of the amazing ability to theme and control the general appearance of my gui. Is there a good alternative that one of you all could recommend?

Last edited by MaroonR (2014-11-01 05:45:46)

MaroonR · 2014-11-01 06:15:05

I wanted to post one more picture of this, as I think this one says a lot about the issue. This is a picture of what CCSM does when trying to navigate through menus:

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/ … _scrot.png

as you can kind of see, there's a button there (openGL in this case) that is stuck on top of the window, almost like that part didn't refresh correctly. I figured I'd post this, just to see if it provided any clues on the issue.

clfarron4 · 2014-11-01 11:01:56

I'm using the compiz-mate package (version 0.8.x) with MATE and I'm not seeing it. It's an issue that I've seen from time to time over the years with Compiz, but I haven't seen it recently, and I can't comment on Compiz 0.9.x because I don't use it.

Arch Linux

#1 2014-10-31 06:18:31

Really interesting bug with Compiz, not sure how to label it

#2 2014-10-31 16:21:30

Re: Really interesting bug with Compiz, not sure how to label it

#3 2014-10-31 18:58:27

Re: Really interesting bug with Compiz, not sure how to label it

#4 2014-10-31 19:32:29

Re: Really interesting bug with Compiz, not sure how to label it

#5 2014-11-01 05:44:57

Re: Really interesting bug with Compiz, not sure how to label it

#6 2014-11-01 06:15:05

Re: Really interesting bug with Compiz, not sure how to label it

#7 2014-11-01 11:01:56

Re: Really interesting bug with Compiz, not sure how to label it

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