Future of Compiz?

Unia · 2011-05-17 14:28:06

Hello all,

For some time now I've happily been using Compiz as a standalone window manager on my Arch box. Even though I'm satisfied with my setup, there seems to be no development with Compiz at all. With all these new desktop environments being released, I started to wonder what the future of Compiz will be.

Some Google searched replied only old topics dating back to 2007 and 2008 and my question at the Compiz forums remains unanswered as well. (the forums also seem to be unmaintained and old).

Can any of you shed some light on what the future will hold for Compiz? Also, how about Emerald? Here and there I've read that it is considered a dead project. Is this true and if so, will a replacement be made?

WorMzy · 2011-05-17 15:01:51

I believe that Ubuntu has adopted compiz and begun actively developing it. Not sure what they're planning to do with it, but I've heard they're rewriting it for use on Wayland.

As for Emerald, I believe it's long since dead. There was talk of a replacement -- Jasper -- but development on that seemed to dry up around 2008.

However, Emerald++ seems to be actively developed (latest build in AUR is 20110304), Compiz++ not so much (20101113)

z0id · 2011-05-17 15:06:25

The main developer of Compiz was hired by Canonical, because they use it for Unity. I think he does some rewrites now, for better modularity (future Wayland support and better integration with ubuntu). Also, he was working previously on a C to C++ rewrite, so I think that's why there weren't any major news.
AFAIK Emerlad merged with Compiz long time ago. EDIT. Seems I was wrong about Emerald.

Anyway, from the wiki: March 7th, 2011: Compiz 0.9.4 (development) released!

Last edited by z0id (2011-05-17 15:11:42)

Jeaquares · 2011-05-17 15:11:22

Maybe I can't shed some light on what you're asking about but for me, with this new desktop environments, there will be no need for Compiz soon. What Compiz offers will come as built-in and that will make those things always be updated. And so, there will be no posts like this one around the interwebz. At least, I hope so.

I've been a Compiz user until GNOME 3. I've always thought that I wouldn't use my windows without some wobbling. But after switching from GNOME 2.32 with Compiz to GNOME 3, I realized that something's gotta change, especially the understanding of "desktop environment". It seems that GNOME 3 has changed somethings already and will keep it that way. But still, if that wobbling effect will be available for GNOME 3, I'll use it anyway.

Last edited by Jeaquares (2011-05-17 15:12:39)

Unia · 2011-05-17 15:30:16

Jeaquares wrote:

Maybe I can't shed some light on what you're asking about but for me, with this new desktop environments, there will be no need for Compiz soon.

You know there's something as "personal preference", no? Anyway, I can't use the GNOME Shell yet, because of this bug with the ATi proprietary firmware. Also I like to built my own desktop environments, so why no need for Compiz anymore?

I'll look into updating to Compiz++, thanks guys!

EDIT: What is the difference between Compiz++ and Compiz09?
EDIT2:Nevermind, found here: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=733050

I take it it will be better to install Compiz09 then?

EDIT3: Forget it, none of the two work. I'll stick with Compiz 0.8 until I can use GNOME Shell with the proprietary ATi driver.

Last edited by Unia (2011-05-17 16:43:02)

schuay · 2011-05-17 18:12:30

WorMzy wrote:

However, Emerald++ seems to be actively developed (latest build in AUR is 20110304), Compiz++ not so much (20101113)

Those dates are both meaningless since they only tell you on which day the packager ran 'makepkg --source'

pogeymanz · 2011-05-18 12:47:57

Unfortunately, I'm afraid Compiz is going to become more and more unity-centric and less desktop-agnostic.

Maybe you should post in the compiz-09 thread for help if you can't get it to run.

Awebb · 2011-05-18 13:06:33

Jeaquares wrote:

Maybe I can't shed some light on what you're asking about but for me, with this new desktop environments, there will be no need for Compiz soon. What Compiz offers will come as built-in and that will make those things always be updated. And so, there will be no posts like this one around the interwebz. At least, I hope so.

I don't want a DE, I want to use my system the way I want. That means interconnection between components instead of integration. What you say is a horror scenario for all WM standalone lovers. It means either being assimilated by the lazy DE crowd or getting sucked up again by the world of "boring" 2d environments.

I love Compiz, it's some sort of Openbox with blingbling. It runs well on all my machines (opposing to the openbox+cairo-compmgr concept). While I only use certain useful plugins, I usually don't find the choice of big DE makers usable.

tydell · 2011-05-18 14:10:37

I have compiz++ on my laptop, and my system takes 70MB RAM when it boots to desktop. I like this standalone version.

[tydell@myhost ~]$ compiz-git --version
Compiz 0.9.5

Last edited by tydell (2011-05-19 06:45:25)

scenox · 2011-05-18 22:11:11

I use Gnome3 forced Fallback mode with compiz on my desktop, and Gnome shell on my netbook. I like both variants but I miss adaptable impressive animations on Gnome shell. So Gnome3 + compiz is the best solution for me at the moment.

bwat47 · 2011-05-22 02:22:49

Compiz has long had no focus and just kind of been swaying with the wind. I think that now that we have gnome 3 and kde using their own window managers for composting and ubuntu has adopted compiz, its a good thing for the project. It now has a purpose and will probably start seeing more active and targeted development.

I don't really care if it ends up becoming less desktop agnostic. IMO mutter and kwin integrate better with their respective desktops and work better. The only thing I miss from compiz when I use gnome 3 is the configuration options. Mutter runs so much better than compiz on this machine.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-05-17 14:28:06

Future of Compiz?

#2 2011-05-17 15:01:51

Re: Future of Compiz?

#3 2011-05-17 15:06:25

Re: Future of Compiz?

#4 2011-05-17 15:11:22

Re: Future of Compiz?

#5 2011-05-17 15:30:16

Re: Future of Compiz?

#6 2011-05-17 18:12:30

Re: Future of Compiz?

#7 2011-05-18 12:47:57

Re: Future of Compiz?

#8 2011-05-18 13:06:33

Re: Future of Compiz?

#9 2011-05-18 14:10:37

Re: Future of Compiz?

#10 2011-05-18 22:11:11

Re: Future of Compiz?

#11 2011-05-22 02:22:49

Re: Future of Compiz?

Board footer