compositing window manager A compositing manager, or compositor, is software that provides applications with an off-screen data buffer, buffer for each window, then Compositing, composites these window buffers into an image representing the screen and writes the result into ...

X Window System The X Window System (X11, or simply X) is a windowing system for bitmap displays, common on Unix-like operating systems. X originated as part of Project Athena at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1984. The X protocol has been at ...

3D graphics 3D computer graphics, sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics, are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for the purposes of perfor ...

compositing Compositing is the process or technique of combining visual elements from separate sources into single images, often to create the illusion that all those elements are parts of the same scene. Live action, Live-action shooting for compositing ...

ICCCM In computing, the Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual (ICCCM or I39L short for "I", 39 letters and "L")Mutter or

Metacity Metacity (pronounced ) was the default window manager used by the GNOME 2 desktop environment until it was replaced by Mutter in GNOME 3. It is still used by GNOME Flashback, a session for GNOME 3 that provides a similar user experience to the ...

, when using

GNOME Panel A gnome () is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and widely adopted by authors, including those of modern fantasy literature. They are typically depict ...

, or

KWin KWin is a window manager for the X Window System and a Wayland (display server protocol)#Wayland compositors, Wayland compositor. It is released as a part of KDE Plasma, for which it is the default window manager. KWin can also be used on its o ...

in

KDE Plasma Workspaces KDE Plasma is a graphical shell developed by the KDE community for Unix-like operating systems. It serves as the interface layer between the user and the operating system, providing a graphical user interface (GUI) and workspace environment for ...

. Internally Compiz uses the

OpenGL OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a Language-independent specification, cross-language, cross-platform application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D computer graphics, 2D and 3D computer graphics, 3D vector graphics. The API is typic ...

library as the interface to the graphics hardware.

Hardware requirements

Initially, Compiz only worked with 3D hardware supported by Xgl. Most

NVIDIA Nvidia Corporation ( ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and incorporated in Delaware. Founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang (president and CEO), Chris Malachowsky, and Curti ...

and

AMD Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California and maintains significant operations in Austin, Texas. AMD is a hardware and fabless company that de ...

graphics cards are known to work with Compiz on Xgl. Since May 22, 2006 Compiz works on the standard

X.Org Server X.Org Server is the free and open-source implementation of the X Window System (X11) display server stewarded by the X.Org Foundation. Implementations of the client-side X Window System protocol exist in the form of ''X11 libraries'', which ...

, by using

AIGLX Accelerated Indirect GLX ("AIGLX") is an Open-source software, open source project founded by Red Hat and the Fedora (operating system), Fedora community, led by Kristian Høgsberg, to allow accelerated indirect GLX rendering capabilities to t ...

. Besides

Intel GMA The Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) is a series of integrated graphics processors introduced in 2004 by Intel, replacing the earlier Intel Extreme Graphics series and being succeeded by the Intel HD and Iris Graphics series. This serie ...

graphics cards, AIGLX also supports using AMD graphics cards (including R300 and newer cards) using the open-source driver which supports since fall 2006. NVIDIA's binary drivers (since Version 1.0-9629) support on standard X.Org server;

AMD Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California and maintains significant operations in Austin, Texas. AMD is a hardware and fabless company that de ...

's binary drivers do since version 8.42.

History

By the early 2000's, both ATI and

Nvidia Nvidia Corporation ( ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and incorporated in Delaware. Founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang (president and CEO), Chris Malachowsky, and Curti ...

drivers became increasingly common on

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

. Advanced

OpenGL OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a Language-independent specification, cross-language, cross-platform application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D computer graphics, 2D and 3D computer graphics, 3D vector graphics. The API is typic ...

development was no longer restricted to expensive

UNIX Unix (, ; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multi-user computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...

workstations A workstation is a special computer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by a single user, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems. The term ''workstat ...

. Around the same time, Xgl, Xegl and

AIGLX Accelerated Indirect GLX ("AIGLX") is an Open-source software, open source project founded by Red Hat and the Fedora (operating system), Fedora community, led by Kristian Høgsberg, to allow accelerated indirect GLX rendering capabilities to t ...

gave Xorg the possibility of using OpenGL for transformation and effects on windows surfaces. With foundations finally available, xcompmgr pioneered the features of a

compositing window manager A compositing manager, or compositor, is software that provides applications with an off-screen data buffer, buffer for each window, then Compositing, composites these window buffers into an image representing the screen and writes the result into ...

.

Luminocity

An effort called Luminocity began with some

GNOME A gnome () is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and widely adopted by authors, including those of modern fantasy literature. They are typically depict ...

developers to make use of recent developments. In March 2005, the Luminocity project already featured effects like "wobbly windows", "physics models for window moving", "live updating workspace switcher" and "alpha compositing". Given Luminocity was mostly a prototype, its development soon was abandoned, but some of its effects and behaviors were later implemented by Compiz.

Compiz

The first version of Compiz was released as

free software Free software, libre software, libreware sometimes known as freedom-respecting software is computer software distributed open-source license, under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, distribut ...

by

Novell Novell, Inc. () was an American software and services company headquartered in Provo, Utah, that existed from 1980 until 2014. Its most significant product was the multi-platform network operating system known as NetWare. Novell technolog ...

( SUSE) no later than February 2006 in the wake of the (also new) Xgl. It was one of the earliest compositing window managers for X. In March 2006 Compiz was ported to

AIGLX Accelerated Indirect GLX ("AIGLX") is an Open-source software, open source project founded by Red Hat and the Fedora (operating system), Fedora community, led by Kristian Høgsberg, to allow accelerated indirect GLX rendering capabilities to t ...

by

Red Hat Red Hat, Inc. (formerly Red Hat Software, Inc.) is an American software company that provides open source software products to enterprises and is a subsidiary of IBM. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North ...

.

Beryl

Beryl was the project name for the ''quinnstorm'' branch of Compiz, announced on September 19, 2006 after Compiz developer Quinn Storm and the development team decided that the fork had come too far from the original Compiz started by

Novell Novell, Inc. () was an American software and services company headquartered in Provo, Utah, that existed from 1980 until 2014. Its most significant product was the multi-platform network operating system known as NetWare. Novell technolog ...

(). After the Novell XGL/Compiz team (mostly David Reveman) refused the proposition to merge the Quinnstorm changes with compiz-vanilla, the decision was made to make a real differentiation. Among the differences to Compiz, Beryl had a new window decorator named Emerald based on cgwd along with a theme manager called , used a flat-file backend instead of

gconf GConf was a system used by the GNOME desktop environment for storing configuration settings for the desktop and applications. It is similar to the Windows Registry. It was deprecated as part of the GNOME 3 transition. Migration to its replac ...

, and had no

GNOME A gnome () is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and widely adopted by authors, including those of modern fantasy literature. They are typically depict ...

dependencies.

Merger of the Compiz and Beryl communities

On March 30, 2007, discussions between the Beryl and Compiz communities led to a merger of the two communities which results in two new software packages: * Compiz, (also Compiz-core) which contains only the core functionality of Compiz and base plugins * Compiz Fusion, consisting of the plugins, decorators, settings tools and related applications from the Beryl and Compiz communities. Compiz Fusion concentrates on installation, configuration and additional plugins to add to the core functionalities of Compiz. Outcomes include plans to fund a code review panel consisting of the best developers from each community who will see that any code included in a release package meets the highest standards and is suitable for distribution in an officially supported package.

Further branches

In the fourth quarter of 2008, two separate branches of Compiz were created: ''compiz++'' and ''NOMAD''; compiz++ was geared toward the separation of

compositing Compositing is the process or technique of combining visual elements from separate sources into single images, often to create the illusion that all those elements are parts of the same scene. Live action, Live-action shooting for compositing ...

and

OpenGL OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a Language-independent specification, cross-language, cross-platform application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D computer graphics, 2D and 3D computer graphics, 3D vector graphics. The API is typic ...

layers for the rendering of the window manager without compositing effects, and the port from C to C++ programming language. NOMAD was geared towards the improvement of

remote desktop In computing, the term remote desktop refers to a software- or operating system feature that allows a personal computer's desktop environment to be run remotely from one system (usually a PC, but the concept applies equally to a server or a sma ...

performance for Compiz installations.

Merger of the Compiz branches

On February 2, 2009 a conference call was held between developers of Compiz, Compiz++, NOMAD and Compiz Fusion where it was decided to merge the projects into a unified project, simply named Compiz, with a unified roadmap.

Compiz 0.9 series

On July 4, 2010, Sam Spilsbury, lead Compiz developer, announced the release of Compiz 0.9.0 with a new API, rewritten in C++.

Canonical Ltd. Canonical Ltd. is a privately-held computer software company based in London, England. It was founded and funded by South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth to market commercial support and related services for Ubuntu and related projects. ...

hired Spilsbury to further develop Compiz for

Ubuntu Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed primarily of free and open-source software. Developed by the British company Canonical (company), Canonical and a community of contributors under a Meritocracy, meritocratic gover ...

in October 2010. Since then Compiz development mostly coincides with Ubuntu development. Main development moved to Canonical's Launchpad service. The 0.9.x versions up to 0.9.5 were seen as unstable/

beta software The software release life cycle is the process of developing, testing, and distributing a software product (e.g., an operating system). It typically consists of several stages, such as pre-alpha, alpha, beta, and release candidate, before the fi ...

. With version 0.9.6 in progress, Canonical hired developer Daniel van Vugt to work on Compiz full-time. While 0.9.6 never officially released, Compiz 0.9.7.0 was released a month ahead of enterprise-targeted Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (''Long Term Support'') and declared stable. A few days before the official release of Ubuntu 12.04 a new development branch, 0.9.8, was created in preparation for Ubuntu 12.10. For Compiz version 0.9.8 development has moved to a new Launchpad page. In November 2012, Spilsbury announced that he had left Canonical and stated he had no plans to port Compiz to Wayland. A small team continues to work on Compiz with version 0.9.13 being the focus of development as of July 2016.

Compiz Reloaded

A group forked the Compiz 0.8 series code base and modernized it and maintains it as of 2019.

Features

Almost all available Compiz features – except translucency, dimming, and desaturation – are delivered using plugins. Compiz plugins include the cube effect, Alt-Tab application-switching with live previews or icons, and a feature similar to

macOS macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

's

Mission Control A mission control center (MCC, sometimes called a flight control center or operations center) is a facility that manages space flights, usually from the point of launch until landing or the end of the mission. It is part of the ground segment ...

. The

Composite extension The Composite Extension of the X Window System The X Window System (X11, or simply X) is a windowing system for bitmap displays, common on Unix-like operating systems. X originated as part of Project Athena at Massachusetts Institute of Techn ...

to X is used, as is the

OpenGL OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a Language-independent specification, cross-language, cross-platform application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D computer graphics, 2D and 3D computer graphics, 3D vector graphics. The API is typic ...

extension . The Compiz project categorizes the plugins into four main groups: Main, Extra, Unsupported, and Experimental. Window managers use a program called a window decorator to provide the window borders with the usual minimize, maximize and close buttons. Unlike many window managers which have only one window decorator, Compiz users have a choice of three: * ''gtk-window-decorator'' uses either a basic

cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

-based rendering engine or can use

Metacity Metacity (pronounced ) was the default window manager used by the GNOME 2 desktop environment until it was replaced by Mutter in GNOME 3. It is still used by GNOME Flashback, a session for GNOME 3 that provides a similar user experience to the ...

themes.

* ''kde-window-decorator'' uses native

KWin KWin is a window manager for the X Window System and a Wayland (display server protocol)#Wayland compositors, Wayland compositor. It is released as a part of KDE Plasma, for which it is the default window manager. KWin can also be used on its o ...

themes. * ''Emerald'', a custom decorator with its own theme format that has been ported to Compiz. It used to be Beryl's default decorator.

Deployments

Compiz or Beryl have usually been deployed on Linux and other

X11 The X Window System (X11, or simply X) is a windowing system for bitmap displays, common on Unix-like operating systems. X originated as part of Project Athena at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1984. The X protocol has been at ...

-based

Unix-like A Unix-like (sometimes referred to as UN*X, *nix or *NIX) operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, although not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. A Uni ...

platforms together with

GNOME A gnome () is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and widely adopted by authors, including those of modern fantasy literature. They are typically depict ...

2 and

KDE 3 K Desktop Environment 3 (KDE 3) is the third series of releases of the K Desktop Environment (after that called ''KDE Software Compilation''). It was one of the two major desktop environments for GNU/Linux systems between 2002 and 2008. There ar ...

. Since version 4.2, however, KDE's own

KWin KWin is a window manager for the X Window System and a Wayland (display server protocol)#Wayland compositors, Wayland compositor. It is released as a part of KDE Plasma, for which it is the default window manager. KWin can also be used on its o ...

ships with capabilities similar to Compiz. So, Compiz is not usually deployed with recent

Plasma Workspaces KDE Plasma 5 is the fifth generation of the KDE Plasma graphical workspaces environment, created by KDE primarily for Linux systems. KDE Plasma 5 is the successor of KDE Plasma 4 and was first released on 15 July 2014. It was succeeded by KDE Pla ...

versions.

GNOME A gnome () is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and widely adopted by authors, including those of modern fantasy literature. They are typically depict ...

version 3.0 uses

GNOME Shell GNOME Shell is the graphical shell of the GNOME desktop environment starting with version 3, which was released on April 6, 2011. It provides basic functions like launching applications and switching between windows. GNOME Shell replaced GN ...

which is built as a plugin to the Mutter compositing window manager. This means Compiz cannot be used in conjunction with GNOME Shell. Citing a lack of maintenance on the part of the Compiz developers, Fedora removed Compiz from the Fedora repositories from Fedora 17; however Compiz has been reinstated in the Fedora repositories since Fedora 18. An official

MATE Mate may refer to: Science * Mate, one of a pair of animals involved in: ** Mate choice, intersexual selection *** Mate choice in humans ** Mating * Multi-antimicrobial extrusion protein, or MATE, an efflux transporter family of proteins Pers ...

spin which includes Compiz has been available since Fedora 19. Compiz was dropped from the

Debian Debian () is a free and open-source software, free and open source Linux distribution, developed by the Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock in August 1993. Debian is one of the oldest operating systems based on the Linux kerne ...

repositories from Debian 7 (Wheezy) onwards in August 2013 due to broken packages and a lack of upstream development on the part of the Compiz developers. Compiz was reintroduced into Debian in December 2016 by the Hypra.fr Team. Compiz was dropped from the

Arch Linux Arch Linux () is an Open-source software, open source, rolling release Linux distribution. Arch Linux is kept up-to-date by regularly updating the individual pieces of software that it comprises. Arch Linux is intentionally minimal, and is meant ...

repositories in May 2013. Compiz can still be installed from packages available in the Arch User Repository.

Ubuntu 6.06 LTS Ubuntu releases are made semiannually by Canonical Ltd using the year and month of the release as a version number. The first Ubuntu release, for example, was Ubuntu 4.10 and was released on 20 October 2004. Consequently, version numbers for fu ...

and later included Compiz in the ''universe'' repository. A limited version was included by default as "Desktop Effects" in Ubuntu 7.04. From Ubuntu 7.10 onwards, Compiz was enabled by default. In 2010

Canonical The adjective canonical is applied in many contexts to mean 'according to the canon' the standard, rule or primary source that is accepted as authoritative for the body of knowledge or literature in that context. In mathematics, ''canonical exampl ...

released their

Unity Unity is the state of being as one (either literally or figuratively). It may also refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpoo ...

interface which is written as a plugin for Compiz.

Reception and impact

Early Compiz reviews were mostly favorable praising its performance, beauty and novelty value. It was included in Ubuntu 6.06 repositories to allow easy installation and was, as of 2021, the only time an Ubuntu release was postponed. Other projects like

Metisse Metisse is a 2.5D X window manager with many features that set it apart from the traditional 3D "cube" workspace. Windows can be turned three-dimensionally in any direction, enabling the user to fit more windows onto a screen, and they can be sc ...

and

Project Looking Glass Project Looking Glass is a now inactive free software project under the GNU General Public License, GPL to create an innovative Graphical user interface#Three-dimensional user interfaces, 3D desktop environment for Linux, Solaris (operating sy ...

were developed around the same time, but none became as known or widely deployed as Compiz. Other window managers like

GNOME Shell GNOME Shell is the graphical shell of the GNOME desktop environment starting with version 3, which was released on April 6, 2011. It provides basic functions like launching applications and switching between windows. GNOME Shell replaced GN ...

and

KWin KWin is a window manager for the X Window System and a Wayland (display server protocol)#Wayland compositors, Wayland compositor. It is released as a part of KDE Plasma, for which it is the default window manager. KWin can also be used on its o ...

would later also implement compositing effects.

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

’s look and feel partially imitated Compiz’s most popular look and feel in the next big release (

Vista Vista may refer to: Software *Windows Vista, the line of Microsoft Windows client operating systems released in 2006 and 2007 * VistA, (Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture) a medical records system of the United States ...

). The development of Wayland around 2010 merged the functions of compositor and graphics server on the same program, a move that would eventually obsolete separate window managers and compositors. Distributions which still included it by default usually enabled just a few useful plugins and disabled the more "blingy" ones. Also, distributions increasingly began including

KDE KDE is an international free software community that develops free and open-source software. As a central development hub, it provides tools and resources that enable collaborative work on its projects. Its products include the KDE Plasma gra ...

and

GNOME A gnome () is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and widely adopted by authors, including those of modern fantasy literature. They are typically depict ...

with their default window managers. The last Ubuntu version to include Compiz to implement its

Unity Unity is the state of being as one (either literally or figuratively). It may also refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpoo ...

desktop manager was Ubuntu 16.04. After that, its development became mostly stagnant.

Some Compiz effects (0.8.5)

Burn effect.png, Burn effect Dream effect.png, Dream effect Explode effect.png, Explode effect Magic Lamp effect.png, Magic Lamp effect Maximized window deformation.png, Deformation of maximized window

References

External links

Compiz
on Launchpad * (unmaintained) * {{freedesktop.org 2006 software 3D GUIs Compositing window managers Free software programmed in C Free X window managers Freedesktop.org Linux windowing system-related software Software using the MIT license

Hardware requirements

History

Luminocity

Compiz

Beryl

Merger of the Compiz and Beryl communities

Further branches

Merger of the Compiz branches

Compiz 0.9 series

Compiz Reloaded

Features

Deployments

Reception and impact

Some Compiz effects (0.8.5)

See also

References

External links