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https://github.com/chjj/compton

A compositor for X11.
https://github.com/chjj/compton

Last synced: 22 days ago
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A compositor for X11.

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README 

        
# Compton



[![Join the chat at https://gitter.im/chjj/compton](https://badges.gitter.im/Join%20Chat.svg)](https://gitter.im/chjj/compton?utm_source=badge&utm_medium=badge&utm_campaign=pr-badge&utm_content=badge)



__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:



* OpenGL backend (`--backend glx`), in addition to the old X Render backend.

* Inactive window transparency (`-i`) / dimming (`--inactive-dim`).

* Titlebar/frame transparency (`-e`).

* Menu transparency (`-m`, 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](https://github.com/chjj/compton/issues)



## 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)

* libXinerama (B,R) (Can be disabled with `NO_XINERAMA` at compile time)

* 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) (and docbook-xml-dtd-4.5, libxml-utils, libxslt, xsltproc, xmlto, etc. if your distro doesn't pull them in)



### How to build



To build, make sure you have the dependencies above:



```bash

# 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



* Our [FAQ](https://github.com/chjj/compton/wiki/faq) covers some known issues.



* VSync does not work too well. You may check the [VSync Guide](https://github.com/chjj/compton/wiki/vsync-guide) for how to get (possibly) better effects.



* 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.



* The performance of blur under X Render backend might be pretty bad. OpenGL backend could be faster.



* With `--blur-background` you may sometimes see weird lines around damaged area. `--resize-damage YOUR_BLUR_RADIUS` might be helpful in the case.



## 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 [FAQ](https://github.com/chjj/compton/wiki/faq), [VSync Guide](https://github.com/chjj/compton/wiki/vsync-guide), and [Performance Guide](https://github.com/chjj/compton/wiki/perf-guide).



## 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.