openGL in xfwm4

[Christian Dywan]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Harold Aling" <h.aling at home.nl>
To: "XFCE4 development list" <xfce4-dev at xfce.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 10:32 AM
Subject: Re: openGL in xfwm4


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> On Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:52:46 +0100, Yves-Alexis Perez <corsac at debian.org>
> wrote:
>> On mar, 2008-02-26 at 18:57 +0000, Olivier Fourdan wrote:
>>> BTW, I do not think adding OpenGL support in xfwm4 is a good idea...
>>>
>>> Compiz kicks ass and it makes no sense to duplicate/reinvent the
>>> wheel. If you want OpenGL compositing, use Compiz (please let 's not
>>> do like KDE4... There are already way too many duplication of efforts
>>> between projects).
>>>
>>> *If* you want a cool idea, it would be great to have a "compiz
>>> decorator mode" in xfwm instead, this way xfwm4 could behave either
>>> like a full window manager or just a decorator for compiz.
>>
>> I *really* like xfwm4 look and feel. Compositor is nice, but could
>> behave faster (I guess) using openGL stuff in my intel card. And some
>> fancy stuff like bluring the titlebar text is nice. Cube effect, wobbly
>> windows etc. dont really attract me. I really prefer xfwm4 for all
>> window management stuff.
>>
>> Something I like too is their alt-tab effect (but I guess this isn't
>> really tied to openGL stuff, except maybe the real-time update of
>> windows).
>>
>> I really see openGL in xfwm as a â?obonusâ?, not a complete rewrite :)
>>
>
> That's exectly how I would see it: using the power of OpenGL to draw
> exactly the same as the non-rocket-fueled Xfwm4.
>
> I don't want any other effects than Xfwm4 offers at the moment
> (transparency and shadows) but then drawn by OpenGL for a performance 
> boost
> and less CPU usage. If I really want all kinds of fancy stuff I'll use
> Compiz.
>
> -H-

I do support the idea of OpenGL support in Xfwm4. I experimented with Beryl, 
Compiz and their common successor but I don't remotely see how these efforts 
could replace Xfwm4 in any way. Compiz is behaving completely differently 
and has a completely different interface that is also far from the general 
idea present Xfce interfaces have.

Runtime support for OpenGL would be nice, with a selection of features that 
focuses on actual usability, as opposed to pure bloat. Incidentally 
buildtime OpenGl is not feasible, because many people out there still use 
binary distributions. ;)

Cheers,
    Christian