Fvwm and xcompmgr (the composite extension)

[seventh guardian]

On 11/10/05, Dan Espen <dane at mk.telcordia.com> wrote:
> seventh guardian <seventhguardian at gmail.com> writes:
> > On 11/7/05, Dan Espen <dane at mk.telcordia.com> wrote:
> > > seventh guardian <seventhguardian at gmail.com> writes:
> > > > Hi
> > > >
> > > > I've already posted a bug report on the fvwm mailing list some weeks
> > > > ago regarding this, but no one answered. Today I switched to
> > > > xorg-7.0.0 and the problem is still there, so it must be fvwm.
> > > >
> > > > The problem I found is related to the composite extension of xorg:
> > > > when I run xcompmgr (the composite manager) fvwm looses the
> > > > screen-scrolling abillity to the right and down. I mean, after running
> > > > "xcompmgr" from the command line, you can no longer scroll (by placing
> > > > the cursor on the screen edge) to the right or down. And even after
> > > > killing the composite manager the problem persists. The left and up
> > > > scrolling work fine.
> > > >
> > > > Also, if you restart fvwm, even with xcompmgr running, things go back
> > > > to normal. So it must be something on the start of xcompmgr... Other
> > > > wm's work flawlessly.
> > > >
> > > > I'm using a patched version of fvwm from the gentoo portage: it has
> > > > the "translucency" patch applied. So if any of you are using a
> > > > composite manager and it works ok with the unpatched fvwm, please let
> > > > me know.
> > > >
> > > > Is there anything else I can do to help tracking the bug?
> > >
> > > Edge scrolling works by Fvwm creating invisible windows around the
> > > screen borders.  xcompmgr must be interferring with them somehow.
> > >
> > > Try changing the 'edgethickness' to see if that helps.
> > >
> >
> > No, it's the same. I forgot to mention, I can drag windows between
> > screens and it works fine. Only the "empty handed" scroll doesn't
> > work.
> >
> > > Run xwininfo -root -all to see if there is a window in the way.
> >
> > I really don't know how to read the output, and as it is quite large,
> > here's a diff from both before and after running xcompmgr (command:
> > "diff before after -U 10")
> ...
> >
> > As I can see, the "exposure" thing is related to the composite
> > manager, so that part shouldn't matter. Appart from that, I can only
> > say that some things, I supose they are windows, are disapearing when
> > xcompmgr is executed. Restarting fvwm makes them come back..
> >
> > What do you think the problem is?
>
> I have no clue.
>
> I tried running it on my system.
> Everything slowed down, the root turned black,
> it continually printed error messages,
> menus wouldn't clear when they displayed.

Do you have an accelerated graphics board? If you don't then that's
why everything slowed down. The black root window and the not clearing
menus is because the root window isn't being drawn, and can be related
to that. If you do have the board, I guess you need to use the
proprietary drivers and activate the acceleration on the xorg.conf.

> When I moved the mouse to the screen edge, the
> pointer changed as it should but it didn't look like it scrolled.

Yes, that's what happens to me.. Appart from the above problems not
related to fvwm, it seems that it's not just me. That's a start! :)

> I can't use the system while it's running, so I don't think I can
> find out much more.

Ok, thanks for trying! I hope someone else with a suitable setup could
help me out..

Thanks