Can extensions such as "Composite" be loaded/unloaded w/o restarting X?

[Tomas Carnecky]

ben chang wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I'm pretty sure the answer is "No", but I thought I'd ask anyway :)  
> Two reasons why I'm interested : 
> 
> one, naturally it's always pleasant when you can reconfigure as much as possible
> without restarting.
> 
> two, actually the main reason:  I use Maya a lot, which crashes badly if you're
> using the Composite extension.  But, I love the GL-accelerated desktop, both
> for aesthetic pleasure and real functionality improvement!  It seems this means
> having to switch between different xorg.conf files and restart the window
> manager whenever I want to use Maya or use other apps while enjoying Compiz,
> etc.

Does maya crash when the server has Composite loaded or when a 
compositing manager is active? The former case would be quite strange 
(likely a bug in the xserver), the later case can be easily fixed by 
starting a normal window manager when you need to run Maya and after 
you're done restarting compiz.

> the obvious solution would be for Autodesk to fix this, but it seems they've
> never really shown much interest in Maya keeping pace with the linux desktop. 
> I think they target Maya on linux to some kind of class of "power users" from
> the SGI days, people who still think that Motif is the visual sign of serious
> software, and production houses who rebuild their own custom UI's around Maya
> anyway.  That's a strategy that I can completely understand, but it's a drag. 
> Ok, so anyway:
> 
> is it possible to load and unload Composite without restarting X?  

tom