Make compiz-fusion work with xscreensaver (the quick & dirty way)
Posted in GNU | Linux, HowTo, Open Source on November 23rd, 2008 by Jorge – 6 CommentsThe beautiful desktop experience provided by compiz-fusion represents a significant aesthetic contribution to the pleasure of using Linux. Besides, it makes it really easy to impress even the most committed Apple disciple. The same is true for the cool gl screensavers written for xscreensavers. Unfortunately, these two don’t really work together (my computer freezes everytime xscreensaver comes up while running compiz-fusion) and although the screensaver plugin for compiz-fusion shows great potential, the gl collection for xscreensaver is still a bit ahead and has a lot more variety, so I really wanted to make them work together.
Here is what I did:
- You can use xscreensaver-command -watch to monitor xscreensaver events, so you can actually run a program when xscreensaver is activated (for example, to disable compiz-fusion), and another one when it is deactivated (to bring compiz-fusion back). I modified the following script available from the xscreensaver man pages and saved it as ~/bin/fixscreensaver:
#!/usr/bin/perl # Fixes xscreensaver when compiz is running my $blanked = 0; open (IN, "xscreensaver-command -watch |"); while () { if (m/^(BLANK|LOCK)/) { if (!$blanked) { system "usemetacity"; $blanked = 1; } } elsif (m/^UNBLANK/) { system "usecompiz"; $blanked = 0; } } - As you can see, the script above calls usemetacity when xscreensaver is activated and usecompiz when it is deactivated. Save the following script as ~/bin/usemetacity:
#!/bin/bash #killall gkrellm metacity --replace & #sleep 1 #gkrellm & - Now save this one as ~/bin/usecompiz:
#!/bin/bash #killall gkrellm compiz --replace & #sleep 2 #gkrellm & #windowranger - Add ~/bin/fixscreensaver to the list of startup applications (System > Preferences > Sessions > Startup programs) and also make sure that ~/bin/ is in your $PATH environment variable.
- Optional: If you use gkrellm, you should uncomment the corresponding lines in the scripts above. Those lines will prevent metacity (the default gnome window manager) and compiz-fusion from changing the position of the gkrellm window, which happens everytime you switch between the two because these window managers use different ways to describe desktop geometry.
- Optional: You can also use the usecompiz and usemetacity scripts to manage any other application that misbehaves when metacity or compiz-fusion take over your desktop. In fact, I use the windowranger script below to automatically put windows back into their corresponding viewports since everything gets shoved into the first viewport once you go back into compiz from metacity (thanks for pointing it out darken). You will need wmctrl for this to work properly:
#!/usr/bin/python import os, time, wnck, sys def dec2hex(n): #"""return the hexadecimal string representation of integer n"""# return "%X" % n def hex2dec(s): #"""return the integer value of a hexadecimal string s"""# return int(s, 16) def MoveWindow(wID, wtitle, xpos, ypos): time.sleep(0.2) os.system('wmctrl -i -r ' + wID + ' -e 0,'+str(xpos)+','+str(ypos)+',-1,-1') #time.sleep(0.4) #os.system('wmctrl -i -a ' + wID) if DEBUG: print "Moved to", xpos, ypos, 'n' def Place(x, y, wID, wclass, wtitle): fin,dout = os.popen4('wmctrl -d') # output desktop geometry for line in dout: line = line[line.find('VP: ') + 4:len(line)] # get current viewport offset line = line[0:line.find(' ')] offset = line.split(',') # split in x,y viewport offset coordinates vpxpos = int(offset[0]) # convert into integer vpypos = int(offset[1]) # convert into integer absxpos = vpxpos+x # absolute window position (x) absypos = vpypos+y # absolute window position (y) wxpos = absxpos wypos = absypos while wxpos >= width: wxpos = wxpos - width # relative window position (x) while wypos >= height: wypos = wypos - height # relative window position (y) if (wxpos >= 0)&(wxpos <= 2): wxpos = 0 if (wypos >= 0)&(wypos <= 2): wypos = 0 dout.close() # close command output if DEBUG: print 'Position:', absxpos, 'x', absypos #Send Firefox to viewport 1 if wclass.find('Firefox') != -1: # Flash fullscreen windows are titled 'Firefox' so we need to ignore them... if wtitle != 'Firefox': MoveWindow(wID, wtitle, wxpos - vpxpos + vpx1, wypos - vpypos + vpy1) #Send GYachI to viewport 2 elif wclass.find('GYachI') != -1: MoveWindow(wID, wtitle, wxpos - vpxpos + vpx2, wypos - vpypos + vpy2) #Send VirtualBox to viewport 5 elif wclass.find('VirtualBox') != -1: MoveWindow(wID, wtitle, wxpos - vpxpos + vpx5, wypos - vpypos + vpy5) #Send Amarok to viewport 6 elif wclass.find('Amarokapp') != -1: MoveWindow(wID, wtitle, wxpos - vpxpos + vpx6, wypos - vpypos + vpy6) #Send Azureus to viewport 6 elif wclass.find('SWT') != -1: MoveWindow(wID, wtitle, wxpos - vpxpos + vpx6, wypos - vpypos + vpy6) #Send Qbittorrent to viewport 6 elif wclass.find('Qbittorrent') != -1: MoveWindow(wID, wtitle, wxpos - vpxpos + vpx6, wypos - vpypos + vpy6) #Send Pidgin to viewport 7 elif wclass.find('Pidgin') != -1: MoveWindow(wID, wtitle, wxpos - vpxpos + vpx7, wypos - vpypos + vpy7) #Send Skype to viewport 7 elif wclass.find('Skype') != -1: MoveWindow(wID, wtitle, wxpos - vpxpos + vpx7, wypos - vpypos + vpy7) #Send Thunderbird to viewport 8 elif wclass.find('Thunderbird-bin') != -1: MoveWindow(wID, wtitle, wxpos - vpxpos + vpx8, wypos - vpypos + vpy8) #Send all other windows in viewport 1 to viewport 2 elif (wclass.find('Gnome-panel')==-1)&(wtitle != 'Desktop')&(wclass.find('Gkrellm')==-1)&(wclass.find('Launcher')==-1)&(absxpos < width)&(absypos <= height): MoveWindow(wID, wtitle, wxpos - vpxpos + vpx2, wypos - vpypos + vpy2) else: if DEBUG: print 'Ignoredn' #---------------------------- MAIN ------------------------------------- s = wnck.screen_get_default() width = s.get_width() height = s.get_height() vpx1 = (width * 0);vpy1 = (height * 0) vpx2 = (width * 1);vpy2 = (height * 0) vpx3 = (width * 2);vpy3 = (height * 0) vpx4 = (width * 3);vpy4 = (height * 0) vpx5 = (width * 0);vpy5 = (height * 1) vpx6 = (width * 1);vpy6 = (height * 1) vpx7 = (width * 2);vpy7 = (height * 1) vpx8 = (width * 3);vpy8 = (height * 1) DEBUG = False; for arg in sys.argv: if arg=='--debug': DEBUG=True; if DEBUG: print 'Viewport geometry:', width, 'x', height, 'n' fin,wout = os.popen4('wmctrl -lGx') for line in wout: wID = line[0:line.find(' ')] # get the window ID line = line[line.find(' '):len(line)] line = line.lstrip() wdesk = line[0:line.find(' ')] # get the window desktop line = line[line.find(' '):len(line)] line = line.lstrip() wxoffset = line[0:line.find(' ')] # get the window x offset wxoffset = (int(wxoffset) / 2) line = line[line.find(' '):len(line)] line = line.lstrip() wyoffset = line[0:line.find(' ')] # get the window y offset wyoffset = (int(wyoffset) / 2) - 24 line = line[line.find(' '):len(line)] line = line.lstrip() wwidth = line[0:line.find(' ')] # get the window width line = line[line.find(' '):len(line)] line = line.lstrip() wheight = line[0:line.find(' ')] # get the window height line = line[line.find(' '):len(line)] line = line.lstrip() wclass = line[0:line.find(' jsilva')] # get the window class line = line[line.find(' jsilva'):len(line)] line = line.lstrip() whost = line[0:line.find(' ')] # get the window host line = line[line.find(' '):len(line)] line = line.lstrip() wtitle = line[0:len(line) - 1] # get the window title if DEBUG: print 'Class:', wclass print 'Host:', whost print 'Title:', wtitle Place(wxoffset,wyoffset,wID,wclass,wtitle) # place window wout.close() - Enjoy!
