Xfwm 4.14 Compositor Troubleshooting Guide

ToZ · 2019-08-16 13:03:50

There have been numerous reported issues with the 4.14 release of xfwm related to transparency issues, compositing problems and blank screens. This post will provide some troubleshooting information to get the issue resolved.

There have been significant changes in the vblank code between 4.12 and 4.14 to help address and hopefully solve the screen tearing issues. xfwm4 now supports 3 vblank modes:

glx or auto - this is the default. Anecdotally, this seems to work well with intel cards and some nvidia/ati cards
xpresent - uses the xpresent libraries. Anecdotally, this seems to work well with newer ati/amd cards.
off - this disables the vblank code. Anecdotally, this seems to work well with nvidia cards.

To test which vblank mode works best for your system, simply restart xfwm and specify as a parameter which vblank mode to use:

xfwm4 --vblank=MODE --replace

...where "MODE" is one of: auto, glx , xpresent , or off.

If this fixes your problem, you can make it permanent via a vblank_mode setting:

xfconf-query -c xfwm4 -p /general/vblank_mode -t string -s "MODE" --create

...where "MODE" is one of: "auto", "glx", "xpresent", "off".

Note: if nothing is specified, glx is used.

Last edited by ToZ (2019-10-14 11:36:26)

sushi · 2019-10-14 06:42:36

Hi ToZ,

Thanks for this guide !

Here I have a fourth mode > "auto" . Is there any command to know which mode is use by "auto" ?

ToZ · 2019-10-14 11:33:47

Yes, you are right. "auto" is also valid and it uses the glx backend by default. I'll update my post.

Thanks.

sushi · 2019-10-14 12:25:45

My pleasure.

Thanks.

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#1 2019-08-16 13:03:50

Xfwm 4.14 Compositor Troubleshooting Guide

#2 2019-10-14 06:42:36

Re: Xfwm 4.14 Compositor Troubleshooting Guide

#3 2019-10-14 11:33:47

Re: Xfwm 4.14 Compositor Troubleshooting Guide

#4 2019-10-14 12:25:45

Re: Xfwm 4.14 Compositor Troubleshooting Guide

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