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Can I get this plug-in working on latest Ubuntu?

Thanks!

Naveen
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  • I am quite interested in a answer for 14.04... – Wilf Mar 30 '15 at 23:36
  • I also just tried copying the blur.so and blur.xml file of the files of fedora 21's compiz package (its included in the base package) - this resulted in the half expected thing of Unity crashing completely (EDIT: and Xorg as well) .... may be due to differing versions, dunno – Wilf Mar 30 '15 at 23:58
  • This question will probably be closed because it is about an End-of-Life Ubuntu release. – John Scott Mar 31 '15 at 00:42
  • @FuzzyToothpaste - it still applies for later releases including 14.04. It apparently was excluded in newer versions due to OpenGL|ES support or something, but it might be possible to get to work. – Wilf Mar 31 '15 at 18:25
  • @Wilf: I'm sorry it is not possible :( Compiz blur plugin has been discontinued in version 0.9 because it is buggy. The blur plugin was never released for Compiz 0.9. If you want the blur plugin you need to install compiz 0.8. But that does not support Unity Desktop. KWin is the last hope. I'm closing the question in order to return your bounty. – Naveen Apr 01 '15 at 15:01
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    The question as written is generic - it does not mention the Desktop Environment, so an answer such as use KWin, use compiz 0.8 with a particular DE is valid. – fossfreedom Apr 01 '15 at 16:06

1 Answers1

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Compiz blur plugin has been discontinued, and it never arrived for latest version of Compiz. If you really need the blur plug-in, you have to downgrade to Compiz 0.8.4 stable version. Please be aware of the facts:

  • If you downgrade you will no longer be able to use Ubuntu's Unity Desktop, as it requires Compiz 0.9 to work. Therefore you will have to change your desktop environment to something else like gnome-flashback-session or MATE desktop
  • When you successfully install Compiz 0.8.4, you will have no tools to tweak it. The compatible version of Compiz Config Settings Manager for Compiz 0.8.4 does not work in recent versions of Ubuntu as it has conflicts with Python versions. (Which is beyond the scoop of this question) Therefore you will have to deal with the conflict manually or use something like gconf-editor to tweak Compiz after the installation.

NOTE: Downgrading is not generally recommended as the newer version is considered to be superior to the old versions. DO NOT CONTINUE IF YOU ARE AN INEXPERIENCED UBUNTU USER.

Downgrading to Compiz 0.8.4

Instead of compiling from the source, we will be installing Compiz 0.8.4 from packages.

Before proceeding further make sure you are on a desktop environment which does not use Compiz.

First remove the existing compiz installation:

sudo apt-get remove --purge compiz*

Open your terminal and execute:

sudo echo "deb http://http.debian.net/debian squeeze main universe contrib" >> /etc/apt/sources.list

Then update the sources:

sudo apt-get update

Then install Compiz 0.8.4 series:

sudo apt-get install compiz-core=0.8.4-4 compiz=0.8.4-4 compiz-fusion-plugins-extra=0.8.4-2 compiz-fusion-plugins-main=0.8.4-2+b1 compiz-gnome=0.8.4-4 compiz-plugins=0.8.4-4

After the installation run:

compiz --replace

Uninstallation

sudo apt-get remove --purge compiz* sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

In case you get broken packages, execute:

sudo apt-get install -f

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Naveen
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  • If it has been discontinued, why is the blur plugin in the source of compiz version 0.9.7.12? see source https://launchpad.net/compiz-core/+download – j0h Apr 06 '15 at 02:58
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    needs quite alot of tweaks for 14.04 64bit... which version of Ubuntu are you using? (I'll might edit in some tweaks as needed for 14.04 when done) – Wilf Apr 07 '15 at 15:09
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    How hard would it be to port Blur to the latest compiz? – wrongusername Mar 13 '16 at 22:36