Xcompmgr messing with openbox windows (conky and kde apps only)

Question

here's the involved packages:
openbox 3.4.7.2-1
nvidia 177.82-1
xorg-server 1.5.3-3
xcompmgr 1.1.4-1
kdelibs3 3.5.10-2
conky 1.6.1-2
now the issue is primarily with xcompmgr.  when it's running (default options or the whole -cCfF... stuff doesn't make a difference).  i have the following:
whenever a kde apps window opens.  (i.e. i start amarok or k3b; k3b opens new windows during burn start/stop process) my conky will disappear only to flicker and reappear a few seconds later. (this only happens with kde apps)
when i'm tweaking my conky i will often `pkill conky; sleep 3; conky` to see my changes.  when i kill conky, ALL of my active windows on the current desktop disappear and only reappear if a) they are redrawn because of an update to their contents on their own accord, or b) (kinda the same thing) i grab a window and drag it all over the screen resetting whatever i pass over to it's correct visual state.  (this only happens when killing conky)
this is annoying me, i love the shadows/fading from xcompmgr but this flickering makes my whole experience feel unstable and i have to turn it off after a few minutes.  turn off xcompmgr and it's rock solid just as before... snappier too i think.
this behavior started immediately after the recent xorg update (i saved that for last because i know were all sick of _that_).  i changed nothing, but for the -Syu when this happened.
anyways, your thoughts and help is much appreciated.

Answer 1

so i'm resurrecting this thread because i hoped, and  prayed, that xorg 1.6 in testing would fix this problem.  i've been working my ass off to keep my system back in xorg 1.4.  my desktop just looks so oldfashioned w/o shadows and transparency. 
ok so to re-outline, i'm running:
pacman -Q stuff
xorg-server 1.6.0-1
nvidia 180.29-3
openbox 3.4.7.2-1
xcompmgr 1.1.4-1
with this gpu:
hwd -s | grep video
Video : GeForce 7150 / nForce 630i server: XFree86 (vesa)
i created a minimal xorg.conf via nvidia-xconfig an added a few suggested options (although they _really_ don't seem to affect this bug...):
cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf
# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig: version 1.0 (buildmeister@builder62) Thu Feb 5 00:08:50 PST 2009
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout0"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "Unknown"
HorizSync 28.0 - 33.0
VertRefresh 43.0 - 72.0
Option "DPMS"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "Device0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
Option "NoLogo" "True"
Option "RenderAccel" "True"
Option "TripleBuffer" "True"
Option "BackingStore" "False"
Option "DamageEvents" "True"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Device0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection
now, here's what happens:
i startx, .xinitrc or autostart.sh bring up xcompmgr, bmpanel, and conky
if i open amarok or k3b, conky and bmpanel (both using transparency) vanish while the splash screen(s) show.
when i burn something with k3b (and new windows appear) i see similar behavior
sometimes it's just for a sec and then it's back, sometimes conky comes back with part of itself missing
also, if you execute `pkill conky` from an xterm, all windows are 'destroyed' until you [blindly] grab that xterm window and move it about your desktop 'revealing' the desktops contents.  please see this screenshot for this in action.
killing xcompmgr fixes all this... but it's so ugly.  the problems go away if i downgrade to xorg-server 1.4 (and also adjust any related/dependant packages to match).
please please, tell me i'm not alone!  a fix would be nice too .
thanks in advance... again
Last edited by brisbin33 (2009-03-05 01:30:10)