Beryl lead developer posts possibility of Beryl/Compiz merge

greggh · Post by **greggh** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 10:42 pm

http://lists.beryl-project.org/pipermai ... 00356.html

Well, I've read all the arguments, and I think I may have been being overly
cautious. It is indeed a concern that we might lose our freedom in
a 'merge', but I have been convinced that it isn't a major concern (and of
course we reserve the right to re-fork).

We do indeed need to choose a third, new name in a merge, and of course
(again) rename the beryl-named components, for the obvious reasons.

I hope that we can execute this in a way that the average user sticks with it
and isn't overwhelmed / doesn't feel left behind.

The only real question in my mind right now is what we should do at/about UDS.
I am sure there is still reason for us to attend, as I doubt the merge will
be complete by then, especially with so much code, and so many processes to
go through. I also believe that beryl's user-focused model is better for
Ubuntu, and that having Beryl devs going will give Ubuntu a good working
relationship with people in the new project who can keep things on track for
them and their goals (and especially their users)

I know this is kinda a flip-flop from my last position, but its because I
actually have paid attention to what the various people have commented on the
obby document, etc.

I hope for good things in the future for all of us.

--Quinn

-- I think it's better if Beryl stays independent.

Vogateer · Post by **Vogateer** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 11:21 pm

I'm impressed there's the possibility they can bury the hatchet and get back to working together again. Don't have much to comment on about the code itself, but like she ( <- Quinn's preference) said, they can always fork it again if they feel things are going badly.

CptnObvious999 · Post by **CptnObvious999** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 12:15 am

I think Compiz is slightly more stable so hopefully this could lead to a happy medium of bleeding edge and stability. I don't understand why Compiz couldn't compromise before, they could have a unstable branch a stable branch that way the experimental stuff gets sent to the unstable branch for testing and the bug fixes and such could be kept in the stable until parts of the unstable could be merged in as they were deemed stable. Hopefully this will lead to faster development and a better product.

Tsuroerusu · Post by **Tsuroerusu** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 5:46 am

I don't like this topic at all, because the next thing someone brings up is oh how stupid it is that KDE and GNOME doesn't merge.

Anyone arguing that KDE and GNOME ought to merge clearly have their heads up their asses and don't know **** about the technical differences between KDE and GNOME, and even their developers!

CptnObvious999 · Post by **CptnObvious999** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 9:21 am

Tsuroerusu wrote:I don't like this topic at all, because the next thing someone brings up is oh how stupid it is that KDE and GNOME doesn't merge.

Anyone arguing that KDE and GNOME ought to merge clearly have their heads up their asses and don't know **** about the technical differences between KDE and GNOME, and even their developers!

That's an awesome idea KDE and GNOME should merge!

KDE and GNOME are very different and their goal is to provide a different experience with a similar product. They both use a different backend with their advantages and disadvantages, I don't think anyone here is naive enough to think they would ever merge.

Compiz/Beryl is different as they both came from the same code and are duplicating functionality, it is also modular so you can easily turn off effects and such which gives some room for both groups to do as they will, only difference is there should be more collaboration.

allix · Post by **allix** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 1:19 pm

when looking glass gets emerged it could get interesting..

Gomer_X · Post by **Gomer_X** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 8:38 am

Tsuroerusu wrote:I don't like this topic at all, because the next thing someone brings up is oh how stupid it is that KDE and GNOME doesn't merge.

Look! Someone did bring it up!!

Oh wait, that was you!

Tsuroerusu · Post by **Tsuroerusu** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 10:13 am

Gomer_X wrote:
Tsuroerusu wrote:I don't like this topic at all, because the next thing someone brings up is oh how stupid it is that KDE and GNOME doesn't merge.
Look! Someone did bring it up!!

Oh wait, that was you!

That was actually a pretty good point.

snarkout · Post by **snarkout** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 11:19 am

This whole thing makes no sense to me at all. I'm not sure how they even plan to achieve this unless the beryl devs want to re-release under a non-gpl license. Really, it seems like the compiz devs should have been more willing to allow for plugins in the beginning, and the beryl folks should have forked in a way that would allow their patches and changes to be merged back into compiz. As it is, I've kind of lost faith in either project really being willing or able to work with the other.