Installation

See Getting Started for help getting the pre-built Pyro Compzilla extension for Firefox 2 installed and running.

You can also download the latest released source distribution.

Latest Source Code

Compzilla uses SVN for it's version control. To check out the latest sources anonymously, run:

$ svn co http://pyrodesktop.org/svn/trunk/pyrodesktop pyrodesktop

You can also browse the repository online.

Filing Bugs

Pyro uses Google Code Hosting's issue tracker. To file a new bug, visit http://code.google.com/p/pyrodesktop/issues/list.

Please be sure to include the version of Firefox you are running, as well as the Pyro debug log output, described above.

Running with Firefox 3.0

Compzilla performs much better using the under-development Firefox 3, aka "Minefield" (see this page for instructions on getting the source code).

You just need to build the 'browser' product.

Debugging Pyro

By default Pyro/Compzilla is set to not print much debugging output to the console. In order to debug problems or hack on Pyro internals, you'll probably want to see more of what's going on.

The debug log is also invaluable for Pyro developers to diagnose issues you have, so please generate a log before filing a bug in the Pyro issue tracker.

To enable debugging output, set the NSPR_LOG_MODULES environment variable before running firefox:

$ export NSPR_LOG_MODULES="compzilla:10"

X Server Requirements

Compzilla requires an Xwindows server with both Damage and Composite extensions turned on, and also requires the the Composite extension of at least version 0.3.

Compzilla is still a very basic window manager and doesn't play nice with some existing applications. So you may want to insulate yourself from instability by running another instance of your normal X server, or by running a nested X server.

Normal X server

Start up another X instance by running:

$ startx -- :1

You'll also find yourself switching virtual desktops to switch to and from your Compzilla X server instance and your normal desktop, which takes time. This approach will result in a faster, smoother experience with regards to the X server though, so use this approach if you want to see what Compzilla is really like performance-wise.

Nested X server

This is perhaps the more productive way of testing things, as the nested X server is just another window on your existing desktop. You must use Xephyr and not Xnest for this, because Xnest doesn't support the Damage and Composite extensions.

You invoke Xephyr in basically the same fashion as the normal X server:

$ Xephyr -ac -noreset :1

Secondary Profile

It's a smart idea to run Compzilla using a secondary Firefox profile so that you can have a regular instance of Firefox running at the same time, and to safeguard your existing bookmarks and settings.

This recommendation is only temporary while Pyro stabilizes, though the option always exists for the security conscious.

You can create a Firefox profile by running:

$ firefox -ProfileManager

You can then run Compzilla using the following command:

$ firefox -chrome chrome://compzilla/content/start.xul -P <PROFILE NAME>

TODO Tasks

Check out the Compzilla TODO for detail on areas where help is needed from new contributors.