Can't start Compiz.

[vadi]

Okay, I uninstalled everything relating to Compiz (I hope), and got it again from the Ubuntu repositories. However when I start it, I don't get any window borders or effects. Here's what it says:

vadi@vadi-laptop:~$ compiz --replace
Checking for Xgl: not present.
Detected PCI ID for VGA: 01:00.0 0300: 1002:4c57 (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: not present.
Trying again with indirect rendering:
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: present.
Checking for non power of two support: present.
Checking for Composite extension: present.
Comparing resolution (1024x768) to maximum 3D texture size (1024): Passed.
Checking for nVidia: not present.
Checking for FBConfig: present.
Checking for Xgl: not present.
Starting emerald
/usr/bin/emerald: error while loading shared libraries: libdecoration.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/home/vadi/.compiz/metadata/photo.xml:1: parser error : Document is empty

^
/home/vadi/.compiz/metadata/photo.xml:1: parser error : Start tag expected, '<' not found

^
/home/vadi/.compiz/metadata/star.xml:1: parser error : Document is empty

^
/home/vadi/.compiz/metadata/star.xml:1: parser error : Start tag expected, '<' not found

^
/home/vadi/.compiz/metadata/screensaver.xml:1: parser error : Document is empty

^
/home/vadi/.compiz/metadata/screensaver.xml:1: parser error : Start tag expected, '<' not found

^
/usr/bin/compiz.real (core) - Error: Couldn't load plugin 'svg'
/usr/bin/compiz.real (core) - Error: Couldn't load plugin 'video'
/usr/bin/compiz.real (core) - Error: Couldn't load plugin 'decoration'

vadi@vadi-laptop:~$

Anyone have any idea?

[Deciare]

Where does your system stand now in terms of what you have installed and what you don't?

Let's try to move back to using Ubuntu's official packages, first of all, since that's easier. Can we see a list of what Compiz-related packages you have installed? Please post the output of this command:
dpkg -l | grep -i compiz

Next, delete all traces of what you might have installed from git earlier:
rm -rf /usr/local/bin/compiz* /usr/local/bin/emerald* /usr/local/lib/compiz* /usr/local/share/compiz* /usr/local/lib/emerald /usr/local/share/emerald /usr/local/lib/libemeraldengine* /usr/local/lib/libdecoration*

[vadi]

Yes, I'm on the official packages. Here is the output:

vadi@vadi-laptop:~$ dpkg -l | grep -i compiz
ii compiz 1:0.6.2+git20071119-0ubuntu1~gutsy1 OpenGL window and compositing manager
ii compiz-bcop 0.5.2-0ubuntu1 Compiz option code generator
ii compiz-core 1:0.6.2+git20071119-0ubuntu1~gutsy1 OpenGL window and compositing manager
ii compiz-fusion-plugins-extra 0.6.0+git20071121-0ubuntu1~gutsy1 Collection of extra plugins from OpenComposi
ii compiz-fusion-plugins-main 0.5.2+git20070928-0ubuntu2 Collection of plugins from OpenCompositing f
ii compiz-gnome 1:0.6.2+git20071119-0ubuntu1~gutsy1 OpenGL window and compositing manager - GNOM
ii compiz-plugins 1:0.6.2+git20071119-0ubuntu1~gutsy1 OpenGL window and compositing manager - plug
ii compizconfig-settings-manager 0.5.2+git20070912-0ubuntu1 Compiz configuration settings manager
ii emerald 0.3~git20070717-0ubuntu1 Decorator for compiz-fusion
ii libcompizconfig-backend-gconf 0.5.2+git20071010-0ubuntu1 Settings library for plugins - OpenCompositi
ii libcompizconfig0 0.5.2+git20070919-0ubuntu3 Settings library for plugins - OpenCompositi
ii libdecoration0 1:0.6.2+git20071119-0ubuntu1~gutsy1 Compiz window decoration library
ii libemeraldengine0 0.3~git20070717-0ubuntu1 Decoration engines for compiz-fusion
ii python-compizconfig 0.5.2+git20070912-0ubuntu1 Compiz configuration system bindings
vadi@vadi-laptop:~$

And I ran the delete command.

Here's what happens when I do compiz --replace right now:

vadi@vadi-laptop:~$ compiz --replace
Checking for Xgl: not present.
Detected PCI ID for VGA: 01:00.0 0300: 1002:4c57 (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: not present.
Trying again with indirect rendering:
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: present.
Checking for non power of two support: present.
Checking for Composite extension: present.
Comparing resolution (1024x768) to maximum 3D texture size (1024): Passed.
Checking for nVidia: not present.
Checking for FBConfig: present.
Checking for Xgl: not present.
Starting emerald
/usr/bin/emerald: error while loading shared libraries: libdecoration.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/home/vadi/.compiz/metadata/photo.xml:1: parser error : Document is empty

^
/home/vadi/.compiz/metadata/photo.xml:1: parser error : Start tag expected, '<' not found

^
/home/vadi/.compiz/metadata/star.xml:1: parser error : Document is empty

^
/home/vadi/.compiz/metadata/star.xml:1: parser error : Start tag expected, '<' not found

^
/home/vadi/.compiz/metadata/screensaver.xml:1: parser error : Document is empty

^
/home/vadi/.compiz/metadata/screensaver.xml:1: parser error : Start tag expected, '<' not found

^


I get stuck with no window borders. To get out, I ctrl+c and then metacity --replace.

[Deciare]

The reason you have no window borders is because Emerald can't start. It seems like the rest of Compiz is working fine, though. Your earlier error about not being able to load several of the plugins is also no longer coming up, so that's good.

Yes, I'm on the official packages. Here is the output:

ii libdecoration0 1:0.6.2+git20071119-0ubuntu1~gutsy1 Compiz window decoration library
[...]
/usr/bin/emerald: error while loading shared libraries: libdecoration.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
I'm not sure your package list can be trusted at this point, since it's not finding a file that is clearly installed. Can you try reinstalling all those packages?

sudo apt-get install --reinstall compiz compiz-bcop compiz-core compiz-fusion-plugins-extra compiz-fusion-plugins-main compiz-gnome compiz-plugins compizconfig-settings-manager emerald libcompizconfig-backend-gconf libcompizconfig0 libdecoration0 libemeraldengine0 python-compizconfig

[vadi]

Hm, that didn't help:

$ compiz --replace
Checking for Xgl: not present.
Detected PCI ID for VGA: 01:00.0 0300: 1002:4c57 (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: not present.
Trying again with indirect rendering:
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: present.
Checking for non power of two support: present.
Checking for Composite extension: present.
Comparing resolution (1024x768) to maximum 3D texture size (1024): Passed.
Checking for nVidia: not present.
Checking for FBConfig: present.
Checking for Xgl: not present.
Starting emerald
/home/vadi/.compiz/metadata/photo.xml:1: parser error : Document is empty

^
/home/vadi/.compiz/metadata/photo.xml:1: parser error : Start tag expected, '<' not found

^
/home/vadi/.compiz/metadata/star.xml:1: parser error : Document is empty

^
/home/vadi/.compiz/metadata/star.xml:1: parser error : Start tag expected, '<' not found

^
/home/vadi/.compiz/metadata/screensaver.xml:1: parser error : Document is empty

^
/home/vadi/.compiz/metadata/screensaver.xml:1: parser error : Start tag expected, '<' not found

^



So then I removed emerald, but same result...

~$ compiz --replace
Checking for Xgl: not present.
Detected PCI ID for VGA: 01:00.0 0300: 1002:4c57 (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: not present.
Trying again with indirect rendering:
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: present.
Checking for non power of two support: present.
Checking for Composite extension: present.
Comparing resolution (1024x768) to maximum 3D texture size (1024): Passed.
Checking for nVidia: not present.
Checking for FBConfig: present.
Checking for Xgl: not present.
Starting gtk-window-decorator
/home/vadi/.compiz/metadata/photo.xml:1: parser error : Document is empty

^
/home/vadi/.compiz/metadata/photo.xml:1: parser error : Start tag expected, '<' not found

^
/home/vadi/.compiz/metadata/star.xml:1: parser error : Document is empty

^
/home/vadi/.compiz/metadata/star.xml:1: parser error : Start tag expected, '<' not found

^
/home/vadi/.compiz/metadata/screensaver.xml:1: parser error : Document is empty

^
/home/vadi/.compiz/metadata/screensaver.xml:1: parser error : Start tag expected, '<' not found

^



Maybe those plugins are messing up?

[Deciare]

That did help: Emerald is no longer complaining about being unable to find libdecoration. If you're still not seeing window borders, there must be a different problem we haven't addressed.

The errors you're seeing about the .xml files are saying that something has caused the files in your ~/.compiz/metadata directory to become blank, which suggests something really broke hardcore a while ago. ^^;

For now, deleting everything in ~/.compiz will silence those messages:
rm -rf ~/.compiz
That will delete your Photowheel, Stars, and and Screensaver plugin, but you can install them the same way you did the first time once your other issues are sorted out.

Next, check ccsm to ensure that the Window Decoration plugin is enabled. It couldn't be loaded before, so it may not be enabled now.

[vadi]

Thank you Deciare! The plugin indeed wasn't enabled. I checked it off, and it worked.

Thanks again for all your help! I'd give you a cookie if you were nearby.