vortex is an independent wayland compositor written in C.
Currently under active development as a high-performance, modern Wayland compositor focused on creating a visually appealing Wayland desktop experience.
The project's goal is to create a self-contained platform dedicated entirely to desktop compositing. In other words, the compositor is responsible only for compositing and its related aspects (such as window animations and IPC), while components like the desktop shell are intentionally abstracted away from it.
Make sure you have the required dependencies installed (debian packages shown):
sudo apt install meson ninja-build libwayland-dev wayland-protocols libdrm-dev libgbm-dev libegl-dev libgl-dev libwayland-egl-backend-dev libinput-dev libudev-dev libxcursor-dev xcursor-themes libxkbcommon-dev libpixman-1-dev libseat-dev libliftoff-dev libcglm-devFor Vulkan rendering support, additionally install:
sudo apt install libvulkan-devClone & build:
git clone https://github.com/cococry/vortex.git
cd vortex
# needs to be in $PATH
meson setup build --prefix="$HOME/.local"
meson compile -C build
meson install -C buildVortex supports configuring which sink backends and rendering backends are built through Meson options.
| Option | Values | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
-Dbackends |
drm, wayland, all |
all |
Specify which sink backends to build |
-Drenderers |
opengl, vulkan, all |
opengl |
Specify which rendering backends to build |
The backends option controls which sink backend .so modules are compiled and installed.
The renderers option controls which GPU rendering backends are compiled, including the corresponding backends in Runara.
For example, build only the DRM sink backend with OpenGL rendering:
meson setup build --prefix="$HOME/.local" -Dbackends=drm -Drenderers=openglBuild only the Wayland sink backend with Vulkan rendering:
meson setup build --prefix="$HOME/.local" -Dbackends=wayland -Drenderers=vulkanBuild all sink backends and rendering backends:
meson setup build --prefix="$HOME/.local" -Dbackends=all -Drenderers=allTo change the options of an existing build:
meson configure build -Dbackends=wayland -Drenderers=opengl
meson compile -C build
meson install -C buildImportant
Vulkan rendering is TODO and not yet supported
Simple test of vortex:
./build/vortex &
sleep 1
WAYLAND_DISPLAY=wayland-1 weston-simple-shmNote
Use the wayland display that is logged by the output of ./vortex --verbose as the WAYLAND_DISPLAY variable when starting clients.
Note
The sink backend is automatically chosen at runtime, depending on context.
Supported sink backends are:
- DRM/KMS (hardware scanout)
- Wayland (nested session)
vortex [option:s] (value:s)| Option | Description |
|---|---|
-h, --help |
Show this help message and exit |
-v, --version |
Show version information |
-vb, --verbose |
Log verbose (trace) output for debugging |
-lf, --logfile |
Write logs to a logfile located in:~/.local/state/vortex/logs/ or $XDG_STATE_HOME/vortex/logs |
-q, --quiet |
Run in quiet mode (no logging) |
-vo, --virtual-outputs [val] |
Specify the number of virtual outputs (windows) in nested mode |
-b, --backend [val] |
Specify the compositor’s sink backend. Valid options: drm, wl. Example:vortex -b drm |
-bp, --backend-path [val] |
Specify the path to a .so file to load as a custom sink backend |
-expt, --exclude-protocol [val(s)] |
Specify the optional protocols (space seperated) you wish to not support during runtime |
The compositor supports pluggable sink backends that can be discovered at runtime.
Valid options for backends are:
- drm
- wl
You can specify one directly:
vortex -b drmOr load a custom shared object backend manually:
vortex -bp /usr/lib/vortex/backends/libcustom.soVortex handles the following environment variables:
| Env | Description |
|---|---|
VT_DRM_NO_ATOMIC |
Force legacy DRM/KMS implementation |
VT_DRM_NO_HARDWARE_CURSOR |
Force cursor compositing |
VT_DRM_NO_DIRECT_SCANOUT |
Composite every surface, never try to put client buffers on hardware planes. |