When I start my system I don't get transparency, for instance. I always have to switch the compositing from OpenGL 2.0 to 3.1, or back. After that all effects are active. Is this a known bug, or should I file a report?

Arch Linux, KDE 4.14.1, nvidia 340.32

please post the output of "qdbus org.kde.KWin /KWin supportInformation" when compositing seems unavailable and also when it's back.
"no transparency" is a bad indicator for the issue - in case it refers to eg. the used plasma theme, that may have other reasons.

Situation after starting KDE, without effects:

Code: Select all

Version
=======
KWin version: 4.11.12
KDE SC version (runtime): 4.14.1
KDE SC version (compile): 4.14.0
Qt Version: 4.8.6

Options
=======
focusPolicy: 0
nextFocusPrefersMouse: false
clickRaise: true
autoRaise: false
autoRaiseInterval: 0
delayFocusInterval: 0
shadeHover: false
shadeHoverInterval: 250
separateScreenFocus: false
placement: 4
focusPolicyIsReasonable: true
borderSnapZone: 10
windowSnapZone: 10
centerSnapZone: 0
snapOnlyWhenOverlapping: false
showDesktopIsMinimizeAll: false
rollOverDesktops: false
focusStealingPreventionLevel: 2
legacyFullscreenSupport: false
operationTitlebarDblClick:
commandActiveTitlebar1: 0
commandActiveTitlebar2: 30
commandActiveTitlebar3: 2
commandInactiveTitlebar1: 4
commandInactiveTitlebar2: 30
commandInactiveTitlebar3: 2
commandWindow1: 7
commandWindow2: 8
commandWindow3: 8
commandWindowWheel: 31
commandAll1: 10
commandAll2: 3
commandAll3: 14
keyCmdAllModKey: 16777250
showGeometryTip: false
condensedTitle: false
electricBorderMaximize: false
electricBorderTiling: false
electricBorderCornerRatio: 0.25
borderlessMaximizedWindows: false
killPingTimeout: 5000
hideUtilityWindowsForInactive: true
inactiveTabsSkipTaskbar: false
autogroupSimilarWindows: false
autogroupInForeground: true
compositingMode: 1
useCompositing: false
compositingInitialized: false
hiddenPreviews: 1
unredirectFullscreen: false
glSmoothScale: 2
colorCorrected: false
xrenderSmoothScale: false
maxFpsInterval: 16666666
refreshRate: 0
vBlankTime: 6000000
glDirect: true
glStrictBinding: true
glStrictBindingFollowsDriver: true
glLegacy: false
glCoreProfile: false
glPreferBufferSwap: 97

Screen Edges
============
desktopSwitching: false
desktopSwitchingMovingClients: false
cursorPushBackDistance:
timeThreshold: 150
reActivateThreshold: 350
actionTopLeft: 0
actionTop: 0
actionTopRight: 0
actionRight: 0
actionBottomRight: 0
actionBottom: 0
actionBottomLeft: 0
actionLeft: 0

Screens
=======
Multi-Head: no
Active screen follows mouse:  no
Number of Screens: 1
Screen 0 Geometry: 0,0,1920x1080

Decoration
==========
Current Plugin: kwin3_oxygen
Shadows: yes
Alpha: yes
Announces Alpha: yes
Tabbing: yes
Frame Overlap: no
Blur Behind: no

Compositing
===========
Qt Graphics System: native
Compositing is not active


and with effects after switching to OpenGL 3.1

Code: Select all

Version
=======
KWin version: 4.11.12
KDE SC version (runtime): 4.14.1
KDE SC version (compile): 4.14.0
Qt Version: 4.8.6

Options
=======
focusPolicy: 0
nextFocusPrefersMouse: false
clickRaise: true
autoRaise: false
autoRaiseInterval: 0
delayFocusInterval: 0
shadeHover: false
shadeHoverInterval: 250
separateScreenFocus: false
placement: 4
focusPolicyIsReasonable: true
borderSnapZone: 10
windowSnapZone: 10
centerSnapZone: 0
snapOnlyWhenOverlapping: false
showDesktopIsMinimizeAll: false
rollOverDesktops: false
focusStealingPreventionLevel: 2
legacyFullscreenSupport: false
operationTitlebarDblClick:
commandActiveTitlebar1: 0
commandActiveTitlebar2: 30
commandActiveTitlebar3: 2
commandInactiveTitlebar1: 4
commandInactiveTitlebar2: 30
commandInactiveTitlebar3: 2
commandWindow1: 7
commandWindow2: 8
commandWindow3: 8
commandWindowWheel: 31
commandAll1: 10
commandAll2: 3
commandAll3: 14
keyCmdAllModKey: 16777250
showGeometryTip: false
condensedTitle: false
electricBorderMaximize: false
electricBorderTiling: false
electricBorderCornerRatio: 0.25
borderlessMaximizedWindows: false
killPingTimeout: 5000
hideUtilityWindowsForInactive: true
inactiveTabsSkipTaskbar: false
autogroupSimilarWindows: false
autogroupInForeground: true
compositingMode: 1
useCompositing: true
compositingInitialized: true
hiddenPreviews: 1
unredirectFullscreen: true
glSmoothScale: 2
colorCorrected: false
xrenderSmoothScale: false
maxFpsInterval: 16666666
refreshRate: 0
vBlankTime: 6000000
glDirect: true
glStrictBinding: false
glStrictBindingFollowsDriver: true
glLegacy: false
glCoreProfile: true
glPreferBufferSwap: 99

Screen Edges
============
desktopSwitching: false
desktopSwitchingMovingClients: false
cursorPushBackDistance:
timeThreshold: 150
reActivateThreshold: 350
actionTopLeft: 0
actionTop: 0
actionTopRight: 0
actionRight: 0
actionBottomRight: 0
actionBottom: 0
actionBottomLeft: 0
actionLeft: 0

Screens
=======
Multi-Head: no
Active screen follows mouse:  no
Number of Screens: 1
Screen 0 Geometry: 0,0,1920x1080

Decoration
==========
Current Plugin: kwin3_oxygen
Shadows: yes
Alpha: yes
Announces Alpha: yes
Tabbing: yes
Frame Overlap: no
Blur Behind: no

Compositing
===========
Qt Graphics System: native
Compositing is active
Compositing Type: OpenGL
OpenGL vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
OpenGL renderer string: GeForce GTX 260/PCIe/SSE2
OpenGL version string: 3.1.0 NVIDIA 340.32
OpenGL shading language version string: 1.40 NVIDIA via Cg compiler
Driver: NVIDIA
Driver version: 340.32
GPU class: G80/G90
OpenGL version: 3.1
GLSL version: 1.40
X server version: 1.16.1
Linux kernel version: 3.16.3
Direct rendering: yes
Requires strict binding: no
GLSL shaders:  yes
Texture NPOT support:  yes
Virtual Machine:  no
OpenGL 2 Shaders are used
Painting blocks for vertical retrace:  no

Loaded Effects:
---------------
kwin4_effect_screenshot
kwin4_effect_desktopgrid
kwin4_effect_diminactive
kwin4_effect_maximize
kwin4_effect_highlightwindow
kwin4_effect_presentwindows
kwin4_effect_dashboard
kwin4_effect_kscreen

Currently Active Effects:
-------------------------
kwin4_effect_diminactive

Effect Settings:
----------------
kwin4_effect_screenshot:

kwin4_effect_desktopgrid:
zoomDuration: 1
border: 10
desktopNameAlignment: 0
layoutMode: 0
customLayoutRows: 2
usePresentWindows: true

kwin4_effect_diminactive:
dimPanels: false
dimDesktop: false
dimKeepAbove: false
dimByGroup: true
dimStrength: 25

kwin4_effect_maximize:

kwin4_effect_highlightwindow:

kwin4_effect_presentwindows:
layoutMode: 0
showCaptions: true
showIcons: true
doNotCloseWindows: false
ignoreMinimized: false
accuracy: 20
fillGaps: true
fadeDuration: 1
showPanel: false
leftButtonWindow: 1
rightButtonWindow: 2
middleButtonWindow: 0
leftButtonDesktop: 2
middleButtonDesktop: 0
rightButtonDesktop: 0
dragToClose: false

kwin4_effect_dashboard:
brightness: 0.5
saturation: 0.5
blur: false

kwin4_effect_kscreen:


interesting.

when not available after login:

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kreadconfig --file kwinrc --group Compositing --key Enabled
tr '\000' '\n' < /proc/$(pidof kwin)/environ | grep -E '(KDE_FAILSAFE|KWIN_COMPOSE)'


The first part works (with result "false"), but what is "tr..."?

"translate", env vars are 0 delimited.

doesn't matter - run "kcmshell4 kwincompositing" and tick the "enable or start" checkbox

Args, I should read all options carefully. On the other hand, is this a sane default? And why do I want to disable the effects on start?

Anyway, thanks a lot for pointing me to the right setting.

It's not the default.
It's however automatically set to this when kwin crashes (3 times?) in a row, seeking to get you a usable system at least.