What is the difference between compiz-plugins and compiz-plugins-extra? Which should I install?

Question

Over the past couple years when I've been looking at guides for installing ccsm (compiz config settings manager) I've seen some of them suggesting the package compiz-plugins for extra plugins and some recommend compiz-plugins-extra but I've never really seen both recommended.

I was wondering if it is as simple as it sounds and compiz-plugins-extra contains more additional plugins than compiz-plugins? And my primary question, other than the difference between the two packages, is it safe to install both?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Yes, Compiz Extra are indeed extra plugings. There is a fundamental difference between the 2 sets though: Compiz plugins are the core plugins (these are installed by default and are considered must haves for a well working Compiz) and Compiz Extra hold the fun extra's so these are seen as not necessary but might be useful to a more than average audience.

The Compiz Extra plugins are ...

1. 3D Windows - Make windows rise above the surface of the Desktop Cube as it rotates.
2. ADD Helper -Darken every other window to help yourself concentrate on what you're working on now.
3. Benchmark -See exactly how smoothly Compiz can run on your system by showing the number of frames being rendered per second.
4. Crash handler - See a debugging backtrace when Compiz crashes. You may also specify a fall-back window manager to switch to in case Compiz crashes.
5. Cube Caps - Decorate the top and bottom faces of the cube with an image of your choice. 6 .Cube Gears - Place the famous glxgears gears into the cube. The transparent cube option must be enabled for the gears to be visible.
6. Cube Reflection - Add a reflective ground to the Compiz Cube plugin.
7. Extra WM Actions - Use shortcut keys to toggle various states of the window, such being sticky or above other windows. There are other states as well, which are described in more detail on this plugin's page.
8. Error Notifications - Display messages from Compiz in the system notification area so that you don't need to run Compiz in a console to see them.
9. Fade to Desktop - Fade windows out to reveal the desktop.
10. Paint fire on the screen - Draw fire anywhere on your screen. You can continue to use your computer even as the fire is burning!
11. Group and Tab Windows - Arrange windows into groups to move and resize them all at the same time. You can also group related windows into a single, tabbed window to save space.
12. Login/Logout - Smoothly fade the desktop in or out when you login and logout. Maximumize - Make a window just large enough to fill unoccupied screen space without overlapping any more windows.
13. Motion blur - See a motion blur for different screen animations.
14. Reflection - Give translucent windows a reflective look by superimposing a reflection map over translucent regions.
15. Scale Window Title Filter - Add more functionality to the Scale plugin. Now you can search for windows in Scale mode by typing a part of a window's title.
16. Shelf - Scale down individual windows to keep them out of your way, yet easily visible.
17. Show desktop - Slide all windows toward the edges or corners of the screen to reveal the desktop.
18. Show mouse - Draw attention to your mouse cursor with trails of light and motion. Splash - Show an animated logo image when Compiz starts.
19. Trailfocus - Leave a trail of progressively dimmer windows as you hop from window to window. This lets you see long it's been since you last focused a particular window.
20. Wallpaper - Use different backgrounds for different workspaces. Requires patches to Nautilus when using Gnome.
21. Widget Layer - Place windows of your choice onto a widget layer that can be shown or hidden with a shortcut key. It's a lot like OS X's Dashboard.