Building a 3D window manager for Linux

Question

I'm looking to learn about Linux window managers and build my own. I have two requirements which I would like to employ: 3D support and good compatibility/performance with existing applications.

Are there any window managers that meet these criteria and are lightweight enough for me to work with?

If not, what do I need to take into account to implement 3D support myself? I see Xlib doesn't support 3D windows by default at all.

Edit: Xlib mentions XGetGeometry, which could get a windows pixmap. I could then display it myself using OpenGL, however, is this the most efficient way to do this?

Answer 1

Are there any window managers that meet these criteria and are lightweight enough for me to work with?

you could look at Compiz which does just that. Also it has a plugin architecture. However beware the pitfalls of X11 based compositing, the woes of X11 itself and that large portions of the Linux graphics community have drunken the Wayland Kool-Aid.

Answer 2

You might want to look at Wayland. In a nutshell, Wayland gives each client a rectangular area to render things in and then builds the display on screen by compositing these areas.

The source code should give you some ideas how to redirect all the output of a client into a texture buffer.