Revision 3 as of 2012-04-28 20:15:53

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Replace Dodge Windows Behavior in Unity

So, I've been running Ubuntu 12.04 since around Beta 1, and one thing that really bothered me was the missing 'Dodge Windows' behavior. I had gotten so particular and used to the behavior that it completely disrupted my workflow when I migrated over to Ubuntu 12.04.

There has been a valiant effort to recreate this behavior: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1936037. For the most part, the script works pretty well, but I wanted the "real" option back. In this bug report, #930148, one user, damianatorrpm (around comment #141), has created a couple patches that will revert the Canonical changes and re-add the behavior back to the source. I applied the patch to latest release of Unity (at this time of this writing, it's 5.12.0) and it works! Not only the behavior work as expected, the option is back in CCSM and has no nasty side-effects.

Another feature I really like is the ability to be able to click a program's icon on the Launcher and minimize/unminimize that window. Jonathan French (ojno), the developer behind this patch, has not only made this a reality, but also got this to work in conjunction with the 'Spread Windows' functionality. He's even set up a PPA which contains the latest Unity and his patch to make it easier for end-users to get it.

To make things easier, I've gone ahead and patched the vanilla Unity source to incorporate both of these behaviors. Furthermore, I've uploaded the changes to my Github. You can see this here: https://github.com/isaacj87/unity

The relevant commits are here:

Now, you may be wondering why I have this on Github and not on Launchpad. There are a few reason why:

  • I don't know how to create DEB packages properly or maintain a PPA.
  • Since Unity changes so fast, it would be easier to install it locally. Should anything go wrong, you won't bork your system and it can be easily removed.
  • I like Github.

So, without further ado, let's get started. Open up a Terminal window and follow the steps below.

NOTE: I tried this on a fresh installed of Ubuntu 12.04 32-bit. I can't say for sure if it'll work on older or other versions.

Install the Dependencies

The first thing to do is to install all the dependencies needed to grab the source (from my Github) and build Unity:

Code: 

sudo apt-get install git git-core

Code: 

sudo apt-get build-dep unity

Getting the Modified Source

Now, we'll need a place to compile Unity. I usually like to create a folder called staging and dump everything in there. You're welcome to put the source wherever you like, but remember to change it accordingly for the tutorial:

Code: 

mkdir ~/staging

...Now, we move into the directory:

Code: 

cd ~/staging

Okay, the next step is to grab the modified source from my Github. While still in the staging directory, run this command:

Code: 

git clone git://github.com/isaacj87/unity.git

Preparing Our Environment

Once it's done pulling the source, we'll need to prepare our environment to build. We'll create a simple bash script and make it executable:

Code: 

gedit unity.sh

...When the blank gedit window opens, copy and paste the following text into the file:

Code: 

PREFIX=/home/YOURUSERNAMEHERE/staging

export XDG_DATA_DIRS="$PREFIX/share:$XDG_DATA_DIRS"
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="$PREFIX/lib/"
export PKG_CONFIG_PATH="$PREFIX/lib/pkgconfig/"

You'll need to change YOURUSERNAMEHERE to your username. Once you've done that, save the file and close the window. Make the file executable and run it:

Code: 

chmod +x unity.sh

Code: 

./unity.sh

Build Unity

Okay, now let's build Unity! We'll need to create a build folder for the compile. Let's move into the Unity source directory and create that folder and move into it: Code: 

cd unity

Code: 

mkdir build && cd build

Now, we'll prepare the build, compile and install:

Code: 

cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/home/YOURUSERNAMEHERE/staging/ -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DCOMPIZ_PLUGIN_INSTALL_TYPE=local -DGSETTINGS_LOCALINSTALL=ON

(Once again, remember to change YOURUSERNAMEHERE to your username!)

Code: 

make -j4

Code: 

make install

Once that's finished, log out and back in. Ensure that CompizConfig Settings Manager (CCSM) is installed and go into the Unity plugin configuration. Turn on the Dodge Windows effect and it should work. Minimize an application to the launcher and click its icon again to unminimize it. If multiple windows of the same program are opened, the spread function should work as usual.

Removal

If you'd like to revert back to "stock" Unity, simply remove the ~/.compiz-1 folder and you should be back to normal.

Code: 

rm -r ~/.compiz-1

Credits: Dodge Windows patch by damianatorrpm and Jonathan French (ojno) for the wonderful minimize behavior code.