Comparison With Stacking Window Managers
The window manager sends each window a message to repaint itself whenever appropriate (such as when it is resized, or when another window passes in front of it). With a stacking manager, the repainting process can become corrupted when a program that is slow, unresponsive or buggy does not respond to messages in a timely manner. A malicious program can cause the system to become unstable by simply neglecting to repaint its window. Then, one or more of the following conditions may result:
- a clipped window does not repaint uncovered regions, resulting in either blank spaces or a "trail" left behind from another window
- portions of windows (such as decorative drop shadows) are left behind and not properly painted over
- the mouse pointer is corrupted
- screen updates become unbearably slow
- the entire screen freezes until the program either responds or is terminated
With a compositing manager, if a window stops repainting itself when requested by the window manager, its last repaint will remain displayed and the window might be dimmed. Often the title changes to reflect the status of the window as unresponsive. A program may prevent its window from being moved or unmapped, but generally will not cause repainting problems.
Read more about this topic: Compositing Window Manager
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