[webkit-gtk] Add API for disabling the accelerated compositing

[Carlos Garcia Campos]

El mar, 15-11-2016 a las 10:09 +0100, Tomas Popela escribió:
> Hi everyone,

Hi,

> I would like to start a discussion about adding a new API for
> disabling
> the accelerated compositing (AC). We (Evolution) actually don't need
> AC
> enabled at all for our WebKitGTK+ use and some of our users are
> observing a big performance hit with 2.14.x (please see [0]) that is
> solved by disabling AC.

Thanks for starting this discussion.

> The only way right now to disable the AC is through the environment
> variable WEBKIT_DISABLE_COMPOSITING_MODE. I would like to propose the
> following API:
> 
> void webkit_web_context_set_accelerated_compositing_enabled
> (WebKitWebContext *context, gboolean enabled);
> 
> gboolean webkit_web_context_get_accelerated_compositing_enabled
> (WebKitWebContext *context);

There's already a setting in WebCore, so it would be more natural to
expose it as a WebKitSetting, we used to have that setting in WebKit1
indeed.

> As Carlos mentioned to me on IRC some people actually wanted to
> remove
> the non AC mode for WebKitGTK+ at some point in the future. If so can
> you please share the reasons with me (I have to admit that I remember
> that someone mentioned that during the hackfest, but I don't recall
> anything about that).

Yes, I think it makes sense for a web browser to always have the AC
enabled, because more and more websites simply don't work without it.
But I agree that other applications don't really need it, maybe evo
could enable it for email rendering, but definitely not for the
composer, for example. The AC mode requires a lot more memory, is
slower to start, and makes us depend on graphics drivers . . . So, yes,
I'm in favor of keeping the non AC mode and allow applications to
disable AC.

> [0] - https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=774067
> 
> Tom 
> _______________________________________________
> webkit-gtk mailing list
> webkit-gtk at lists.webkit.org
> https://lists.webkit.org/mailman/listinfo/webkit-gtk
-- 
Carlos Garcia Campos
http://pgp.rediris.es:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0xF3D322D0EC4582C3
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 191 bytes
Desc: This is a digitally signed message part
URL: <https://lists.webkit.org/pipermail/webkit-gtk/attachments/20161115/15f40b06/attachment.sig>