Unity 2D

Unity 2D's goal is to provide the Unity desktop shell on hardware platforms that cannot currently support Unity's OpenGL requirements (see Hardware Requirements for Unity for more details).

Its architecture is very close to Unity's as it only replaces the user interface elements but still shares all the same backend components. Specifically, Unity 2D replaces the panel, launcher and places components as defined in Unity's architecture overview. Moreover it does not enforce the use of Compiz as a window manager but instead uses a slightly tweaked version of Metacity.

Testing

The most current version of Unity 2D is published every day in the unity-2d-daily PPA. To add it, type the following commands in a terminal:

 $ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:unity-2d-team/unity-2d-daily
 $ sudo apt-get update
 $ sudo apt-get install unity-2d

To try it out, log out and log back in choosing the "Unity 2D" session in the drop-down menu at the bottom of the login screen.

Reporting Issues

Unity 2D uses Launchpad's bug tracker. Useful links:

• List of already reported bugs in Unity 2D.

• Report a bug in Unity 2D.

Coding

Unity 2D's code is published on Launchpad using Bazaar.

In order to retrieve the latest code and compile it, type the following commands in a terminal:

 $ sudo apt-get build-dep unity-2d
 $ bzr branch lp:unity-2d
 $ cd unity-2d
 $ cmake .
 $ make

Once compiled, each Unity 2D's component (panel, launcher, places and spread) is runnable separately. For example, to run the launcher, type the following:

 $ ./launcher/app/unity-2d-launcher

We recommend to use Qt Creator to hack on Unity 2D. Once happy with your changes, it is time to send them to the team for review and inclusion.

 $ bzr commit
 $ bzr push lp:~YOUR_USERNAME/unity-2d/NAME_OF_THE_FEATURE
 $ bzr lp-propose-merge

You will find coding guidelines in the CODING file together with the code. The README file can be helpful to learn more about Unity 2D.

Familiarity with Bazaar is very useful in order to contribute code to Unity 2D. The Bazaar in five minutes tutorial is a great place to start learning.