'irregular shaped' windows without deprecated gdk code or compositing

[James Morris <jwm art net gmail com>]

Hi,

It appears that the 'irregularly shaped' windows which used to be
possible by using now-deprecated GDK code even without full
compositing available, are no longer possible using non-deprecated
code.

Using the old deprecated code, a GdkRegion could be created with the
desired window shape (with the region defining fully transparent and
fully opaque areas) and a call to gdk_window_shape_combine_region to
bring it about.

I've been trying to work around this but feel like a dog running in
circles chasing my tail.

gdk_window_shape_combine_region is not deprecated, but GdkRegion will
be replaced in GTK3.0 with cairo_region_t for which there is no
gdk_window_shape_combine_region equivalent. Furthermore the
gdk_region_polygon call necessary to create the GdkRegion of the
desired shape, is deprecated without replacement.

So I look into gdk_window_shape_combine_mask instead, but
gdk_bitmap_create_from_data  is of course deprecated. The docs do at
least suggest cairo alternatives, but none of which are compatible
with gdk_window_shape_combine_mask.

Please please tell me if there's anyway around this mess. I can't
force or assume use of compositing.

Cheers,
James.