Comment 3 for bug 579046

sorry i messed up all the tagging and whatnots, I just learned (right now) how to add another package to a bug report... Did not mean to change it thusly...

Anyways, as I said a moment ago, I have found a workaround that lets me think that the bug is at least partly related with gnome-appearance-properties. I was able to make everything work normally (i.e emerald works and compiz effects work) albeit temporarily, by doing this.

1. Open up a terminal
2. Type emerald
--->nothing happens as emerald just hangs.
3. kill metacity (killall metacity in another terminal would work fine).
4. Launch gnome-appearance-properties (System->Preferences->Appearance)
5. Select the Effects tab and click on Extra.
---> a window pops informing that it is looking for drivers. A short while later, the desktop flickers and everything is normal, with emerald happily humming.

Notes: The previous workaround will NOT work if emerald is not "hanging" in the background. As if Appearances cannot launch it on its own.
The previous workaround will NOT work if metacity composite is enabled. (but I believe this is already a known bug)...
Finally, the workaround is only temporary, as it does not endure after the session is closed. Meaning it must be done each time we log in.
(currently, I am using Alt+F2 to run the commands instead of a terminal, so i don't have to worry about closing anything.)

On another note, this seems to be settings-specific, as another account on the same computer seems to work with metacity just fine without using the aforementioned workaround.