Beryl and Compiz Merge: What's actually going on?

"Recently Quinns post to the beryl-dev mailing list entitled 'Merge on' has led to a lot of discussion, some of which has been good and some of which has led to a lot of misinformation, to clear things up I'd like to give the story of the merge, and the justification for some of the more peculiar aspects. Basically lets try to avoid misinformation and make sure everyone has a realistic picture of what's happening."

Beryl and Compiz Merge: What's actually going on?