[cairo] Setting a background "layer"

[mike e]

Hello, I'm not that experienced with cairo.


Currently I have a program that draws a background, and then draws some text over that background.  The text moves around over the background.  The image is redrawn often (multiple times a second).


The background is generated through cairo, it is not an image or something like that.


What is the most efficient way to accomplish this?  I know that I could set the paint operator to source and redraw everything each frame, but it seems inefficient.

Is there a way to draw a layer, and then save that layer indefinitely (or have a layer dedicated to the text)?  So that then I could just clear just the text each time and draw it in a new location?


I'm using Xlib and drawing to an window through cairo_xlib_surface_create().


Heres what I'm basically trying to do:


    if (firstrun) {

        draw_background();

    }


    clear_text();

    draw_text(new_location);

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