From nobody Wed Nov 24 09:57:18 2021 X-Original-To: freebsd-hackers@mlmmj.nyi.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2610:1c1:1:606c::19:1]) by mlmmj.nyi.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4C32618A762C for ; Wed, 24 Nov 2021 09:57:27 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from sblachmann@gmail.com) Received: from mail-lj1-x231.google.com (mail-lj1-x231.google.com [IPv6:2a00:1450:4864:20::231]) (using TLSv1.3 with cipher TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 (128/128 bits) key-exchange X25519 server-signature RSA-PSS (4096 bits) server-digest SHA256 client-signature RSA-PSS (2048 bits) client-digest SHA256) (Client CN "smtp.gmail.com", Issuer "GTS CA 1D4" (verified OK)) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 4Hzbyv1Ksgz3C2k for ; Wed, 24 Nov 2021 09:57:27 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from sblachmann@gmail.com) Received: by mail-lj1-x231.google.com with SMTP id z8so4211381ljz.9 for ; Wed, 24 Nov 2021 01:57:27 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20210112; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:from:date:message-id:subject:to :cc; bh=E88JtMbbH927VLZVUFt64g7ElheFLG+LLKRUEcDMSGE=; b=cGNePfmuIG8Km/9SkhE4pgiHqIBPR4nZPeRxA5pxBJ1UcBU9xLedzslUUrob/CGZUr bWFoz5VoGBuXsFk5VKEUk9Axuc7ssxBIImXMFhAW1xhnPVzhQ+26E9uklPcDQAIYbuov gwmO6HSXNRwJuNRBBi2IZl6hFGtS1EKa1i12PUUW0GH6MthUDB4OYusLSAUOBPYJ50F7 8nD2AAjvMp/m9xEFjFjRmwHsdMIXrifoCv2Q/WQdebJbsHF3UD4FPy5bhSW/3G+xkTja PnYWTLR4ae3aCjNHtql6F4IoRAPgvD+zbnY5svDYx9/BrgEaeBl3HVnYnBCwSgGBtwQm MC5g== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20210112; h=x-gm-message-state:mime-version:in-reply-to:references:from:date :message-id:subject:to:cc; bh=E88JtMbbH927VLZVUFt64g7ElheFLG+LLKRUEcDMSGE=; b=7vg2FKWq8xWgFRVrlU3ifT99hSwnGJwzIUfuBMCrSgRdf3nKMHE5UVN47poeudm2ht 8oYKoqVvkANzIbpFqE03pWCKCFEo43xBCEEDEPTsX8826F60ISgD46ginhXAhwgOBUsg +1Lt9dqu881GUMiWex2iawlDVuDLuY+fMH4u8J3uZD7OjfoKbEVp1O4kcrIIY0ppDAxa eLyairvuXhA/0SCFmes2ZZGG1nvtC12zFT/CDAXMRzdfQtkMQddmeqMW13LapJIdbVtG 05yUuhNljvBeDQoscdb7wvZmrYQxILzbi4ZTvgb0bGM4QFI/86AEbQvCZMG6QlMRIm0i lWxA== X-Gm-Message-State: AOAM531BbSCQ9dvdM8iK0fFg7n/urim0J3H51UtVONBUJk0MRNR46YQ5 B3TL7e5Oy1TMClxtIUfiQUOzPIlW/7IbM5u/7XzK5HXP X-Google-Smtp-Source: ABdhPJz10McF6OmHJL9ume+2YzvIhPHzOiW4LAzW/fjLgRF3yBUiE+6KTl2VvTeiJBpHFqU5WbXX/pkS7jlzQV9DDj0= X-Received: by 2002:a05:651c:b12:: with SMTP id b18mr14241696ljr.306.1637747839102; Wed, 24 Nov 2021 01:57:19 -0800 (PST) List-Id: Technical discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Archive: https://lists.freebsd.org/archives/freebsd-hackers List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: Sender: owner-freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 2002:a05:651c:1242:0:0:0:0 with HTTP; Wed, 24 Nov 2021 01:57:18 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: References: <861r36xzpe.fsf@phe.ftfl.ca> From: Stefan Blachmann Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2021 10:57:18 +0100 Message-ID: Subject: Re: Call for Foundation-supported Project Ideas To: Jason Bacon Cc: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" X-Rspamd-Queue-Id: 4Hzbyv1Ksgz3C2k X-Spamd-Bar: ---- Authentication-Results: mx1.freebsd.org; none X-Spamd-Result: default: False [-4.00 / 15.00]; REPLY(-4.00)[] X-ThisMailContainsUnwantedMimeParts: N Proposal: Clean up the xorg graphics card/driver list and remove these ones that do no longer work. Explanation: On 11/24/21, Jason Bacon wrote: > One hurdle I've not yet been able to conquer is automatic GPU > configuration. The best I've been able to do so far is an interactive > script that requires some rather technical decisions from the users: > > It would be really nice is we could replace this with a simple, maybe > even automated tool to configure a working Xorg setup on most common > hardware. Wouldn't matter to me if it falls back on scfb or vesa in > many cases, as long as it's easy to use and produces a working desktop. > > Bonus points for not requiring a reboot to properly activate the DRM > module. > > I wouldn't obsess about making it work on *all* hardware off-the-bat. I > think it would be more fruitful to first develop a system that works > *really* well on the most common hardware. Then we have a product that > people will want, which will help recruit the people we'll need to work > on expanding hardware support. I have done this already. My script does autodetect and autoconfigure *all* graphics cards/chips for which are drivers available in FreeBSD. It also works with multiple graphics cards, autodetecting whether they can work together or not (when drivers cannot coexist). The script is not yet ready for release, as autoconfiguring multi-head configurations (eg multi-monitor configurations either with multiple GPU outputs and/or multiple graphics cards) is still WIP. (If you are interested in this topic anyway, please either mail me directly or open a separate discussion thread.) However, the problem is that some drivers can no longer work because libxaa.so (and maybe other xorg libs, too) has been removed upstream 10 years ago already. See this for more info: https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=257417 This is the background of my proposal: - Test all graphics drivers on real hardware whether they are still functional in currently-supported FreeBSD releases - Remove all those drivers that can no longer work because xorg upstream dropped support. - Feed back to xorg upstrean so they can obsolete/remove these now useless drivers. I'd certainly be more motivated to do this if it is being sponsored, as I have already collected most (except for a few very rare and expensive AGP graphics cards) of the hardware in question. Because, 1. it needs some money to obtain these lacking (past high-end, mainly workstation usage) cards, and 2. it takes some time to walk through them and test every and each of these.