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Open source Mali GPU drivers merged

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Re: Open source Mali GPU drivers merged

#71

Post by neilv »

0xcde4c3db wrote: post #27
neilv wrote: post #8

I'm not sure these exact GPUs are supported yet, but this sounds like good news for mainline Linux on Samsung smartphone hardware: https://wiki.postmarketos.org/index.php?search=mali&title=Sp...

Note that most flagship Samsung phones have US variants based on a Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC (Adreno GPU) instead of an Exynos. This seems to be for US-specific reasons related to a legal battle between Samsung and Qualcomm rather than being driven by technology requirements.

Thank you, this confusion between very different International and US/NA versions with the same marketing name has been a headache for open source projects. You wouldn't believe how much trouble I had sourcing a few International version S3, from US eBay (claims of an item being the GT-i9300 model number for the International version were usually wrong).

Re: Open source Mali GPU drivers merged

#72

Post by codedokode »

NullPrefix wrote: post #68
codedokode wrote: post #54

Linux still is not friendly to proprietary code. To install third-party software user often has either to run a bash script with root privileges that can potentially break the system, or add a proprietary repository (which allows its owner to replace any software on user's machine). Before flatpack and snapcraft there was no sane way to install third-party software. The same problem is with drivers. Maybe there is a…

> Installing proprietary code requires adding proprietary repositories How is this unexpected?

This is not a sane way to install third-party software because by adding their repository, you allow them to "upgrade" and package in your system, including Linux kernel, bash, sshd. Is your system secure if companies like Microsoft, Sublime Text, Slack Inc have root access to it?

So you either give them root access or install and update software manually. Because package managers like apt do not have a sane method to install third-party proprietary software.

And even with open source software, it is a bad method. For example, a developer that provides a Debian repository with different versions of PHP, has overwriten openssl library for users of his repository despite it can break something else.

So there should be a safer way to install third-party software.

Re: Open source Mali GPU drivers merged

#73

Post by [deleted] »

q3k wrote: post #31
grw_ wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I forget where I read this, but I recall that due to patent situation it's practically impossible to build a GPU without infringing on some patent or another. By keeping drivers closed source it's possible to maintain deniability- if ARM released open source GPU drivers it would be trivial for rights-holders to look at the implementation and see what they can sue for. It's not impossible to do this with blob drivers,…

I don't buy this. See: AMD and Intel both have open source drivers.

[deleted]

Re: Open source Mali GPU drivers merged

#75

Post by codedokode »

faissaloo wrote: post #63
codedokode wrote: post #54

Linux still is not friendly to proprietary code. To install third-party software user often has either to run a bash script with root privileges that can potentially break the system, or add a proprietary repository (which allows its owner to replace any software on user's machine). Before flatpack and snapcraft there was no sane way to install third-party software. The same problem is with drivers. Maybe there is a…

Linux isn't supposed to be friendly to developers wanting to rob people of their rights.

But as a user, I want to be able to use proprietary applications in a safe way, so that they cannot steal my browser cookies or read my MAC address, or patch my kernel. So I would prefer that Linux distributions support proprietary apps like Android Open Source Project does, rather than tell me what I should use and what I shouldn't.

Re: Open source Mali GPU drivers merged

#76

Post by codedokode »

megous wrote: post #60
codedokode wrote: post #54

Linux still is not friendly to proprietary code. To install third-party software user often has either to run a bash script with root privileges that can potentially break the system, or add a proprietary repository (which allows its owner to replace any software on user's machine). Before flatpack and snapcraft there was no sane way to install third-party software. The same problem is with drivers. Maybe there is a…

Linux is much more than general distros and closed source drivers are pain in the ass for everybody. Vendors should just mainline the support for their HW, especially if they benefit from Linux overall.

Maybe there is a way to run them safely. For example, have an open source part running in kernel, and closed source part that is properly isolated in userspace.

Re: Open source Mali GPU drivers merged

#77

Post by Newtonip »

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #74

⠀

You got it wrong. It isn't ARM's module that was merged into the kernel, it is a complete reverse engineered Gallium based driver made by third party volunteers.

This driver offers full OpenGL acceleration and does not depend on the ARM's propriety blobs. They re-created all the, as you call it, "interesting stuff" from the user space library.

Edit: I take back what I said, I misunderstood the comment. Indeed, the interesting stuff is in the userspace counter part of this kernel code.

Re: Open source Mali GPU drivers merged

#78

Post by codedokode »

AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #58
codedokode wrote: post #54

Linux still is not friendly to proprietary code. To install third-party software user often has either to run a bash script with root privileges that can potentially break the system, or add a proprietary repository (which allows its owner to replace any software on user's machine). Before flatpack and snapcraft there was no sane way to install third-party software. The same problem is with drivers. Maybe there is a…

> Before flatpack and snapcraft there was no sane way to install third-party software. This is simply false, because AppDirs and AppImage existed long before those. And of course static binaries existed since the beginning. Sadly, Linux user space is such a horrific mess that none of those much simpler and saner solutions took off, so now we have to put up with non-portable garbage like Snap and Flatpak that are stil…

You can compile a static binary or distribute a private copy of libraries, but it doesn't get you integrated into the system. For example, your app will not be upgraded using a package manager.

And main reason for this is because package managers were not designed for third-party software. They were designed only to install software from a distribution and maybe from your private repositories.

That makes proprietary software "not welcome" in Linux distributions.

Re: Open source Mali GPU drivers merged

#79

Post by mises »

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #74

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Interesting stuff in userspace? I thought drivers worked in kernel for performance reasons (part of why wireguard performs well). Any where I can learn more about what is in userspace and why?

I'm also curious, how does performance compare to the binary blob?

Re: Open source Mali GPU drivers merged

#80

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

Newtonip wrote: post #77
TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #74

⠀

You got it wrong. It isn't ARM's module that was merged into the kernel, it is a complete reverse engineered Gallium based driver made by third party volunteers. This driver offers full OpenGL acceleration and does not depend on the ARM's propriety blobs. They re-created all the, as you call it, "interesting stuff" from the user space library. Edit: I take back what I said, I misunderstood the comment. Indeed, the in…

⠀
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