A Linux Driver Project status report [LWN.net]

A Linux Driver Project status report

Posted Apr 8, 2008 8:29 UTC (Tue) by sylware (guest, #35259)
In reply to: A Linux Driver Project status report by djabsolut
Parent article: A Linux Driver Project status report

>Additionally, Xorg requires it's own drivers, and there is no denying that there is a lack of
drivers for Xorg, e.g. recent ATI and NVIDIA chipsets. (As a sidenote, it would be useful to
move this stuff out of Xorg and into the kernel).

Working on it... working on it... (nouveau reverse engineering and full AMD/Intel specs). A
brand new graphic stack won't happen in a day, it's rather a long process when you look at
those chips complexity.

(Log in to post comments)

A Linux Driver Project status report

Posted Apr 8, 2008 19:58 UTC (Tue) by drosser (guest, #29597) [Link]

Now, I am not an Xorg developer and the only platform I use is Linux, but why would Xorg want
to move their drivers into the Linux kernel? Wouldn't that break compatibility with the BSD's,
Solaris, .etc?

A Linux Driver Project status report

Posted Apr 9, 2008 2:47 UTC (Wed) by djabsolut (guest, #12799) [Link]

Now, I am not an Xorg developer and the only platform I use is Linux, but why would Xorg want to move their drivers into the Linux kernel? Wouldn't that break compatibility with the BSD's, Solaris, .etc?

From a purely technical point of view, programs which are in "user space" should not be touching the hardware. That's the kernel's job, i.e. the kernel abstracts the hardware. Currently Xorg is half a user space program and half a graphics kernel. Having two kernels can and does lead to problems.

As for taking care of BSDs/Solaris -- yes that's an issue. However, it may be possible to write low-level drivers (licensed under a BSD license) that are then integrated with Linux/BSD/Solaris kernels using a kernel-specific wrapper. (A ruder alternative is to look at the ratio of Linux to BSD users and concentrate only on the biggest slice).