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SubjectRe: [Dri-devel] Re: [Linux-fbdev-devel] DRM and pci_driver conversion
Linus Torvalds wrote:
> Quite frankly, I'd much rather see a low-level graphics driver that does
> _two_ things, and those things only:
>
> - basic hardware enumeration and setup (and no, "basic setup" does not
> mean "mode switching": it literally means things like doing the
> pci_enable_device() stuff.
>
> - serialization and arbitrary command queuing from a _trusted_ party (ie
> it could take command lists from the X server, but not from untrusted
> clients). This part basically boils down to "DMA and interrupts". This
> is the part that allows others to wait for command completion, "enough
> space in the ring buffers" etc. But it does _not_ know or care what the
> commands are.

Thank you for saying it. This is what I have been preaching (quietly)
for years -- command submission and synchronization (and thus, DMA/irq
handling) needs to be in the kernel. Everything else can be in
userspace (excluding hardware enable/enumerate, of course).

Graphics processors are growing more general, too -- moving towards
generic vector/data processing engines. I bet you'll see an optimal
model emerge where you have some sort of "JIT" for GPU microcode in
userspace. Multiple apps pipeline X/GL/hardware commands into the JIT,
which in turn pipelines data and microcode commands to the GPU kernel
driver.

Jeff



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