How to get RadeonSI andwhich packages are needed to help contribute to the project

[zekehul]

Hello Phoronix forum,
I would like to know which devel or dev packages I need to make some contributions, either through coding, testing, documenting, etc., of the RadeonSI project. Also, do I specifically have to go hunting for the RadeonSI package to have it be installed on my Linux box, or does it recognize it when I am installing the distro and it downloads the appropriate packages? I intend on doing all of this on Fedora 20, with an R9 290 in the box.
Thank you.

[pingufunkybeat]

Hello Phoronix forum,
I would like to know which devel or dev packages I need to make some contributions, either through coding, testing, documenting, etc., of the RadeonSI project. Also, do I specifically have to go hunting for the RadeonSI package to have it be installed on my Linux box, or does it recognize it when I am installing the distro and it downloads the appropriate packages? I intend on doing all of this on Fedora 20, with an R9 290 in the box.
Thank you.

Since nobody more knowledgeable is responding...

RadeonSI driver is split between Mesa and the kernel. I recommend installing the very latest versions of the kernel, LLVM, X.org and Mesa available for Fedora, since the rate of progress is very high. That should get you started with acceleration. X.org should automatically pick the right driver.

The kernel takes care of low-level stuff, power management, clock speeds and initialisation, and it also does mode setting.

Mesa is the 3d part of the driver, which essentially means OpenGL. All OpenGL functionality is done there.

LLVM is used for compiling shaders (programs which run on your graphics card and performs graphical effects). You will need the latest and greatest version of LLVM for your card.

Finally, the X.Org driver takes care of functionality specific to X (GLX, etc.), and it used to do 2D acceleration. For RadeonSI hardware, 2D acceleration is done as a part of the GLAMOR library, which uses OpenGL to do acceleration, so there's not too much interesting stuff in the X part of the driver.

If you are serious about testing and contributing code, the first thing you will need to get the source code for the part that interests you and compile it from source. Then join the radeon devs on IRC, and ask them what the best way to contribute would be. First testing, then documenting, and then bug fixing would probably be the best way to approach it.

Good luck!

[zekehul]

Awesome. Thank you so much pingufunkybeat.

[bridgman]

The RadeonFeature wiki page is a useful place, if you haven't already visited it :

http://www.x.org/wiki/RadeonFeature/

[zekehul]

Thank you, bridgman.