Frame-Buffer Log Driver Wants To Go Mainline

The FBLOG driver, which is a kernel frame-buffer driver just for displaying logs from the Linux kernel, continues to be revised and the code's author wants to push the driver into the mainline Linux kernel.

Last month I wrote about FBLOG as a kernel driver just for displaying logs that was written by David Herrmann -- the developer trying to kill VT support in the kernel (CONFIG_VT) and has been working on KMSCON and proposed Wayland with virtual terminals. In the past month, the FBLOG Linux driver has now undergone three revisions.

This driver to replace fbcon simply prints the kernel log to all connected frame-buffers. The third version of this code incorporates various fixes and improvements raised by developers in recent days. Herrmann says today on the kernel mailing list, "It would be nice if someone could tell me what tree this will go through or how I can get it into linux-next as I have no idea who is maintaining fbcon. If there are other major or minor issues, please tell me so I can work on them."

Besides what he's already done with the frame-buffer kernel log driver, David is looking at improving the render path using DMA-BUF and partial re-draws plus a panic handler.