AMDVLK 2021.Q4.1 Released As First Code Drop In Over A Month

[phoronix]

Phoronix: AMDVLK 2021.Q4.1 Released As First Code Drop In Over A Month

AMD traditionally has been updating its AMDVLK official open-source Vulkan driver sources publicly on a (bi)weekly basis, but that went off the wagon recently with not seeing any updates since the end of September. That changed this morning with the publishing of AMDVLK 2021.Q4.1...

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=AMDVLK-2021.Q4.1-Released

[JoshuaAshton]

As is to be expected -- this is more of a source available driver than open source, as it isn't developed in the open at all.

The code drops really suck and it's clear they don't want or care about external contributions or issues. Large code drops make bisecting impossible.

[jonix]

I hope AMD is preparing ray-tracing on this official drive (that could explain the delays on this drops) otherwise there is going to be complete worthless to even try it on linux (yes it can run better on some games, but if it's missing a huge feature like this why bother).

[Masush5]

I hope AMD is preparing ray-tracing on this official drive (that could explain the delays on this drops) otherwise there is going to be complete worthless to even try it on linux (yes it can run better on some games, mas if it's missing a huge feature like this why bother).

RDNA2 cards have been out for close to a year now and ray tracing in amdvlk is nowhere in sight and the implementation in amdgpu-pro is broken with pretty much all content you can run on linux (vkd3d-proton, Metro Exodus native, Doom Eternal...). So I don't think this specific slow month has anything to do with it.

[andre30correia]

I hope AMD is preparing ray-tracing on this official drive (that could explain the delays on this drops) otherwise there is going to be complete worthless to even try it on linux (yes it can run better on some games, mas if it's missing a huge feature like this why bother).

not new, AMD continues without supporting thins in day one, I can't understand this policies

[skeevy420]

As is to be expected -- this is more of a source available driver than open source, as it isn't developed in the open at all.

The code drops really suck and it's clear they don't want or care about external contributions or issues. Large code drops make bisecting impossible.

The pull request for documentation that's open shows that much. Both the AUR and Manjaro have 4.19 and earlier kernels that some people might need to use but since Arch itself doesn't have those kernels in its repos they won't accept that pull request. From the outside, it just seems kind of silly of them not to accept it since it covers both active distributions and historical use cases.

[uid313]

I don't know why AMD do code drops instead of just having a public Git repository.

[perpetually high]

Sorry to go off-topic, but I just pulled the trigger on a 5800X for $299 at Microcenter (in-store pick up only):

https://www.microcenter.com/category...all-processors

You guys think that was a dumb impulse buy? Honestly I wanted some new tech. My 4c/4c i5-4670K is still flying, but it's still obviously going to be limited by some stuff. Let me know any thoughts, who cares if we're off-topic.

I'm also thinking of pairing it with a MSI MPG B550 GAMING EDGE WIFI motherboard and some fast DDR4-3600 RAM.

I know new tech is coming out, but it's going to be really pricey, likely early adopter issues, and again, paying the premium for DDR5/PCIE5/all the 5's. Let me know any thoughts. I can always sell this later and swap it for the new Zen processors also. Seems like a lot of winning.

(edit: actually, going to go the ECC route, doing research now,
edit2: going with the Gigabyte X570 AORUS Elite or X570S AORUS Master (new chipset with passive cooling), both supports ECC memory. Still deciding. I don't want to skimp on motherboard. Most important component (alongside PSU). Also look at some Crucial DDR4-2666 2x16GB for the ECC, but want to make sure it's Ryzen approved. I basically want no compatibility issues or memory errors... Man, I'm f'n excited!! This is gonna be a supercomputer.)

[Seebi]

The pull request for documentation that's open shows that much. Both the AUR and Manjaro have 4.19 and earlier kernels that some people might need to use but since Arch itself doesn't have those kernels in its repos they won't accept that pull request. From the outside, it just seems kind of silly of them not to accept it since it covers both active distributions and historical use cases.

If someone commented on the PR to say that, maybe it would have already been merged

[smitty3268]

I hope AMD is preparing ray-tracing on this official drive (that could explain the delays on this drops) otherwise there is going to be complete worthless to even try it on linux (yes it can run better on some games, mas if it's missing a huge feature like this why bother).

Bridgman's silence on the whole ray-tracing debacle speaks volumes, IMO. Usually he'd be telling us to just be patient and that it's coming as soon as they are able to scrape enough people together to implement it. This time, nothing.

There is obviously no current plan to bring ray-tracing to amdvlk. Maybe not ever. At the very least, probably not until the rocm team decides they need it.

The only question is if this is some kind of legal IP issue, a business decision to try and hide their RT code for trade-secret reasons, or if they just don't care about linux consumer support enough to spend the time making LLVM work properly with it. Or maybe all of the above.



Oh, and the delay in code drops is almost certainly just down to the 1 person who's responsible for doing so going on vacation. I doubt they have anyone as a backup because it's not important enough to worry about.