Imagination Tech Publishes Open-Source PowerVR Vulkan Driver For Mesa

[Myownfriend]

I bet that the opengl srivers are encumbered with patented code

What?

[brad0]

What?

Exactly, it doesn't even make sense.

[coder]

I bet that the opengl srivers are encumbered with patented code

First thing to know is that in-tree open source drivers are subject to the Linux Kernel's licensing policies:

https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/late...nse-rules.html

And those effectively nullify patent infringement claims the copyright holder might make.


Next, this diagram shows how open source drivers utilize the Mesa subsystem to implement much of the OpenGL featureset:

Finally, here's a zoom-in of the Mesa 3D box:

So, you see, a good deal of the OpenGL userspace is provided by Mesa. The parts that aren't should be released under an open source license like LGPL 2.x+ that effectively allows other drivers to reuse code from them.


Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesa_%...er_graphics%29

[Adarion]

WUT? Has hell frozen over? I bet something's foul about this. Reminds me of VIA and their promises once in a while that next year, truly, actually, they will release full specs + drivers... I think there actually is once device of those, Beagleboard in my falling apart AI touchbook. I had given up hope to ever be able to run something than preinstalled kernel/X with blob on that thing.

I mean, some driver still doesn't solve the problem of customer-individual wirings/installations.

[libv]

Singling out IMG was my plan all along, glad to finally see them actually do it.

[Quackdoc]

Just write a Vulkan driver and fall back to Zink for OpenGL materialized much quicker than I expected.

One of the mesa devs made a comment about how he was unsure of the future of gallium drivers. giving the possibility of only maintaining zink and GLon12 in the not so close but not far future. though it seemed to be at the level of mere pondering

[coder]

WUT? Has hell frozen over? I bet something's foul about this.

Have you been paying any attention to Imagination and what's happened since they stopped designing GPUs for Apple's SoCs?

They got bought by a private equity firm with significant Chinese backing and have now entered the RISC-V game. They seem to be trying to follow a similar path as ARM, licensing all the IP needed for complete SoCs. Maybe they decided that having open source GPU drivers would give them an edge over ARM, which they need due to being far behind the curve on their RISC-V developments.

The other notable point I just posted about is that they have Chinese customers for their GPU IP, now introducing dGPU gaming cards with PowerVR guts. Maybe that's what ultimately forced their hand to opensource the Vulkan driver.

[c117152]

It's amazing how poorly timed imgtec open source releases are. I mean, how can anyone can have such rotten luck in their scheduling and stay so consistently irrelevant? :/

[WorBlux]

First thing to know is that in-tree open source drivers are subject to the Linux Kernel's licensing policies:

https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/late...nse-rules.html

And those effectively nullify patent infringement claims the copyright holder might make.

But not those of third parties, and not for code that doesn't directly use the patent. Note how the M1 doesn't support OpenGL directly either.

And by not releasing the GL code they can avoid having to give a royalty-free license with it (and if the patent is third-party they couldn't anyways)

But most likely the real reason is that it's simply easier to write a vulkan driver, a lot of state and object management complication gets passed to the application rather than needing to be tracked in the driver.

[Quackdoc]

But most likely the real reason is that it's simply easier to write a vulkan driver, a lot of state and object management complication gets passed to the application rather than needing to be tracked in the driver.

Im going to assume this is probably the reason. Zink is suitable to be a replacement for GL drivers now. obviously it won't be as good as a native driver. but IMO it's good enough to not bother.