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David Airlie Tackling RADV Vulkan Conformance
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Originally posted by faldzip View PostI'm really wondering if it's good that RADV exists? As to be honest - the AMDGPU-PRO Vulkan driver is much more complete, performs better, but needs improvement/feedback from RedHat and Valve, but they are focusing on RADV as AMDGPU-PRO Vulkan part is not opensourced and... with RADV there is no pressure on AMD to opensource it. They might probably not opensource it at all and say - here you have RADV. Ok, but lets assume they opensource it and now what? All the work on RADV would go to trash?
Intel: Mostly (if not completely) Vulkan compliant
Nvidia closed-source: Vulkan compliant
Nouveau: Nothing
AMD GCN 1.2+: Vulkan compliant; temporarily closed source
AMD GCN 1.0-1.1: Nothing
Software renderers: Probably nothing (not entirely sure)
To me, it just doesn't make sense why RADV is targeting something that already had Vulkan support and was possibly going to be open-sourced anyway. At some point, somebody's work is going to be obsoleted, and that was known the day this was started. Sure, RADV could possibly end up being better than the amdgpu-pro drivers, but that's a bit of a gamble considering other GPUs in need. There are compatible and common GPUs in need of [official] support and currently have none. To me, it's kind of like donating money to someone who already has a job, instead of someone who is homeless.
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Originally posted by shmerl View PostI think the reason is timing. AMD can work on opening up their Vulkan for years, and meanwhile AMD users who want to use open drivers will be left out in the cold.
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Originally posted by schmidtbag View PostAMD GCN 1.0-1.1: Nothing
Originally posted by schmidtbag View PostTo me, it just doesn't make sense why RADV is targeting something that already had Vulkan support and was possibly going to be open-sourced anyway. At some point, somebody's work is going to be obsoleted, and that was known the day this was started.
I'm glad it is there, it allows me to experiment with the API (currently writing a library that uses Vulkan compute shaders for GPU computing) without having to use a broken OpenGL driver or, gods forbid, Windows.
In all honesty, the best thing that could happen would be for AMD to throw some manpower at RADV in order to make it fast, add missing features and lift some unnecessary limitations. That probably should have happened as soon as RADV became a serious thing in Mesa 13.Last edited by VikingGe; 20 March 2017, 12:54 PM.
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Originally posted by shmerl View PostIf you are so pressed to use Vulkan, at least you have a choice to buy newer hardware. But if you have no open driver to begin with, you have no choice.
Anyway, people shouldn't have to buy new hardware to utilize something their current hardware is supposed to be compatible with. Unlike most un-supported products where the manufacturer says "too bad, we don't owe you anything", RADV has devs who (to my knowledge) aren't restricted by a manufacturer's agenda.
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Originally posted by VikingGe View PostIf you're comfortable with running the (still experimental?) amdgpu kernel module on those, you can use RADV.
True, but with RADV we have a working Vulkan driver that can be used together with Mesa's OpenGL implementation. I'm not aware of any way use run the Vulkan part of the Pro driver alongside Mesa's libGL (unlike the OpenCL part, which does work). For OpenGL gaming and desktop use, I really wouldn't want to run the Pro driver.
I'm glad it is there...
In all honesty, the best thing that could happen would be for AMD to throw some manpower at RADV in order to make it fast, add missing features and lift some unnecessary limitations. That probably should have happened as soon as RADV became a serious thing in Mesa 13.
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In a parallel universe where RADV supported GCN 1.0-1.1 (whether that be in addition to or instead of 1.2+), AMD would realize how quickly it progresses and how many big companies have contributed toward it, and would have pushed them to open-source their own drivers. "Free" skilled and hard-working developers are every tech company's dream. But, in our universe, AMD may look at this Vulkan situation and probably thinks "meh, I'll just kill off our drivers once RADV catches up".Last edited by schmidtbag; 20 March 2017, 01:05 PM.
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