It Looks Like AMDGPU DC (DAL) Will Not Be Accepted In The Linux Kernel

[ElectricPrism]

@Devs - Thank You @all for all your work. I have switched to my first AMD card in nearly 10 years this year - the RX 480.

I previously was unhappy with my 2 GTX 970's and how issues remained broken or unsolvable so when MESA and AMDGPU materialized I came onboard.

I personally am using AMD using the Linux 4.7 DAL/DC Kernel on Arch Linux at present and it has honestly been nice to not have to haul my speakers on vacation because DAL allows me to use the HDMI speakers in my monitor. I also directly benefit from the 4k@60hz, but I need to get a fresh copy of the git to enable it.

I plan on buying at least 2 if not more Polaris or Vega cards at some point and equipping all my Gaming and Workstations with them due to the stability of open display drivers.

Thank you so much for all the work, please keep it up and remember when dealing with these kinds of "set backs" or "challenges" that they're only temporary.

A. Brevity is the soul of wit - keep it simple, simple words are easy to understand.
B. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate.
C. Be blunt (@Dave), clearly communicate what is necessary and required
D. We're all in this together, we're one big team to make Linux even more awesome and help each-other in business and advancing freedom in software.

[bridgman]

Maybe the disconnect is about the amount of changes that are considered necessary before the code could be accepted in the kernel.
From your posts I get the impression that a solution is around the corner, while from Dave's messages/emails I get the impression that it may be a large amount of work and not necessarily expected to be ready if the new hardware comes out anytime soon.

Just curious, what did I say to make you think I believed that a solution is "around the corner" ? If anything I have been saying the opposite, talking about "future code" vs "current" or "recent" code as non-trivially different things.

[ElectricPrism]

Expectation postponed makes the heart sick.

Some people create expectations too quickly and are disappointed when their personal "ideas of how soon" don't come to fruition as they expected. This may indicate that the individual is "judging" and lacking many pieces of critical information before developing the expectation.

Mixed with the instant gratification culture we live in, many also can lack patience but that's a whole other face of the same issue.

[pewspewpew]

Now does AMD really benefit from all their OS efforts? I can only see them reassigning their resourses to proprietary driver or windows development. TBH I do not see how even I would benefit of them being open instead of going the NV way.

[bridgman]

it's a very unfortunate situation for AMD.

I would say "it's how the kernel development process works". Sometimes there is yelling. This isn't the first time and I'm sure it won't be the last.

[Deathsimple]

Oh, well! There is nothing more entertaining than reading through a controversial topic in the Phoronix forum on a Friday morning.

First of all everybody please calm down, we are talking about a bit of code here and not about eating children alive. I will probably never understand why anybody can be emotional attached to a piece of software.

Second we knew that it would be problematic to get this code upstream for years, it's not that this comes surprisingly.

Third what Harry did was sending a RFC, which means a "Request For Comments". Now what Daniel and Dave responded where comments in a rather constructive way if you ask me.

So can we just agree that we got what we asked for? And now can move on and get the code into shape.

Regards,
Christian.

[starshipeleven]

If it keeps going on like this (AMD wants to share code with windows), it makes more sense to just stop trying to get DAL/DC upstream and focus on the AMDGPU-PRO instead so its performance improves.

David Airlie loves to screw over gamers/HTPC users by forcing them to use current/older GPUs. I would burn "loyalist" crap in fire if I were him and force him to accept AMD's code. Besides, adding DC would be a huge win for those with GPUs coming out in the near future.

TL;DR: Sorry David Airlie, but you should give up as a maintainer. I side with AMD in this one.

Don't shoot the messenger, even if Airlie merged this then Linus himself would come down raging hard and throw him AND the offending code (and everyone else in his way) out of the kernel.

[dungeon]

People get emotional, because they like to get features sooner rather than later (but possibly also never).

Yes read it right 'never' is always possibility As for example who would guess 10 years ago that we wouldn't never ever see Crossfire with opensource drivers?

Keep in mind that those are Joe The Average users, while developers usually even like prolonging things and don't mind much as that is their job... on the other side users does not like that - AT ALL

[Beherit]

It's been years since I used any AMD gfx in Linux or Windows, please bear with my n00b questions...

Does this mean HDMI, DP, FreeSync and all the fancy stuff Michael listed doesn't work for those using the open source AMD driver? And that it all works for those using Catalyst (or whatever AMD renamed their closed source drivers to)?

I've noticed recently that most of the new and more expensive gfx cards and monitors, tend to lack both VGA and DVI. They instead only have HDMI and/or DP ports. Does this mean Linux users only having those two options, won't get any picture at all when they plug in their new AMD gfx card? Or does the kernel and/or X automatically use the VESA driver to at least allow a basic display?

[scorp]

It's been years since I used any AMD gfx in Linux or Windows, please bear with my n00b questions...

Does this mean HDMI, DP, FreeSync and all the fancy stuff Michael listed doesn't work for those using the open source AMD driver? And that it all works for those using Catalyst (or whatever AMD renamed their closed source drivers to)?

I've noticed recently that most of the new and more expensive gfx cards and monitors, tend to lack both VGA and DVI. They instead only have HDMI and/or DP ports. Does this mean Linux users only having those two options, won't get any picture at all when they plug in their new AMD gfx card? Or does the kernel and/or X automatically use the VESA driver to at least allow a basic display?

No, HDMI/DP works just fine for video. The problem exists only for audio through HDMI/DP.