AMD PMF Driver Queued Ahead Of Linux 6.1 Later This Year

While Linux 6.0 won't be out for another month and a half, on deck already for Linux 6.1 is the AMD Platform Management Framework "PMF" driver being queued into platform-drivers-x86.git.

As written about earlier this month, the AMD Platform Management Framework is designed to enhance the desktop/laptop user experience for next-gen devices with "making AMD PCs smarter, quieter, power efficient by adapting to user behavior and environment."

AMD hasn't talked too much publicly about PMF but it sounds along the lines of Intel's Dynamic Platform and Thermal Framework (DPTF) that has been used by Intel hardware for years and supported under Linux for a while now along with their Thermald user-space daemon. The AMD patch series for PMF on Linux sums it up as:

AMD PMF Driver (a.k.a Platform Management Framework) provides a centralized framework based on sensor inputs, OS hints, platform state and APU metrics to dynamically manage perf, power and system thermals.

The goal of the driver is to enhance end user experience by making AMD PCs smarter, quieter, power efficient by adapting to user behavior and environment.

The larger goals include:

- Enable easy customization of smart PC solutions by OEMs.
- Provide a framework for OEMs to add in custom algorithms and solutions
- Improve standby and dynamic platform power through active power management of platform devices.

In this series, support for following features has been added.
- "Static Power Slider" meant to manage the power budget based on the power modes or the slider position.
- "Auto Mode" tracks the moving power average of the APU and takes intelligent decisions to switch between different modes.

AMD Platform Management Framework doesn't appear to be supported by current-generation AMD Ryzen 6000 "Rembrandt" laptops but appears to be for next-generation Ryzen APUs.

As of yesterday, the AMD PMF patch series thus far have been queued into platform-drivers-x86's for-next branch. This is material beginning to queue for merging into the Linux 6.1 kernel later this year. The Linux 6.1 merge window will open up in early October when Linux 6.0 has been declared stable and at that time the initial PMF support plus any other improvements to this new framework over the coming weeks will then be merged. Linux 6.1 stable in turn should be out in December.