xf86-video-modesetting TearFree Page-Flipping Merged
![X.ORG](/assets/categories/xorg.webp)
As previously covered, a developer finally stepped up to offer a "TearFree" xf86-video-modesetting option for that generic DDX, similar to the TearFree option found in hardware-specific drivers like xf86-video-amdgpu. Enabling TearFree tries to provide tear-free screen rendering by utilizing hardware-specific page-flipping mechanisms. Screen tearing can still be common on the Linux desktop if running the X.Org Server and are not using a composited window manager.
Developer Sultan Alsawaf implemented the TearFree option for this commonly used, generic DDX driver for helping to eliminate tearing in environments lacking a compositor. Two shadow buffers are used for the tear-free implementation along with integrated damage tracking. More details on the implementation can be found via this merge request, which as of last week has been merged into the X.Org Server tree.
With the updated xf86-video-modesetting driver, the TearFree option is disabled by default unless enabling the option.
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