Google Working On Making VirtIO-GPU More Extensible

Google Chrome OS engineers are working on making Linux's VirtIO-GPU driver more extensible. The VirtIO-GPU driver has been modeled around the Virgl protocol for handling 3D within guest virtual machines but with a new context type addition they aim to support additional protocols.

With the proposed "context type" addition to VirtIO-GPU, multiple different protocols could be supported for allowing GPU communication between the guest VM and the host. Virgl could still be supported alongside other protocols like GFXSTREAM rendering commands for OpenGL or Vulkan and more rather than artificially limiting VirtIO-GPU to the Virgl use-case.

In addition to being able to support different communication protocols for 33D rendering, VirtIO-GPU context types could also be used for passing through Wayland commands. "With context types, seamless Wayland windowing will be available to a wider audience," notes the proposal.

Google appears interested in the context type code for Chrome OS and have been testing it already with their CrosVM.

More details on their work for making VirtIO-GPU more extensible for GPU graphics/display virtualization can be found via this RFC patch series.