The OpenChrome driver is still inching towards the mainline kernel more than one decade after VIA x86 graphics were last somewhat common. The newest achievement for the OpenChrome DRM driver is the merging of the new TTM memory allocator code.

This is great for improving memory management within this open-source VIA graphics driver though wasn't a blocker for getting merged -- on that front, the primary blocker has been OpenChrome adopting atomic mode-setting interfaces besides having enough general code review. Kevin Brace remains the lone free software developer still working on this OpenChrome driver and he's been working on this new TTM allocator code with hopes of re-using it by other vintage graphics cards.

With this new code, Brace feels the code stability should be roughly the same as the previous memory allocator implementation. Those wanting to learn more can do so via this blog post.