xref: /openbmc/linux/Documentation/gpu/vkms.rst (revision f32e5616)
1.. _vkms:
2
3==========================================
4 drm/vkms Virtual Kernel Modesetting
5==========================================
6
7.. kernel-doc:: drivers/gpu/drm/vkms/vkms_drv.c
8   :doc: vkms (Virtual Kernel Modesetting)
9
10TODO
11====
12
13CRC API Improvements
14--------------------
15
16- Optimize CRC computation ``compute_crc()`` and plane blending ``blend()``
17
18- Use the alpha value to blend vaddr_src with vaddr_dst instead of
19  overwriting it in ``blend()``.
20
21- Add igt test to check cleared alpha value for XRGB plane format.
22
23- Add igt test to check extreme alpha values i.e. fully opaque and fully
24  transparent (intermediate values are affected by hw-specific rounding modes).
25
26Vblank issues
27-------------
28
29Some IGT test cases are failing. Need to analyze why and fix the issues:
30
31- plain-flip-fb-recreate
32- plain-flip-ts-check
33- flip-vs-blocking-wf-vblank
34- plain-flip-fb-recreate-interruptible
35- flip-vs-wf_vblank-interruptible
36
37Runtime Configuration
38---------------------
39
40We want to be able to reconfigure vkms instance without having to reload the
41module. Use/Test-cases:
42
43- Hotplug/hotremove connectors on the fly (to be able to test DP MST handling of
44  compositors).
45
46- Configure planes/crtcs/connectors (we'd need some code to have more than 1 of
47  them first).
48
49- Change output configuration: Plug/unplug screens, change EDID, allow changing
50  the refresh rate.
51
52The currently proposed solution is to expose vkms configuration through
53configfs.  All existing module options should be supported through configfs too.
54
55Add Plane Features
56------------------
57
58There's lots of plane features we could add support for:
59
60- Real overlay planes, not just cursor.
61
62- Full alpha blending on all planes.
63
64- Rotation, scaling.
65
66- Additional buffer formats, especially YUV formats for video like NV12.
67  Low/high bpp RGB formats would also be interesting.
68
69- Async updates (currently only possible on cursor plane using the legacy cursor
70  api).
71
72For all of these, we also want to review the igt test coverage and make sure all
73relevant igt testcases work on vkms.
74
75Writeback support
76-----------------
77
78Currently vkms only computes a CRC for each frame. Once we have additional plane
79features, we could write back the entire composited frame, and expose it as:
80
81- Writeback connector. This is useful for testing compositors if you don't have
82  hardware with writeback support.
83
84- As a v4l device. This is useful for debugging compositors on special vkms
85  configurations, so that developers see what's really going on.
86
87Prime Buffer Sharing
88--------------------
89
90We already have vgem, which is a gem driver for testing rendering, similar to
91how vkms is for testing the modeset side. Adding buffer sharing support to vkms
92allows us to test them together, to test synchronization and lots of other
93features. Also, this allows compositors to test whether they work correctly on
94SoC chips, where the display and rendering is very often split between 2
95drivers.
96
97Output Features
98---------------
99
100- Variable refresh rate/freesync support. This probably needs prime buffer
101  sharing support, so that we can use vgem fences to simulate rendering in
102  testing. Also needs support to specify the EDID.
103
104- Add support for link status, so that compositors can validate their runtime
105  fallbacks when e.g. a Display Port link goes bad.
106
107- All the hotplug handling describe under "Runtime Configuration".
108
109Atomic Check using eBPF
110-----------------------
111
112Atomic drivers have lots of restrictions which are not exposed to userspace in
113any explicit form through e.g. possible property values. Userspace can only
114inquiry about these limits through the atomic IOCTL, possibly using the
115TEST_ONLY flag. Trying to add configurable code for all these limits, to allow
116compositors to be tested against them, would be rather futile exercise. Instead
117we could add support for eBPF to validate any kind of atomic state, and
118implement a library of different restrictions.
119
120This needs a bunch of features (plane compositing, multiple outputs, ...)
121enabled already to make sense.
122