Re: [RFC] Deprecation and removal of the drm2 driver

On 18-05-18 14:15:03, Warner Losh wrote:
> On Fri, May 18, 2018 at 2:12 PM, Johannes Lundberg <johalun0_at_gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
> >
> >
> > On Fri, May 18, 2018 at 9:03 PM, Warner Losh <imp_at_bsdimp.com> wrote:
> >
> >> On Fri, May 18, 2018 at 1:30 PM, Steve Kargl <
> >> sgk_at_troutmask.apl.washington.edu> wrote:
> >>
> >> > On Fri, May 18, 2018 at 09:14:24PM +0200, Andreas Nilsson wrote:
> >> > > On Fri, May 18, 2018, 20:00 Niclas Zeising <zeising_at_freebsd.org>
> >> wrote:
> >> > >
> >> > > > I propose that we remove the old drm2 driver (sys/dev/drm2) from
> >> > > > FreeBSD.  I suggest the driver is marked as deprecated in 11.x and
> >> > > > removed from 12.0, as was done for other drivers recently.  Some
> >> > > > background and rationale:
> >> > > >
> >> > > > The drm2 driver was the original port of a KMS driver to FreeBSD.
> >> It
> >> > > > was done by Konstantin Belousov to support Intel graphics cards, and
> >> > > > later extended by Jean-Sébastien Pédron as well as Konstantin to
> >> match
> >> > > > what's in Linux 3.8.  This included unstable support from Haswell,
> >> but
> >> > > > nothing newer than that.
> >> > > >
> >> > > > For quite some time now we have had the graphics/drm-stable-kmod and
> >> > > > graphics/drm-next-kmods which provides support for modern AMD and
> >> Intel
> >> > > > graphics cards.  These ports, together with the linuxkpi, or lkpi,
> >> has
> >> > > > made it significantly easier to port and update our graphics
> >> drivers.
> >> > > > Further, these new drivers cover the same drivers as the old drm2
> >> > driver.
> >> > > >
> >> > > > What does the community think?  Is there anyone still using the drm2
> >> > > > driver on 12-CURRENT?  If so, what is preventing you from switching
> >> to
> >> > > > the port?
> >> > > >
> >> > > > Thank you
> >> > > > Regards
> >> > > > --
> >> > > > Niclas Zeising
> >> > > > FreeBSD x11/graphics team
> >> > > > _______________________________________________
> >> > > > freebsd-current_at_freebsd.org mailing list
> >> > > > https://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-current
> >> > > > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-current-unsubscribe_at_
> >> > freebsd.org"
> >> > > >
> >> > >
> >> > > Sounds good ( deprecate resp remove ). It causes more confusion and
> >> > > problems and it solves nothing.
> >> > >
> >> >
> >> > Check the Makefiles
> >> >
> >> > % more /usr/ports/graphics/drm-next-kmod/Makefile
> >> >
> >> > ONLY_FOR_ARCHS= amd64
> >> > ONLY_FOR_ARCHS_REASON=  the new KMS components are only supported on
> >> amd64
> >> >
> >> > Not to ia32 friendly.
> >> >
> >>
> >> So do people use i386 for desktop? And need the latest KMS stuff?
> >>
> >
> > Yeah I was wondering the same.. If you're running i386, do you need drm
> > drivers? Will scfb work an i386? (probably has legacy bios and if I
> > remember correctly, scfb is UEFI only)
> > I do feel sorry for anyone who would have to revert back to VESA...
> >
> > Would it be too much trouble to move it to a port?
> >
> 
> If there's someone who needs it for i386, and wants to do the work and
> maintain it, we should allow it. But the drm2 maintainers have said its
> likely totally broken anyway.
> 
> Warner

As a long time developer in drm/i915, and newly interested in FreeBSD (ie. no
history on the matter), is there some upside and/or desire to have native
support, or is the drm-next-kmod solution good enough?