RedBear-OS/local/docs/DESKTOP-STACK-CURRENT-STATUS.md

Red Bear OS Desktop Stack — Current Status

Last updated: 2026-04-16 Canonical plan: local/docs/CONSOLE-TO-KDE-DESKTOP-PLAN.md (v2.0)

Purpose

This document is the current build/runtime truth summary for the Red Bear desktop stack.

Its job is to answer:

• what the desktop stack actually builds,
• what the tracked profiles currently expose,
• what is only build-visible,
• what is runtime-proven,
• and what still blocks a trustworthy Wayland/KDE session claim.

For the execution plan (phases, timelines, acceptance criteria), see the canonical plan above. For historical design rationale, see docs/03-WAYLAND-ON-REDOX.md and docs/05-KDE-PLASMA-ON-REDOX.md.

Where We Are in the Plan

The canonical desktop plan uses a three-track model:

• Track A (Phase 1–2): Runtime Substrate → Software Compositor — Phase 1 is the current target
• Track B (Phase 3–4): KWin Session → KDE Plasma — blocked on Track A
• Track C (Phase 5): Hardware GPU — can start after Phase 1

Current position: Build-side gates are crossed. Phase 1 (Runtime Substrate Validation) is the next work target. The repo has not yet started systematic runtime validation.

Status Matrix

Area	Evidence class	Detail
libwayland	builds	relibc/Wayland-facing compatibility is materially better than before
Qt6 core stack	builds	qtbase (7 libs + 12 plugins), qtdeclarative, qtsvg, qtwayland
KF6 frameworks	builds	All 32/32; some higher-level pieces use bounded/reduced recipes (kf6-kio heavy shim, kirigami stub-only)
KWin	experimental	Recipe exists; 5 features re-enabled; 4 stub deps block honest build; 9 feature switches still disabled
plasma-workspace	experimental	Recipe exists; stub deps (kf6-knewstuff, kf6-kwallet) unresolved
plasma-desktop	experimental	Recipe exists; depends on plasma-workspace
Mesa EGL+GBM+GLES2	builds	Software path via LLVMpipe proven in QEMU; hardware path not proven
libdrm amdgpu	builds	Package-level success only
Input stack	builds, enumerates	evdevd, libevdev, libinput, seatd present; evdevd registers scheme at boot
D-Bus	builds, usable (bounded)	System bus wired in redbear-full
DRM/KMS	builds	redox-drm scheme daemon; no hardware runtime validation
GPU acceleration	blocked	PRIME/DMA-BUF ioctls implemented; GPU CS ioctl missing
smallvil compositor	experimental	Reaches early init in QEMU; no complete session
redbear-wayland profile	builds, boots	Bounded Wayland runtime profile
redbear-full profile	builds, boots	Broader desktop plumbing profile
redbear-kde profile	builds	KDE session-surface profile

Profile View

redbear-wayland

• Role: Phase 2 Wayland compositor validation target
• Current truth: Builds and boots in QEMU; smallvil reaches early init but no complete session
• Use for: Compositor/runtime regression testing, not broad desktop claims

redbear-full

• Role: Broader desktop/network/session plumbing
• Current truth: Carries D-Bus and broader integration pieces; VirtIO networking works in QEMU
• Use for: Desktop integration testing beyond the narrow Wayland slice

redbear-kde

• Role: Phase 3–4 KDE/Plasma session bring-up
• Current truth: Carries KWin/session wiring and KDE-facing package set; experimental
• Use for: KDE session surface testing once Phase 2 completes

Current Blockers

1. Runtime trust trails build success (Phase 1 gate)

The repo has real build-visible desktop progress, but build success exceeds runtime confidence. Phase 1 exists specifically to close this gap.

2. No complete compositor session (Phase 2 gate)

smallvil reaches early initialization but does not complete a usable Wayland compositor session. This blocks all desktop session work.

3. KWin blocked by stub dependencies (Phase 3 gate)

Four stub cmake targets must become real builds:

Stub	Real library exists?	Path to resolve	Difficulty
libepoxy-stub	Yes — recipes/wip/libs/gnome/libepoxy/ (meson, has redox.patch)	Port real libepoxy; currently needs full X11/GLX stack	Medium
libudev-stub	Partial — recipes/wip/services/eudev/ (broken: POSIX headers missing)	Fix eudev compilation; udev-shim is a binary not a C library	Medium-Hard
lcms2-stub	Yes — recipes/wip/libs/other/liblcms/ (compiled, untested)	Test and integrate real lcms2; depends on libtiff	Low
libdisplay-info-stub	No — not in recipe tree at all	New port from freedesktop.org; full EDID/CTA/DisplayID parser	Hard

Additionally, two packages need honest builds: kirigami (stub-only), kf6-kio (heavy shim).

4. Hardware acceleration missing GPU CS ioctl (Phase 5 gate)

PRIME/DMA-BUF buffer sharing is implemented at the scheme level, but GPU command submission does not exist. This blocks hardware-accelerated rendering.

Canonical Document Roles

Document	Role
local/docs/CONSOLE-TO-KDE-DESKTOP-PLAN.md	Canonical desktop path plan (v2.0, Phase 1–5)
This document	Current build/runtime truth summary
local/docs/QT6-PORT-STATUS.md	Qt/KF6/KWin package-level build status
local/docs/AMD-FIRST-INTEGRATION.md	AMD-specific hardware/driver detail
docs/03-WAYLAND-ON-REDOX.md	Historical Wayland design rationale
docs/05-KDE-PLASMA-ON-REDOX.md	Historical KDE design rationale
local/docs/PROFILE-MATRIX.md	Profile roles and support-language reference

Bottom Line

The Red Bear desktop stack has crossed major build-side gates:

• All Qt6 core modules, all 32 KF6 frameworks, Mesa EGL/GBM/GLES2, and D-Bus build
• Three tracked desktop profiles exist and at least boot in QEMU
• relibc compatibility is materially stronger than before

The remaining work is runtime validation and session assembly, not more package porting. Phase 1 (Runtime Substrate Validation) is the immediate next target.