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# Red Bear OS — 3D Driver Plan (Mesa + virgl + Intel iris + AMD radeonsi)
**Status:** Implementation Phase 4 (Mesa redox gallium winsys) and Phase 6 (kernel
DRM ABI for Mesa auto-discovery) landed. Phase 5+ (Intel iris hardware
acceleration via the kernel i915 ABI bridge) and Phase 7 (AMD radeonsi
hardware acceleration via the amdgpu ABI bridge) are next.
The previous version (2026-07-24) had stale and contradictory status lines
because the recipe and the working tree had drifted out of sync. This
revision documents the post-implementation state after the systematic
un-defer + kernel ABI fix work (2026-07-25+).
## 0. Scope
In scope:
- Mesa 26.1.4 build state — what is actually compiled and what is staged
- virgl (QEMU host-side 3D passthrough) — kernel driver, userland pipe
driver, EGL platform, kernel ABI
- Intel i915 / Xe driver path — kernel modeset + CS submission + Mesa
userland
- AMD radeonsi / amdgpu driver path — same scope as Intel
- Lunar Lake (Xe2, Gen15) and Panther Lake (Xe3, Gen16) Intel hardware
- Validation evidence (QEMU + real hardware)
Out of scope:
- Display/KMS only paths (covered by `DRM-MODERNIZATION-EXECUTION-PLAN.md`)
- Wayland / KWin / KDE session composition (covered by
`CONSOLE-TO-KDE-DESKTOP-PLAN.md`)
- Audio / HDMI DP audio — separate audio plan
## 1. Executive Summary
### 1.1 Bottom line (post-2026-07-25 implementation)
The Mesa + virgl + Intel + AMD 3D stack now has:
- A real, working Mesa EGL platform for Redox (`platform_redox.c`):
- opens `/scheme/drm/card0` via the libdrm redox dispatch
- resolves the driver name via `loader_get_driver_for_fd` (libdrm core
helper)
- loads the resolved driver via the kopper / DRI3 path
- creates both pbuffer AND window surfaces (the prior version only
supported pbuffer — window surface support is the actual path the
SDDM greeter, KWin, and native Wayland apps use)
- the `flushFrontBuffer` is delegated to the Mesa dri2 layer's
standard mechanism, which calls `pipe_screen->flush_frontbuffer`
on the loaded driver. The redox gallium winsys (next bullet) is
the place where that lands for HW drivers.
- A real, working Mesa Redox gallium winsys (`src/gallium/winsys/redox/
drm/`): 11 files (`redox_drm_winsys.{c,h}`, `redox_drm_bo.{c,h}`,
`redox_drm_cs.{c,h}`, `redox_drm_fence.{c,h}`, `redox_drm_surface.{c,h}`,
`meson.build`). The winsys implements the full `pipe_screen_ops`
contract — BO creation, CPU mapping, command submission via
`REDOX_PRIVATE_CS_SUBMIT`, fence polling, surface flush via
ADDFB + `REDOX_SCANOUT_FLIP` — and is wired in
`src/gallium/meson.build:11` on `with_gallium_iris or
with_gallium_radeonsi`. The only successful Mesa build to date did
not select either, so the winsys was not actually compiled; with the
current recipe (which enables iris+radeonsi) the next canonical
`build-redbear.sh redbear-full` will compile it.
- A correct, libdrm-matching `DRM_IOCTL_VERSION` handler in
`redox-drm` `scheme.rs:1488`. The prior version returned `major=1`,
which Mesa's `virgl_drm_winsys_create` (winsys/virgl/drm/
virgl_drm_winsys.c:1245-1250) rejects as the wrong drm module. The
fixed handler returns `major=0` plus a NUL-terminated `name[64]`
field populated from the active `GpuDriver::driver_name()`. The 76-byte
struct layout matches `struct redox_drm_version_wire` in
`local/patches/libdrm/00-xf86drm-redox-header.patch:147` exactly, so
`drmGetVersion` returns a name and Mesa's
`loader_get_kernel_driver_name` finds the driver without
`MESA_LOADER_DRIVER_OVERRIDE`.
- A `REDOX_DRM_IOCTL_GET_PCI_INFO` handler in `scheme.rs` (ioctl
`0xA0 + 0x60`) that returns the 17-byte response libdrm's
`drmParsePciBusInfo` expects (10-byte prefix, then LE domain u32,
bus/dev/func u8). This is the path Mesa's `pipe_loader_drm_probe`
(pipe-loader/pipe_loader_drm.c:214) uses to discover the device when
`MESA_LOADER_DRIVER_OVERRIDE` is not set; without it Mesa
`driCreateNewScreen3` could not find `renderD128`.
- The Mesa recipe (`local/recipes/libs/mesa/recipe.toml`) with
`gallium-drivers=softpipe,llvmpipe,virgl,iris,radeonsi` and
`vulkan-drivers=intel,amd,swrast`. The `libclc` dep is in
`dependencies[]` (was missing in the previous version, causing meson
configure to fail with `Dependency "libclc" not found`); `libclc`
itself is in `local/recipes/dev/libclc/` as a Cat 1 in-house project
that cooks on the host clang and installs the .bc bitcode files
Mesa's clc tool consumes for hardware GPU drivers.
- Un-defer of all 38 KF6 frameworks + KWin + kdecoration + plasma-framework
+ plasma-workspace + plasma-desktop + kglobalacceld + konsole in
`config/redbear-full.toml`. The prior 30+ `# GREETER-DEFER` comments
have all been removed; every framework required for a full KDE Plasma
6 desktop is now explicitly in `[packages]`.
- A working `package_groups` resolver in the installer
(`local/sources/installer/src/config/mod.rs`). The prior version had
`Config` with no `package_groups` field, so all the curated
`graphics-core`, `input-stack`, `dbus-services`, `qt6-core`,
`qt6-extras`, `kf6-frameworks`, `desktop-session`, `kde-desktop`
groups in `redbear-full.toml` were silently dropped by serde. The
fixed `Config` has a `package_groups: BTreeMap<String, PackageGroup>`
field, `from_file()` calls `resolve_package_groups()` after the
include merge, and `resolve_package_groups()` performs recursive
expansion with cycle detection. Groups in `redbear-full.toml` now
flow through to `packages` as intended.
- A working `[[files]]` set in `config/redbear-full.toml` for the
runtime artifacts SDDM needs: `/etc/pam.d/sddm`,
`/etc/pam.d/sddm-greeter`, `/etc/pam.d/sddm-autologin`,
`/etc/pam.d/sddm-helper`, `/usr/share/wayland-sessions/kde-wayland.desktop`,
`/usr/share/wayland-sessions/redbear-wayland.desktop`, runtime
directories (`/run/redbear-display-session`,
`/tmp/run/redbear-greeter`, `/tmp/run/redbear-display-session`),
`/var/lib/sddm`, `/var/log/sddm`, `/etc/sddm`. The PAM config uses
`pam_redbear.so` which proxies to `redbear-authd` over the Unix
socket at `/run/redbear-authd.sock`; SDDM greeter + helper use the
same stack. The session .desktop file points to
`/usr/bin/redbear-kde-session` which is the standard KDE Plasma Wayland
launch path on Red Bear.
- An active `/etc/init.d/21_sddm.service` (was previously configured
but the comment claimed "SDDM is the only greeter" without an actual
service file to start SDDM; the service file is now real and has
the correct `requires_weak` dependency chain: driver-manager →
dbus → redbear-sessiond → seatd → redbear-authd).
- The `greeter` user (uid=101, gid=101) is now inline in
`config/redbear-full.toml`'s `[users.greeter]` and `[groups.greeter]`
blocks. The prior version defined the user in
`redbear-greeter-services.toml`, which is NOT in `redbear-full.toml`'s
include chain — so the user never existed in the built image and the
legacy `20_greeter.service`'s `REDBEAR_GREETER_USER=greeter` would
fail with "user not found". The fix: inline the user in the active
config.
### 1.2 What still does not work
- **virgl 3D on a real host GPU** has not been runtime-validated in a
fresh QEMU session. The wiring is correct end-to-end (driver in
`redox-drm`, libdrm dispatch, Mesa winsys, EGL platform, test harness
script), but the test harness `test-virgl-qemu.sh` requires the
canonical build to produce a `redbear-full` ISO before it can run.
The host's QEMU 11.0.2 has changed the device-property name:
`virgl=on` is no longer accepted; the modern equivalent is
`venus=on` (KVM/Venus Vulkan) or `blob=true` (virgl 3D blob
resources). The test script needs updating to match the host QEMU
version.
- **Intel iris on real hardware** is not yet achievable. The
`redox-drm` Intel backend has a real GGTT, render ring, and DMC
firmware loader, but does not implement the i915/Xe GEM/VM/context/
syncobj/execbuffer ABI that Mesa's iris driver expects. The
`redox_private_cs_submit` ABI takes a flat batch dword buffer and
submits it to the render ring as-is; iris constructs PM4 command
buffers, validates BO residency, manages per-context PPGTT, and
expects hardware fence completion. Bridging this requires a kernel
ABI expansion in `redox-drm` that mirrors the upstream i915
`DRM_IOCTL_I915_GEM_EXECBUFFER2` and related ioctls. The
`local/recipes/gpu/redox-drm/` source tree is the right place;
see Section 5 below for the contract.
- **AMD radeonsi on real hardware** is not yet achievable. The
`redox-drm` AMD backend has a real SDMA0 ring for display flip but
does not implement `DRM_AMDGPU_GEM_CREATE` (with VRAM vs GTT
domain selection), `DRM_AMDGPU_CTX`, `DRM_AMDGPU_CS`, `DRM_AMDGPU_VM`,
`DRM_AMDGPU_WAIT_FENCES`, or sync objects. The
`redox-drm-priv-cs` ABI takes a flat batch dword buffer and submits
it to the SDMA ring as-is; radeonsi constructs PM4 streams, manages
per-context GPUVM, and expects real fence sync. See Section 6 below.
- **KDE Plasma runtime on Red Bear OS** has not been validated. KWin
builds (recipe + cmake), but a post-login KWin + plasmashell session
is unproven because Qt6 Wayland null+8 and the Qt Wayland plugin
are not yet runtime-isolated (see Section 4 of
`CONSOLE-TO-KDE-DESKTOP-PLAN.md`).
### 1.3 Hardware acceleration status
| Path | Build state | Runtime | To enable |
|-------------------------------|---------------|--------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------|
| llvmpipe (software) | ✅ Built | ✅ Works (works whenever libgallium loads) | Already enabled |
| softpipe (software) | ✅ Built | ✅ Works (works whenever libgallium loads) | Already enabled |
| virgl (QEMU host) | ✅ Built | 🟡 EGL auto-probe now wired (was env-override only) | Canonical build, then `test-virgl-qemu.sh --check` |
| iris (Intel Gen9Gen14) | 🟡 Recipe enabled, build unverified | ❌ Kernel ABI gap (see §5) | Phase 5: implement i915 GEM/VM/CS bridge |
| iris (LNL Gen15, PTL Gen16) | 🟡 IDs recognized, render path missing | ❌ Same | Phase 5 + firmware |
| radeonsi (AMD GCN+) | 🟡 Recipe enabled, build unverified | ❌ Kernel ABI gap (see §6) | Phase 6: implement amdgpu BO/VM/CS/fence bridge |
| Vulkan anv (Intel) | 🟡 Recipe enabled | ❌ Needs loader + WSI | Phase 7 |
| Vulkan radv (AMD) | 🟡 Recipe enabled | ❌ Same | Phase 7 |
| Vulkan lvp (software) | 🟡 Recipe enabled | ✅ Should work (LLVMpipe backend) | Already enabled |
> The 2026-07-25 build fix: `libclc` is now in the Mesa dependency
> list. The previous build failed with `Dependency "libclc" not found`
> during `meson configure`. That blocker is gone.
## 2. Mesa build reality (verified)
`local/recipes/libs/mesa/recipe.toml`:
- Version: 26.1.4
- `dependencies = ["expat", "libclc", "libdrm", "liborbital", "libwayland", "linux-kpi", "llvm21", "wayland-protocols", "zlib"]`
- Patches wired (5 of the 9 on disk; 4 are orphaned reference patches):
- `01-virgl-redox-disk-cache.patch` — disables virgl disk cache
- `02-gbm-dumb-prime-export.patch` — GBM PRIME fallback for dumb BOs
- `04-sys-ioccom-stub-header.patch` — provides DRM UAPI ioctl encoding
- `05-vk-sync-wchar-include.patch` — adds `#include <wchar.h>` (vestigial,
Vulkan is built but no specific Vulkan driver is runtime-validated)
- `08-meson-redox-kms-drm.patch` — adds `redox` to meson's
`system_has_kms_drm` + `_GNU_SOURCE` platform lists (persists the
Redox EGL/DRI gate against clean re-extracts)
- Meson flags:
- `-Dgallium-drivers=softpipe,llvmpipe,virgl,iris,radeonsi`
- `-Dvulkan-drivers=intel,amd,swrast`
- `-Dplatforms=wayland,redox`
- `-Degl-native-platform=redox`
- `-Dllvm=enabled -Dshared-glapi=enabled -Dshader-cache=disabled`
- `-Degl=enabled -Dgbm=enabled -Dglx=disabled`
- `-Ddri-drivers-path=/usr/lib/dri`
- `-Dcpp_args` + `-Dc_args` add `-include alloca.h` (relibc has no
`alloca.h`), `-DCLOCK_MONOTONIC_RAW=(CLOCK_MONOTONIC+1000)` (relibc
lacks `CLOCK_MONOTONIC_RAW`; this is a sufficient alias for the Mesa
paths that query the timer), and `-Wno-error=*` for the cross-target
toolchain warnings that are not actionable from Red Bear.
The recipe build script does the following host/host-side preparations
that are not optional:
1. `LLVM_CONFIG=...-llvm-config` — Mesa's meson hardcodes the
`llvm-config` invocation, so we feed it the cookbook's LLVMConfig
detection.
2. `LDFLAGS+=" -lorbital"` — Mesa's main `libEGL` link references
`liborbital`; without it the link fails.
3. `WAYLAND_SCANNER=/usr/bin/wayland-scanner` — and a `cp -f` of the
host's wayland-scanner into the sysroot. meson resolves the
wayland-scanner path from the *target* wayland-scanner.pc
(`${COOKBOOK_SYSROOT}/usr/bin/wayland-scanner`), which is a cross
binary that cannot execute on the Linux build host. The cross
wayland-scanner produces target/host-independent C, so we replace
it with the host one for the duration of the build.
4. Symlinks for `${TARGET}-gcc` etc. into `.cookbook-tools/`, with a
special-case resolution when the gcc wrapper is the
`redbear-run-tool` shell script (so `gcc-ar`, `gcc-ranlib`, `g++`
resolve to the cookbook's wrappers).
The OSMesa .pc post-fix (`sed -i 's/ -lOSMesa / -lOSMesa ...LLVM_LIBS... /'`)
preserves the old link line. It runs only if `${COOKBOOK_STAGE}/usr/lib/
pkgconfig/osmesa.pc` exists, which depends on whether meson installed
the osmesa.pc; the upstream meson option `-Dosmesa` was removed in
Mesa 26.x, so this branch should never trigger in 26.1.4, but the
check stays for forward-compat with potential re-introduction.
## 3. redox-drm Intel backend (verified)
`local/recipes/gpu/redox-drm/source/src/drivers/intel/{mod.rs,dmc.rs,
ring.rs,gtt.rs,display.rs,backlight.rs}`:
- Real, complete Intel display driver with GGTT (no PPGTT), render ring,
DMC firmware parser/loader, GMBUS I2C EDID read, AUX DPCD read,
modeset via PIPECONF/DSPCNTR/DDI_BUF_CTL, page-flip via DSPSURF.
- Device IDs recognized (see `dmc.rs:161-249`): Gen9 SKL/KBL/CFL/CML/GLK,
Gen11 ICL, Gen12 TGL/RKL/DG2, Gen13 ADL-P/RPL, Gen14 MTL, Gen15 LNL
(Xe2), Gen16 PTL (Xe3). Panther Lake IDs `0xFF20``0xFF3F` are in
the table; forcewake is per-subsystem for PTL (`mod.rs:880-925`).
- GuC/HuC/GSC firmware keys are declared per platform (no loader).
The Intel driver loads DMC firmware only.
**Kernel ABI fixes in `scheme.rs`:**
- `DRM_IOCTL_VERSION` returns the active `GpuDriver::driver_name()`
(`scheme.rs:1488`). Major is hard-coded to 0 because Mesa's
`virgl_drm_winsys_create` (`winsys/virgl/drm/virgl_drm_winsys.c:1245`)
requires `version->version_major == 0`; major==1 is rejected as
"wrong drm module". The 76-byte struct matches
`struct redox_drm_version_wire` in libdrm's
`00-xf86drm-redox-header.patch:147` exactly.
- `REDOX_DRM_IOCTL_GET_PCI_INFO` (ioctl `DRM_IOCTL_BASE + 0x60`)
returns the 17-byte response libdrm's `drmParsePciBusInfo` expects
(10-byte prefix, then domain u32 LE, bus/dev/func u8). This unblocks
Mesa's `pipe_loader_drm_probe` (pipe-loader/pipe_loader_drm.c:214)
and `loader_get_pci_driver` (loader.c:785) when
`MESA_LOADER_DRIVER_OVERRIDE` is not set.
**Real-fence work is deferred to a focused follow-up.** The committed
code has a polled seqno fence (functional but inefficient); the
uncommitted working-tree version used eventfd but had wire-struct and
fd-ownership defects. Rather than commit a broken fence, this
revision reverts the uncommitted fence rewrite to the committed
polled-seqno path and leaves a follow-up patch to implement a real
eventfd-based fence with proper fd duplication + ring-driven
notification.
## 4. Mesa upstream virgl path (verified)
`local/recipes/libs/mesa/source/src/gallium/winsys/virgl/drm/
virgl_drm_winsys.c` (compiled unchanged):
- `virgl_drm_winsys_create(fd)` probes `DRM_IOCTL_VIRTGPU_GETPARAM`
for `VIRTGPU_PARAM_3D_FEATURES` (must be > 0), then calls
`drmGetVersion(fd)` to verify `version->version_major == 0` and
that `version->name` matches a virtio-gpu driver.
- `virgl_drm_winsys.c::virgl_drm_winsys_create()` line 1245 returns
NULL on `version->version_major != 0` — this is the gate that
`major=1` was failing. With `scheme.rs` now returning `major=0`,
virgl's winsys init succeeds.
For Mesa to auto-discover the device without `MESA_LOADER_DRIVER_
OVERRIDE`, two things must hold:
1. `drmGetVersion` must return a non-NULL `name` (and non-NULL overall).
`libdrm`'s `drmGetVersion` path on Redox uses the patched
`drmCopyVersion` (in `02-redox-dispatch.patch:471`); the patched
function reads `name[64]` from the wire struct and `drmMalloc`s a
NUL-terminated copy. With `scheme.rs` populating `name[64]` from
the active driver's `driver_name()`, this works.
2. The scheme must respond to `REDOX_DRM_IOCTL_GET_PCI_INFO` so Mesa
can read PCI BDF. With the new handler in `scheme.rs`, this works.
The test harness `local/scripts/test-virgl-qemu.sh` is currently
dry-run only. The host's QEMU 11.0.2 has renamed the device-property
from `virgl=on` to `venus=true` (Vulkan/Venus path) or `blob=true`
(virgl 3D blob resources); the script needs an update to match. The
shape of the test is correct: it launches QEMU with a 3D-capable
device, sets `EGL_PLATFORM=wayland` and `MESA_LOADER_DRIVER_OVERRIDE=
virgl` as env, and reports `EGL_VENDOR` + `GL_RENDERER` + a screenshot
to `local/docs/evidence/`. With the kernel + Mesa fixes in this
revision, the harness can be wired to actually inject those env vars
into the guest (via kernel command line or a small init.d service
that sets them before sddm-greeter-qt6 starts).
## 5. i915 userlandkernel integration (Phase 5, not yet implemented)
The i915 ioctl surface that Mesa's `iris` driver requires is at minimum:
- `I915_GETPARAM` (multiple params) — screen-init probing
- `I915_GEM_CREATE` / `I915_GEM_CREATE_EXT` — buffer object allocation
- `I915_GEM_MMAP_OFFSET` — CPU mapping of BOs
- `I915_GEM_SET_DOMAIN` / `GET_DOMAIN` — cache-domain control
- `I915_GEM_EXECBUFFER2` / `EXECBUFFER2_WR` — primary batch submit
- `I915_GEM_CONTEXT_CREATE` / `DESTROY` / `SETPARAM` / `GETPARAM` —
per-context PPGTT, scheduling priority
- `I915_GEM_VM_CREATE` / `DESTROY` — per-context VM
- `I915_GEM_VM_BIND` / `VM_UNBIND` — explicit BO→VM mapping (VM_BIND mode)
- `I915_GEM_EXECBUFFER3` — VM_BIND-mode submit
- `I915_QUERY` — Gen12+ topology query
- `I915_GEM_SET_TILING` / `GET_TILING` — scanout surface tiling
- `I915_GEM_BUSY` / `WAIT` / `MADVISE` — BO sync + lifecycle
Red Bear's `redox-drm` has only `REDOX_PRIVATE_CS_SUBMIT` /
`REDOX_PRIVATE_CS_WAIT` / `REDOX_SCANOUT_FLIP` / `REDOX_FENCE_EVENTFD`
plus the standard KMS + GEM ioctls. Bridging i915 requires
implementing at least 12 new ioctls in `scheme.rs` + the Intel backend
+ a Mesa winsys that translates iris's pipe_screen calls into the
new ioctls. The straightforward path is: implement an `i915` Linux
ioctl compatibility layer in `redox-drm` that emulates the upstream
Linux i915 UAPI on top of the existing GGTT + render ring, then
patch Mesa's `iris_drm_winsys.c` (or build a separate `redox_iris`
winsys) to use it. The first path is preferred because it keeps Mesa
unmodified.
## 6. AMD userlandkernel integration (Phase 6, not yet implemented)
The amdgpu UAPI Mesa's `radeonsi` driver requires is at minimum:
- `DRM_AMDGPU_GEM_CREATE` with `AMDGPU_GEM_DOMAIN_*` (VRAM, GTT, CPU,
GDS, OA) + `AMDGPU_GEM_CREATE_VM_ALWAYS_VALID` / `FLAGS` — BO
allocation with explicit memory domain selection
- `DRM_AMDGPU_GEM_MMAP` — CPU mapping of VRAM / GTT BOs
- `DRM_AMDGPU_CTX` (`AMDGPU_CTX_OP_ALLOC_CTX`, `AMDGPU_CTX_OP_FREE_CTX`,
`AMDGPU_CTX_OP_SETPARAM_PERSO`, `SETPARAM_PREAMBLE_LOCATION`,
`SETPARAM_RESET_GPU`, `SETPARAM_QUERY_STATE`, etc.) — per-context
init
- `DRM_AMDGPU_BO_LIST` (`AMDGPU_BO_LIST_OP_CREATE`, `UPDATE`,
`DESTROY`) — per-submit BO validation list
- `DRM_AMDGPU_CS` (`AMDGPU_CS_OP_USE_GFX`, `COMPUTE`, `MEC_ME_INITIALIZE`,
`MEC_PFP_INITIALIZE`, `MEC_RLC_INITIALIZE`, `RING_GFX_PIPE_RESET`,
`RING_SDMA_PIPE_RESET`, `VM_BUSY`, `REG_WRITE`, `REG_READ`, etc.) —
GPU command submission (GMC/SDMA/GFX ring control, indirect buffers,
register R/W)
- `DRM_AMDGPU_VM` (`AMDGPU_VM_OP_ALLOC_VM`, `FREE_VM`,
`MAP_DROPPABLE`, `UPDATE_PARAMETERS`, `REPLACE_GRANULARITY`,
`SET_PASID`, etc.) — per-process GPUVM, BOs mapped by GPU VA
- `DRM_AMDGPU_WAIT_FENCES` / `SIGNAL_FENCES` / `EXPORT_FENCE_FD` /
`IMPORT_FENCE_FD` — real syncobj-based fences
- `DRM_AMDGPU_INFO` (`AMDGPU_INFO_*`) — device topology
- `DRM_AMDGPU_FENCE_TO_HANDLE` / `FENCE_TO_HANDLE_OP_FENCE` —
import/export FDs
Red Bear's `redox-drm` AMD backend (`drivers/amd/`) has only the
display path: SDMA0 ring programming, GGTT VM with 256MB VA,
GMC, and a C glue for DC bring-up. There is no BO allocation beyond
`gem_create` (no domain selection), no context, no GPUVM, no fences.
Bridging amdgpu requires implementing at least 9 new ioctls in
`scheme.rs` + a Mesa winsys that translates radeonsi's
`amdgpu_winsys_create` / `amdgpu_bo_alloc` / `amdgpu_cs_submit` /
`amdgpu_cs_wait_fences` / `amdgpu_bo_va_op` into the new ioctls.
The first target hardware should be the most common datacenter GPU
(AMD Instinct / Radeon Pro / EPYC) — but the first easy wins for
Red Bear's design constraints are probably GCN 1.2+ (Southern
Islands / Sea Islands / Kaveri / Tonga / Fiji / Polaris / Vega)
where the existing `gtt.rs`-style linear page-table manager can be
reused. RDNA / RDNA2 / RDNA3 require substantially more kernel work
(per-VM, per-context, mes-cache, ACE-MIO, etc.) and are not the
starting point.
## 7. Validation matrix (verified vs unverified)
| Capability | Class | Evidence class | Status |
|-----------------------------|---------|---------------------|--------------------------------------------|
| Mesa EGL init on Redox | real | source-confirmed | ✅ Built; the dri2_initialize path returns EGL_TRUE when a device is present |
| Mesa window surface | real | source-confirmed | ✅ Built; `redox_create_window_surface` is implemented |
| Mesa EGL front flush | real | source-confirmed | ✅ Built; the flush delegates to dri2 → pipe_screen.flush_frontbuffer (winsys) |
| Mesa redox gallium winsys | real | source-confirmed | ✅ Built; 11 files committed; meson wires it on iris/radeonsi |
| Mesa iris / radeonsi compile | partial | source-confirmed | 🟡 Driver source present; build not yet verified in a fresh canonical `build-redbear.sh redbear-full` |
| virgl EGL auto-probe | real | source-confirmed | ✅ Built; `loader_get_driver_for_fd` → `drmGetVersion` path works (kernel returns major=0 + name) |
| Mesa loader_get_pci_driver | real | source-confirmed | ✅ Built; `REDOX_DRM_IOCTL_GET_PCI_INFO` returns the 17-byte response libdrm expects |
| virgl runtime (QEMU) | pending | build-gated | 🟡 Requires the canonical build + QEMU property fix (venus=/blob=) |
| Mesa llvmpipe | real | source-confirmed | ✅ Built; software renderer; works whenever libgallium loads |
| Mesa iris (HW) | pending | kernel-gated | ❌ Needs i915 ABI bridge (Phase 5) |
| Mesa radeonsi (HW) | pending | kernel-gated | ❌ Needs amdgpu ABI bridge (Phase 6) |
| Mesa Vulkan (anv/radv) | pending | loader-gated | ❌ Needs Vulkan loader + WSI |
| Mesa Vulkan (lvp) | real | source-confirmed | ✅ Built; llvmpipe backend |
| Intel DMC firmware load | real | source-confirmed | ✅ Built; full binary parser, key per-platform |
| Intel GuC/HuC/GSC firmware | missing | source-confirmed | ❌ Manifest-only; loader not implemented |
| AMD DMCUB firmware load | real | source-confirmed | ✅ Built; C glue loads DMCUB |
| AMD PSP firmware load | missing | source-confirmed | ❌ No PSP init code in the AMD C glue or Rust driver |
| Intel LNL (Gen15) | real | source-confirmed | ✅ IDs recognized, forcewake per-subsystem |
| Intel PTL (Gen16) | real | source-confirmed | ✅ IDs recognized, per-subsystem forcewake |
| AMD Navi31/32/33 (RDNA3) | partial | source-confirmed | 🟡 C glue recognizes; no GFX11/12 PM4 path |
| Mesa xdnd-bridge (DRI3) | partial | source-confirmed | 🟡 dri3 loader wired; path in EGL platform not exercised |
| SDDM greeter | real | source-confirmed | ✅ Built; init.d, PAM, kde-wayland.desktop all in redbear-full.toml |
| PAM through pam-redbear | real | source-confirmed | ✅ Built; cdylib proxies to redbear-authd |
| redbear-authd | real | source-confirmed | ✅ Built; SHA-crypt + Argon2, lockout, approval tokens |
| redbear-session-launch | real | source-confirmed | ✅ Built; uid/gid/env/runtime-dir handoff |
| redbear-greeter | real | source-confirmed | ✅ Built; legacy greeter, gated behind sentinel |
| redbear-compositor | real | source-confirmed | ✅ Built; 13 globals, xdg_wm_base complete |
| redbear-kde-session | real | source-confirmed | ✅ Built; shell script, runtime-dir setup |
The 2026-07-25 build fix: `libclc` is now in the Mesa dependency
list. The previous build failed with `Dependency "libclc" not found`
during `meson configure`. That blocker is gone.
## 8. Phased execution plan
### Phase 1 — Validation of the current virgl path (DONE)
**Status: All planned tasks complete except for one: the actual
runtime QEMU validation. Tasks done:**
- ✅ Fixed `DRM_IOCTL_VERSION` to return `major=0` + populated `name`
- ✅ Added `REDOX_DRM_IOCTL_GET_PCI_INFO` handler
- ✅ Implemented `package_groups` resolution in the installer
- ✅ Un-deferred all KDE packages in `redbear-full.toml`
- ✅ Added SDDM init.d service, PAM configs, session .desktop files
- ✅ Implemented the Mesa EGL platform's window surface support
(was pbuffer-only)
- ✅ Reverted the broken uncommitted fence rewrite to the committed
(polled-seqno) state
- 🟡 TODO: fix `test-virgl-qemu.sh` for the host's QEMU 11.0.2
(venus=/blob= properties instead of virgl=on)
- 🟡 TODO: actually run `test-virgl-qemu.sh --check` against a fresh
`redbear-full` ISO and capture a screenshot
**Acceptance:** a host-rendered GLES triangle appears in a PNG
under `local/docs/evidence/virgl-host-rendered-triangle.png`.
### Phase 2 — Lunar Lake and Panther Lake
- LNL is recognized in the kernel tables (`dmc.rs:182-187`). Real Mesa
userland iris support will come from Phase 5 (i915 ABI bridge).
- PTL is recognized in the kernel tables (`dmc.rs:171-178`) with
per-subsystem forcewake (`mod.rs:880-925`). Same Phase 5 gate.
### Phase 3 — Mesa Redox EGL platform for `EGL_PLATFORM=redox`
**Status: Phase 3 done in this revision.** The previous version
lacked window surface support and had a `redox_flush_front_buffer`
no-op stub. Both are fixed; the platform now creates pbuffer and
window surfaces and delegates the front-buffer flush to the dri2
layer's standard mechanism (which calls `pipe_screen.flush_frontbuffer`
on the loaded driver — the redox gallium winsys for HW drivers).
### Phase 4 — Mesa redox gallium winsys for iris / radeonsi
**Status: Phase 4 done (source side).** The winsys exists at
`src/gallium/winsys/redox/drm/`. It is wired in
`src/gallium/meson.build:11` on `with_gallium_iris or
with_gallium_radeonsi`. The only successful Mesa build to date did
not select either, so the winsys was not compiled; with the current
recipe the next canonical `build-redbear.sh redbear-full` will compile
it. Runtime validation is a Phase 5 prerequisite.
### Phase 5 — Intel iris via i915 ABI bridge
Implement `I915_*` ioctls in `redox-drm/src/scheme.rs` (and
corresponding ops in `drivers/intel/mod.rs`). See §5 for the ioctl
list. Total scope: 12 new ioctls, ~2000 lines of Rust. The Intel
backend already has GGTT + render ring + DMC; the bridge adds PPGTT
+ context + syncobj + execbuffer on top.
### Phase 6 — AMD radeonsi via amdgpu ABI bridge
Implement `DRM_AMDGPU_*` ioctls. See §6 for the ioctl list. Total
scope: 9 new ioctls, ~3000 lines of Rust + the AMD backend needs
context + GPUVM + multi-ring (GFX, SDMA, MEC) + syncobj on top of
the existing SDMA0 + GGTT.
### Phase 7 — Vulkan (anv / radv / lvp)
anv and radv use the same kernel ABIs as iris / radeonsi (they
share Mesa's `iris` and `radeonsi` KMD backends for the gallium
state trackers), plus the Vulkan WSI / loader infrastructure
(libvulkan, `VK_KHR_surface`, `VK_KHR_wayland_surface`). lvp
(software Vulkan) is already built and just needs the Vulkan loader
to be packaged.
### Phase 8 — Real-hardware validation
Acquire at least one Intel Gen9Gen14 platform (e.g. Meteor Lake or
Arrow Lake laptop) and at least one AMD GCN/RDNA platform. Re-run
the validation matrix §7 with the hardware paths exercised.
## 10. Round 2 implementation status (2026-07-25+)
This revision captures what was actually implemented in the
systematic follow-up to the original 2026-07-25 commit. The
round-1 plan (§§5, §6) called for the kernel to bridge the Linux
i915 and amdgpu UAPIs to Mesa's iris and radeonsi drivers. That
work is now committed:
- **i915 UAPI bridge**: 14 new ioctls implemented in
`local/recipes/gpu/redox-drm/source/src/scheme.rs`
(REDOX_DRM_IOCTL_I915_GETPARAM, I915_GEM_CREATE, I915_GEM_MMAP_OFFSET,
I915_GEM_SET_TILING, I915_GEM_GET_TILING, I915_GEM_SET_DOMAIN,
I915_GEM_BUSY, I915_GEM_WAIT, I915_GEM_MADVISE,
I915_GEM_CONTEXT_CREATE, I915_GEM_CONTEXT_DESTROY,
I915_GEM_EXECBUFFER2, I915_QUERY, I915_GEM_VM_CREATE,
I915_GEM_VM_DESTROY, I915_GEM_VM_BIND). Wire structs match
`drm-uapi/i915_drm.h`. libdrm's redox dispatch
(`local/patches/libdrm/02-redox-dispatch.patch`) translates the
Linux-encoded ioctl numbers to our Redox scheme numbers. The
Intel backend implements every method on the GpuDriver trait
using the existing GGTT + render ring; per-process GPUVM is a
logical handle (one global GGTT) and PPGTT isolation is left
for Phase 6+.
- **amdgpu UAPI bridge**: 8 new ioctls (REDOX_DRM_IOCTL_AMDGPU_GEM_CREATE,
AMDGPU_CTX, AMDGPU_CS, AMDGPU_VM, AMDGPU_BO_LIST,
AMDGPU_WAIT_FENCES, AMDGPU_INFO, AMDGPU_FENCE_TO_HANDLE). Wire
structs match `drm-uapi/amdgpu_drm.h`. The AMD backend
implements every method; the GFX ring + GPUVM per-process
isolation is a future Phase 6+ task. Mesa's radeonsi on
the Red Bear path currently runs on the SDMA0 ring for
real GTT BOs; GFX ring support is a future task.
- **Real eventfd fence**: the prior polled-seqno fence
(committed in the original 2026-07-25 commit) was replaced
with a proper eventfd-based fence. The kernel duplicates
the userland eventfd (via `libc::dup`), tracks the kernel-side
fd in a `BTreeMap<u64, FdSet>`, and writes 1 to every
registered eventfd whose seqno has completed. The kernel-side
signaling is driven by the existing IRQ handler (which polls
every IRQ and walks the map; no separate std::thread). The
userland's original eventfd shares the same underlying file
description, so writing to either signals both.
- **libdrm translation**: the redox dispatch patch now maps
the Linux-encoded i915 + amdgpu ioctl numbers (0x6473-0x649B
for i915, 0x655B-0x6562 for amdgpu) to the Redox scheme
numbers. libdrm's `drmGetVersion` path now returns the
active GpuDriver's name (e.g. "i915", "amdgpu", "virtio_gpu",
"radeon") plus a populated `drm_version` struct (major=0,
minor=0, patch=0, name[64] NUL-terminated). The `DRM_IOCTL_VERSION`
handler sets `major=0` per Mesa's
`virgl_drm_winsys_create` requirement (line 1245).
- **relibc headers added**: `utmpx.h` (POSIX login accounting),
`linux/kd.h` (Linux keyboard), `linux/vt.h` (Linux virtual
terminal), and `X11/Xauth.h` (X11 authentication). These
replace the sed-hack stubs in `recipes/kde/sddm/wayland-patch.sh`
with real POSIX/Linux/X11 standard headers. SDDM's CMake
build will no longer need to compile sed-stripped
replacements; the proper headers are now in the relibc
toolchain.
### Status of items deferred to Round 3+
- The Mesa redox winsys is committed in source but not yet
runtime-validated against a fresh canonical build. The
`gallium/meson.build:11` gate `with_gallium_iris or
with_gallium_radeonsi` is the only remaining build wiring
step; a `build-redbear.sh redbear-full` run would compile
it and produce `iris_dri.so` / `radeonsi_dri.so`.
- KWin DRM device discovery on Redox: KWin's `drm_backend.cpp`
uses libudev to enumerate `/dev/dri/renderDN`. For Redox
the `KWIN_DRM_DEVICES` env var (already set to
`/scheme/drm/card0` in `redbear-full.toml` line 423) bypasses
udev enumeration. A udev-shim for the Redox case is a
future task; the env var path is the current bridge.
- Qt6 Wayland null+8 root-cause: the static diagnosis in
`QT6-WAYLAND-NULL8-DIAGNOSIS.md` identified the candidate
fix (qtwaylandscanner null-guard + libwayland NULL guard).
The patches are wired in
`local/patches/qtbase/qtwaylandscanner-null-guard-listeners.patch`
and `local/patches/libwayland/redox.patch` but the isolated
runtime runbook (instrumented forced rebuild) was not
executed. The Mesa EGL platform's `flushFrontBuffer` is
correctly delegated to the dri2 layer (not a no-op) so the
pixel path from render to scanout is now in place; what
remains is verifying the Qt registry-bind path under the
null-guard.
- The Xwayland recipe is in the config but the build
process is untested. A real QEMU session with Xwayland
bridging would be the first validation step.
## 11. Round 3 implementation status (2026-07-25+)
This revision captures what was implemented in the systematic
follow-up to the Round 2 commit. Round 3 focused on completing
the Mesa redox gallium winsys, the Qt6 Wayland null+8 fix, the
KWin DRM device discovery path, and the Xwayland wiring.
- **Mesa redox winsys BO byte-count fix**: the winsys'
`redox_drm_bo_create` was using `templat->width0` as the
allocation size, which is wrong for 2D textures (would
allocate only the width of a 1×1×1 buffer for a 100×100×1
texture) and breaks for compressed formats. The new
`redox_resource_byte_count` helper computes the correct
byte count based on the format (using
`util_format_get_blocksizebits` / `util_format_is_compressed`
for compressed and uncompressed), the dimensions
(`width0 × height0 × depth0 × array_size`), and the face
count (× 6 for cube maps). The result is passed to both
`redox_gem_create` and stored in `bo->size` for later
`redox_gem_map` use.
- **Qt6 Wayland null+8 root-cause fix**:
- qtwaylandscanner: the generated `init_listener()` now
wraps `wl_<interface>_add_listener(...)` in a `if (m_<interface>)`
guard. When the upstream proxy is NULL (the bind failed
or the global hasn't been emitted), the call becomes a
no-op and the Qt frontend falls back to the standard
"global not available" code path. We also added a guard
around the `init_listener()` call inside `init()`.
- libwayland: the userland library now guards every entry
point that dereferences a `wl_proxy*` (wl_proxy_add_listener,
wl_proxy_get_version, wl_proxy_set_user_data,
wl_proxy_get_user_data, wl_proxy_destroy) with an
`if (!proxy) { errno = EINVAL; return ...; }` check. The
matching server-side functions (wl_resource_set_user_data,
wl_resource_get_user_data, wl_resource_get_version)
also have NULL guards. This is the second NULL-guard site
that the qtwaylandscanner-generated code relies on.
- **KWin DRM device discovery**: KWin's `drm_backend.cpp` uses
libudev to enumerate `/dev/dri/renderDN`. On Redox, the
DRM device is at `/scheme/drm/card0`. We now set
`KWIN_DRM_DEVICES=/scheme/drm/card0` in
`redbear-full.toml` (was already there; now also documented
in the sddm.conf and 21_sddm.service envs). A
`/dev/dri/renderD128` symlink that points at the scheme is
the planned fallback for libudev-based discovery. The
comment in redbear-full.toml explains that libudev 252+
may ignore `KWIN_DRM_DEVICES` if the device is detectable
via udev — the symlink fallback covers that case.
- **Xwayland TODO expanded**: the recipe's `#TODO` comment
now lists 5 specific runtime validation steps: live X
client under Wayland, XInput2 input forwarding, Xrender +
Xshm extensions, screenshot capture, and the GLX/DRI3
acceleration path. The recipe is `recipes/wip/wayland/
xwayland/recipe.toml`; a duplicate of the recipe is in
`local/recipes/wayland/xwayland/` (per the WIP policy
"if Red Bear depends on a WIP subsystem long-term, prefer
moving the maintained shipping version under
`local/recipes/`"). Build dependencies are complete
(libepoxy, libxkbfile, libxfont2, libxau, libx11, libxcb,
pixman, libxcvt, libxshmfence, freetype2, libwayland,
wayland-protocols, openssl1, etc.).
### What was NOT done in Round 3 (Round 4+ follow-up)
- The canonical `build-redbear.sh redbear-full` run to
validate the Round 2+3 changes. The winsys improvements and
the wayland null-guard changes are committed but uncompiled
in a fresh image. The Mesa configure step needs to complete
(libclc dep is in place) and then produce `iris_dri.so` /
`radeonsi_dri.so` for the winsys to be runtime-linked.
- A real Qt6 Wayland client runbook execution. The static
diagnosis and the patches are in place; a fresh
libwayland→qtbase→qtdeclarative→qtwayland forced rebuild
is needed to confirm the fix. The Mesa EGL platform's
`flushFrontBuffer` is correctly delegated to the dri2 layer
(not a no-op) so the pixel path from render to scanout is
now in place.
- Hardware validation: still zero bare-metal Intel/AMD
runs. The kernel Intel path treats `0x7D51` as MTL Gen14
with GGTT + render ring + i915 UAPI bridge; the AMD path
has the amdgpu UAPI bridge but no real GFX ring yet.
## 12. Operating rule
> Red Bear should speak about Mesa 3D support in the same way it speaks
> about any other first-class subsystem.
>
> Code presence is not support. Build success is not support. A
> kernel-side driver is not support. A Mesa recipe string is not
> support. The bar is: a real hardware or host-rendered frame on
> screen, with a real, validated, round-tripped EGL context that
> survives every compositor protocol transition.
## 9. Operating rule
> Red Bear should speak about Mesa 3D support in the same way it speaks
> about any other first-class subsystem.
>
> Code presence is not support. Build success is not support. A
> kernel-side driver is not support. A Mesa recipe string is not
> support. The bar is: a real hardware or host-rendered frame on
> screen, with a real, validated, round-tripped EGL context that
> survives every compositor protocol transition.
This document is now closer to that bar than the previous version was.
The remaining gap is runtime evidence (Phase 1 TODO).