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

Red Bear OS Desktop Stack — Current Status

Last updated: 2026-04-18 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.

Tracked Default and Evidence Boundary

• The tracked default build now resolves to CONFIG_NAME?=redbear-kde.
• the bounded Phase 2 validation profile remains available.
• redbear-kde is the tracked KWin Wayland desktop direction, but runtime-proven compositor/ session claims still remain incomplete.

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; current reduced path now links honest libudev.so and libdisplay-info.so provider paths alongside real libepoxy and lcms2; 11 feature switches remain disabled and runtime/session proof is still missing
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 and redbear-kde; D-Bus plan + sessiond complete (DB-1), Qt 6.11 D-Bus coverage documented (Section 14), DB-2/3/4 service daemons implemented as stubs (notifications, upower, udisks, polkit)
redbear-sessiond	✅ Scaffold	org.freedesktop.login1 D-Bus session broker — Rust daemon (zbus 5), config wired in redbear-kde.toml, acpi_watcher with edge detection
redbear-notifications	✅ Scaffold	org.freedesktop.Notifications — logs to stderr, no display integration yet
redbear-upower	✅ bounded real	org.freedesktop.UPower — enumerates real AC adapters/batteries from /scheme/acpi/power; desktop machines with no battery report line power only
redbear-udisks	✅ bounded real	org.freedesktop.UDisks2 — enumerates real disk.* schemes and partitions into read-only D-Bus objects; no fabricated mount/serial metadata
Phase 5 D-Bus runtime proof	✅ implemented (bounded QEMU proof)	redbear-phase5-network-check + test-phase5-network-qemu.sh assert bounded-real UPower/UDisks2 registration and runtime-backed enumeration on redbear-full; this is a desktop/network plumbing proof, not a claim that the Wi-Fi plan's later Phase W5 hardware/runtime-reporting exit criteria are complete
Phase 6 Solid readiness proof	✅ implemented, blocked	redbear-phase6-kde-check + test-phase6-kde-qemu.sh now distinguish real Solid validation from blocked states; kf6-solid remains disabled until runtime proof + tooling are present
redbear-polkit	✅ Scaffold	org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1 — always-permit authorization; KAuth still uses FAKE backend because PolkitQt6-1 is not packaged yet
redbear-dbus-services	✅ Created	D-Bus activation files + policies staged
DRM/KMS	builds	redox-drm scheme daemon; shared contract hardened (GEM, PRIME, bounded private CS surface, honest fsync, shared driver-event groundwork for B3 across Intel and AMD); no hardware runtime validation
GPU acceleration	blocked	PRIME/DMA-BUF ioctls and bounded private CS surface implemented; real vendor render CS/fence path still missing
validation compositor runtime	experimental	Reaches early init in QEMU; no complete session
validation profile	builds, boots	Bounded Wayland runtime profile
redbear-full profile	builds, boots	Broader desktop plumbing profile
redbear-kde profile	builds	Tracked KWin desktop-direction profile
redbear-live profile	builds	Live image following the tracked KWin desktop target

Profile View

Validation profile

• Role: Phase 2 Wayland compositor validation target
• Current truth: Builds and boots in QEMU; bounded compositor initialization 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, and the bounded Phase 5 network/session checker is evidence-backed there
• Use for: Desktop integration testing beyond the narrow Wayland slice
• Do not overclaim: This profile proves bounded QEMU desktop/network plumbing only. It does not by itself close the Wi-Fi implementation plan's later real-hardware Phase W5 reporting/recovery gate.

redbear-kde

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

redbear-live

• Role: Live/demo/recovery image layered on the tracked desktop profile
• Current truth: Inherits redbear-kde, so live media now follows the tracked KWin desktop target
• Use for: Demo, install, and recovery workflows based on the current shipped desktop surface

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)

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

3. KWin reduced build is now dependency-honest, but runtime proof is still missing (Phase 3 gate)

The reduced KWin path now builds with honest provider linkage for libepoxy, lcms2, libudev, and libdisplay-info.

Current truth for that slice:

Dependency	Current state	Remaining limitation
libepoxy	Real dependency	No blocker in this slice
lcms2	Real dependency	No blocker in this slice
libudev	Honest scheme-backed provider (libudev.so)	Hotplug monitoring remains bounded rather than full eudev parity
libdisplay-info	Honest bounded provider (libdisplay-info.so)	Base-EDID parsing only; CTA / DisplayID / HDR metadata remain unsupported

Additionally, two packages still need more honest session-ready treatment: 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, and a bounded private CS surface now exists for shared-contract work. Real vendor render command submission and shared fence semantics still do not exist. This still blocks hardware-accelerated rendering.

The repo now also carries a bounded in-guest display checker, redbear-drm-display-check, with shell wrappers at local/scripts/test-drm-display-runtime.sh, test-amd-gpu.sh, and test-intel-gpu.sh. It now covers direct connector/mode enumeration and bounded direct modeset proof over the Red Bear DRM ioctl surface, but it is still only a runtime evidence tool until it is exercised on real Intel and AMD hardware.

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, session assembly, and the remaining KDE session/runtime proof work. Phase 1 (Runtime Substrate Validation) remains the immediate next target, while the KWin reduced path still lacks runtime compositor/session proof.