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| author | Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> | 2026-08-30 09:22:00 -0700 |
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| committer | Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> | 2026-08-30 09:22:00 -0700 |
| commit | 034dd340b08be1f2f0477ad16131d609f9dbd53c (patch) | |
| tree | 2536f4b2d7893ccd916b5abdf3c454ad6edc03c2 /Documentation/gpu/introduction.rst | |
| download | linux-stable-034dd340b08be1f2f0477ad16131d609f9dbd53c.tar.gz linux-stable-034dd340b08be1f2f0477ad16131d609f9dbd53c.zip | |
Merge tag 'trace-v7.3-2' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-tracegrafted
Pull tracing fixes from Steven Rostedt:
- Fix error output of boot instance creation failure
Currently if a boot instance creation fails, instead of printing out
the name of the instance that failed, it prints "(null)". That is
because it prints "cur_str" that had already been processed by
strsep(). Print the saved name instead.
While at it, print the error code of the failure.
- Fix use-after-free for same named historgrams
Histograms can be named so that they can be used in multiple events.
But if the named histogram has a variable attached, the second event
that uses the named histogram which duplicates it and needs to free
the original after duplication leaves the old variable in place and
still visible. If another histogram uses than variable, it will use
the stale one which will try to reference the freed duplicate
histogram and crash the kernel.
Free the duplicate variables along with the duplicated histogram
data.
- Check return value of kthread_run() in event self test
The events self tests uses a kthread for testing but does not check
if it succeeded in creating a kthread. If the kthread creation were
to fail, the code will still try to call kthread_stop() on the error
returned.
- Fix race between reading trace_pipe and updating subbuffer size
If a user is reading the trace_pipe file at the same time they update
the ring buffer sub-buffer size, can cause the trace_pipe read to
read stale data. Add trace_access_lock() around updating the ring
buffer sub-buffer size.
- Fix eventfs_inode on failure path in creation of the events directory
In the creation of the "events" directory, if after allocating the
eventfs_inode a failure is detected, it calls cleanup_ei() which
calls free_ei(). The free_ei() will test if eventfs_inode being freed
has no children. It is a bug if it does. But on the failure case of
the creation of the "events" directory, the children lists have not
yet been initialized and the free will trigger a warning because
list_empty() on an uninitialized list returns false.
Move the initialization into init_ei() where it makes more sense and
makes sure that a created eventfs_inode has its lists initialized
upon creation.
- Check return value of kthread_run() in ftrace direct sample code
The sample code that shows how to use the ftrace direct calls does
not test the return of kthread_run() to see if it succeeds. Return a
failure if the kthread_run() doesn't succeed.
- Clear user events state on fork in case of alloc failure
On fork, the child gets a pointer to the parent's user events state.
It makes a copy of it then updates the child's pointer to it. But if
the allocation fails, the duplication function leaves the child with
a pointer to its parent's descriptor. When the child cleans up its
data, it will free the parent's descriptor while the parent is still
using it.
In the duplication function, set the child's user_event_mm to NULL
before testing if the allocation succeeded, and when it exits it will
not free the parent's descriptor.
- Fix retry exhaustion in simple ring buffer reader swap
simple_ring_buffer_swap_reader_page() starts with retry set to 8 and
post-decrements it only after a failed link replacement. On the final
attempt, a successful replacement leaves retry at zero, while a
failed replacement leaves it at -1.
But the check for success expects the retry value to be non-zero and
exits with an error on zero. This is the opposite result. Fix it.
- Fail nicely when the remote swap_reader_page() returns an error
Currently, if the swap_reader_page() of a remote buffer fails, it
triggers a WARN_ON_ONCE() and continues normally. Instead, have it
exit with an error and a pr_warn() print instead of a full WARNING.
* tag 'trace-v7.3-2' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-trace:
ring-buffer: Stop remote reader update when page swap fails
tracing: Fix retry exhaustion in simple ring buffer reader swap
tracing/user_events: Clear copied tracing state before fork duplication
samples/ftrace: Fix kthread_stop() on ERR_PTR in ftrace-direct-multi-modify
samples/ftrace: Fix kthread_stop() on ERR_PTR in ftrace-direct-modify
eventfs: Initialize ei->children and ei->list in init_ei()
tracing: Fix use-after-free in trace_pipe read on sub-buffer order change
tracing: Fix crash passing ERR_PTR to kthread_stop()
tracing: Fix use-after-free with same-name named triggers
tracing: Fix logged instance name on creation failure
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/gpu/introduction.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/gpu/introduction.rst | 172 |
1 files changed, 172 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/gpu/introduction.rst b/Documentation/gpu/introduction.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..64074ac22 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/gpu/introduction.rst @@ -0,0 +1,172 @@ +============ +Introduction +============ + +The Linux DRM layer contains code intended to support the needs of +complex graphics devices, usually containing programmable pipelines well +suited to 3D graphics acceleration. Graphics drivers in the kernel may +make use of DRM functions to make tasks like memory management, +interrupt handling and DMA easier, and provide a uniform interface to +applications. + +A note on versions: this guide covers features found in the DRM tree, +including the TTM memory manager, output configuration and mode setting, +and the new vblank internals, in addition to all the regular features +found in current kernels. + +[Insert diagram of typical DRM stack here] + +.. contents:: + +Style Guidelines +================ + +For consistency this documentation uses American English. Abbreviations +are written as all-uppercase, for example: DRM, KMS, IOCTL, CRTC, and so +on. To aid in reading, documentations make full use of the markup +characters kerneldoc provides: @parameter for function parameters, +@member for structure members (within the same structure), &struct structure to +reference structures and function() for functions. These all get automatically +hyperlinked if kerneldoc for the referenced objects exists. When referencing +entries in function vtables (and structure members in general) please use +&vtable_name.vfunc. Unfortunately this does not yet yield a direct link to the +member, only the structure. + +Except in special situations (to separate locked from unlocked variants) +locking requirements for functions aren't documented in the kerneldoc. +Instead locking should be check at runtime using e.g. +``WARN_ON(!mutex_is_locked(...));``. Since it's much easier to ignore +documentation than runtime noise this provides more value. And on top of +that runtime checks do need to be updated when the locking rules change, +increasing the chances that they're correct. Within the documentation +the locking rules should be explained in the relevant structures: Either +in the comment for the lock explaining what it protects, or data fields +need a note about which lock protects them, or both. + +Functions which have a non-\ ``void`` return value should have a section +called "Returns" explaining the expected return values in different +cases and their meanings. Currently there's no consensus whether that +section name should be all upper-case or not, and whether it should end +in a colon or not. Go with the file-local style. Other common section +names are "Notes" with information for dangerous or tricky corner cases, +and "FIXME" where the interface could be cleaned up. + +Also read the :ref:`guidelines for the kernel documentation at large <doc_guide>`. + +Documentation Requirements for kAPI +----------------------------------- + +All kernel APIs exported to other modules must be documented, including their +datastructures and at least a short introductory section explaining the overall +concepts. Documentation should be put into the code itself as kerneldoc comments +as much as reasonable. + +Do not blindly document everything, but document only what's relevant for driver +authors: Internal functions of drm.ko and definitely static functions should not +have formal kerneldoc comments. Use normal C comments if you feel like a comment +is warranted. You may use kerneldoc syntax in the comment, but it shall not +start with a /** kerneldoc marker. Similar for data structures, annotate +anything entirely private with ``/* private: */`` comments as per the +documentation guide. + +Getting Started +=============== + +Developers interested in helping out with the DRM subsystem are very welcome. +Often people will resort to sending in patches for various issues reported by +checkpatch or sparse. We welcome such contributions. + +Anyone looking to kick it up a notch can find a list of janitorial tasks on +the :ref:`TODO list <todo>`. + +Contribution Process +==================== + +Mostly the DRM subsystem works like any other kernel subsystem, see :ref:`the +main process guidelines and documentation <process_index>` for how things work. +Here we just document some of the specialities of the GPU subsystem. + +Feature Merge Deadlines +----------------------- + +All feature work must be in the linux-next tree by the -rc6 release of the +current release cycle, otherwise they must be postponed and can't reach the next +merge window. All patches must have landed in the drm-next tree by latest -rc7, +but if your branch is not in linux-next then this must have happened by -rc6 +already. + +After that point only bugfixes (like after the upstream merge window has closed +with the -rc1 release) are allowed. No new platform enabling or new drivers are +allowed. + +This means that there's a blackout-period of about one month where feature work +can't be merged. The recommended way to deal with that is having a -next tree +that's always open, but making sure to not feed it into linux-next during the +blackout period. As an example, drm-misc works like that. + +Code of Conduct +--------------- + +As a freedesktop.org project, dri-devel, and the DRM community, follows the +Contributor Covenant, found at: https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/CodeOfConduct + +Please conduct yourself in a respectful and civilised manner when +interacting with community members on mailing lists, IRC, or bug +trackers. The community represents the project as a whole, and abusive +or bullying behaviour is not tolerated by the project. + +Simple DRM drivers to use as examples +===================================== + +The DRM subsystem contains a lot of helper functions to ease writing drivers for +simple graphic devices. For example, the `drivers/gpu/drm/tiny/` directory has a +set of drivers that are simple enough to be implemented in a single source file. +The tiny DRM drivers are good examples to understand how DRM drivers should look +like. Since are just a few hundreds lines of code, they are quite easy to read. + +External References +=================== + +Delving into a Linux kernel subsystem for the first time can be an overwhelming +experience, one needs to get familiar with all the concepts and learn about the +subsystem's internals, among other details. + +To shallow the learning curve, this section contains a list of presentations +and documents that can be used to learn about DRM/KMS and graphics in general. + +There are different reasons why someone might want to get into DRM: porting an +existing fbdev driver, write a DRM driver for a new hardware, fixing bugs that +could face when working on the graphics user-space stack, etc. For this reason, +the learning material covers many aspects of the Linux graphics stack. From an +overview of the kernel and user-space stacks to very specific topics. + +The list is sorted in reverse chronological order, to keep the most up-to-date +material at the top. But all of them contain useful information, and it can be +valuable to go through older material to understand the rationale and context +in which the changes to the DRM subsystem were made. + +Conference talks +---------------- + +* `An Overview of the Linux and Userspace Graphics Stack <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjAJmqwg47k>`_ - Paul Kocialkowski (2020) +* `Getting pixels on screen on Linux: introduction to Kernel Mode Setting <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haes4_Xnc5Q>`_ - Simon Ser (2020) +* `Everything Great about Upstream Graphics <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVzHOgt6WGE>`_ - Simona Vetter (2019) +* `An introduction to the Linux DRM subsystem <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbDOCJcDRoo>`_ - Maxime Ripard (2017) +* `Embrace the Atomic (Display) Age <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjiB_JeDn2M>`_ - Simona Vetter (2016) +* `Anatomy of an Atomic KMS Driver <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lihqR9sENpc>`_ - Laurent Pinchart (2015) +* `Atomic Modesetting for Drivers <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl9suFgbTc8>`_ - Simona Vetter (2015) +* `Anatomy of an Embedded KMS Driver <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja8fM7rTae4>`_ - Laurent Pinchart (2013) + +Slides and articles +------------------- + +* `The Linux graphics stack in a nutshell, part 1 <https://lwn.net/Articles/955376/>`_ - Thomas Zimmermann (2023) +* `The Linux graphics stack in a nutshell, part 2 <https://lwn.net/Articles/955708/>`_ - Thomas Zimmermann (2023) +* `Understanding the Linux Graphics Stack <https://bootlin.com/doc/training/graphics/graphics-slides.pdf>`_ - Bootlin (2022) +* `DRM KMS overview <https://wiki.st.com/stm32mpu/wiki/DRM_KMS_overview>`_ - STMicroelectronics (2021) +* `Linux graphic stack <https://studiopixl.com/2017-05-13/linux-graphic-stack-an-overview>`_ - Nathan Gauër (2017) +* `Atomic mode setting design overview, part 1 <https://lwn.net/Articles/653071/>`_ - Simona Vetter (2015) +* `Atomic mode setting design overview, part 2 <https://lwn.net/Articles/653466/>`_ - Simona Vetter (2015) +* `The DRM/KMS subsystem from a newbie’s point of view <https://bootlin.com/pub/conferences/2014/elce/brezillon-drm-kms/brezillon-drm-kms.pdf>`_ - Boris Brezillon (2014) +* `A brief introduction to the Linux graphics stack <https://blogs.igalia.com/itoral/2014/07/29/a-brief-introduction-to-the-linux-graphics-stack/>`_ - Iago Toral (2014) +* `The Linux Graphics Stack <https://blog.mecheye.net/2012/06/the-linux-graphics-stack/>`_ - Jasper St. Pierre (2012) |
