> Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2023 07:42:53 +1000 > from: matthew green <m...@eterna.com.au> > > > Log Message: > > viadrmums(4): build legacy VIA DRM UMS driver module for amd64. > > > > This driver is not built-in by default, thus loadable module can help > > (un)lucky > > if it works, why isn't it in GENERIC as well as a module?
Couple reasons: 1. I never adequately tested it. I started X a few years ago (and a couple drm updates ago) but that's it. (Also only on 32-bit VIA.) Maybe andvar can test it more extensively now, though -- glxgears, x11perf, firefox, &c. Even better if we can get a sampling of code coverage, e.g. maybe with dtrace to count function calls at least, to confirm it's actually getting exercised. 2. It's a legacy UMS driver, which is inherently sketchy (display configuration requires granting userland direct access to pci and device registers) and increasingly unmaintained even upstream. So I put in some infrastructure to allow UMS drivers to be loaded dynamically, so it wouldn't be necessary to have sketchy business like that in the kernel by default. I kind of intended to give the same treatment to the other legacy UMS drivers like mga (matrox), r128, sis, tdfx, &c., but it's been a very low priority so I haven't gotten a round tuit (and I only have hardware for mga and that's in a build server I don't like to mess with).
