0001 ============
0002 Introduction
0003 ============
0004
0005 The Linux DRM layer contains code intended to support the needs of
0006 complex graphics devices, usually containing programmable pipelines well
0007 suited to 3D graphics acceleration. Graphics drivers in the kernel may
0008 make use of DRM functions to make tasks like memory management,
0009 interrupt handling and DMA easier, and provide a uniform interface to
0010 applications.
0011
0012 A note on versions: this guide covers features found in the DRM tree,
0013 including the TTM memory manager, output configuration and mode setting,
0014 and the new vblank internals, in addition to all the regular features
0015 found in current kernels.
0016
0017 [Insert diagram of typical DRM stack here]
0018
0019 Style Guidelines
0020 ================
0021
0022 For consistency this documentation uses American English. Abbreviations
0023 are written as all-uppercase, for example: DRM, KMS, IOCTL, CRTC, and so
0024 on. To aid in reading, documentations make full use of the markup
0025 characters kerneldoc provides: @parameter for function parameters,
0026 @member for structure members (within the same structure), &struct structure to
0027 reference structures and function() for functions. These all get automatically
0028 hyperlinked if kerneldoc for the referenced objects exists. When referencing
0029 entries in function vtables (and structure members in general) please use
0030 &vtable_name.vfunc. Unfortunately this does not yet yield a direct link to the
0031 member, only the structure.
0032
0033 Except in special situations (to separate locked from unlocked variants)
0034 locking requirements for functions aren't documented in the kerneldoc.
0035 Instead locking should be check at runtime using e.g.
0036 ``WARN_ON(!mutex_is_locked(...));``. Since it's much easier to ignore
0037 documentation than runtime noise this provides more value. And on top of
0038 that runtime checks do need to be updated when the locking rules change,
0039 increasing the chances that they're correct. Within the documentation
0040 the locking rules should be explained in the relevant structures: Either
0041 in the comment for the lock explaining what it protects, or data fields
0042 need a note about which lock protects them, or both.
0043
0044 Functions which have a non-\ ``void`` return value should have a section
0045 called "Returns" explaining the expected return values in different
0046 cases and their meanings. Currently there's no consensus whether that
0047 section name should be all upper-case or not, and whether it should end
0048 in a colon or not. Go with the file-local style. Other common section
0049 names are "Notes" with information for dangerous or tricky corner cases,
0050 and "FIXME" where the interface could be cleaned up.
0051
0052 Also read the :ref:`guidelines for the kernel documentation at large <doc_guide>`.
0053
0054 Documentation Requirements for kAPI
0055 -----------------------------------
0056
0057 All kernel APIs exported to other modules must be documented, including their
0058 datastructures and at least a short introductory section explaining the overall
0059 concepts. Documentation should be put into the code itself as kerneldoc comments
0060 as much as reasonable.
0061
0062 Do not blindly document everything, but document only what's relevant for driver
0063 authors: Internal functions of drm.ko and definitely static functions should not
0064 have formal kerneldoc comments. Use normal C comments if you feel like a comment
0065 is warranted. You may use kerneldoc syntax in the comment, but it shall not
0066 start with a /** kerneldoc marker. Similar for data structures, annotate
0067 anything entirely private with ``/* private: */`` comments as per the
0068 documentation guide.
0069
0070 Getting Started
0071 ===============
0072
0073 Developers interested in helping out with the DRM subsystem are very welcome.
0074 Often people will resort to sending in patches for various issues reported by
0075 checkpatch or sparse. We welcome such contributions.
0076
0077 Anyone looking to kick it up a notch can find a list of janitorial tasks on
0078 the :ref:`TODO list <todo>`.
0079
0080 Contribution Process
0081 ====================
0082
0083 Mostly the DRM subsystem works like any other kernel subsystem, see :ref:`the
0084 main process guidelines and documentation <process_index>` for how things work.
0085 Here we just document some of the specialities of the GPU subsystem.
0086
0087 Feature Merge Deadlines
0088 -----------------------
0089
0090 All feature work must be in the linux-next tree by the -rc6 release of the
0091 current release cycle, otherwise they must be postponed and can't reach the next
0092 merge window. All patches must have landed in the drm-next tree by latest -rc7,
0093 but if your branch is not in linux-next then this must have happened by -rc6
0094 already.
0095
0096 After that point only bugfixes (like after the upstream merge window has closed
0097 with the -rc1 release) are allowed. No new platform enabling or new drivers are
0098 allowed.
0099
0100 This means that there's a blackout-period of about one month where feature work
0101 can't be merged. The recommended way to deal with that is having a -next tree
0102 that's always open, but making sure to not feed it into linux-next during the
0103 blackout period. As an example, drm-misc works like that.
0104
0105 Code of Conduct
0106 ---------------
0107
0108 As a freedesktop.org project, dri-devel, and the DRM community, follows the
0109 Contributor Covenant, found at: https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/CodeOfConduct
0110
0111 Please conduct yourself in a respectful and civilised manner when
0112 interacting with community members on mailing lists, IRC, or bug
0113 trackers. The community represents the project as a whole, and abusive
0114 or bullying behaviour is not tolerated by the project.
0115
0116 Simple DRM drivers to use as examples
0117 =====================================
0118
0119 The DRM subsystem contains a lot of helper functions to ease writing drivers for
0120 simple graphic devices. For example, the `drivers/gpu/drm/tiny/` directory has a
0121 set of drivers that are simple enough to be implemented in a single source file.
0122
0123 These drivers make use of the `struct drm_simple_display_pipe_funcs`, that hides
0124 any complexity of the DRM subsystem and just requires drivers to implement a few
0125 functions needed to operate the device. This could be used for devices that just
0126 need a display pipeline with one full-screen scanout buffer feeding one output.
0127
0128 The tiny DRM drivers are good examples to understand how DRM drivers should look
0129 like. Since are just a few hundreds lines of code, they are quite easy to read.
0130
0131 External References
0132 ===================
0133
0134 Delving into a Linux kernel subsystem for the first time can be an overwhelming
0135 experience, one needs to get familiar with all the concepts and learn about the
0136 subsystem's internals, among other details.
0137
0138 To shallow the learning curve, this section contains a list of presentations
0139 and documents that can be used to learn about DRM/KMS and graphics in general.
0140
0141 There are different reasons why someone might want to get into DRM: porting an
0142 existing fbdev driver, write a DRM driver for a new hardware, fixing bugs that
0143 could face when working on the graphics user-space stack, etc. For this reason,
0144 the learning material covers many aspects of the Linux graphics stack. From an
0145 overview of the kernel and user-space stacks to very specific topics.
0146
0147 The list is sorted in reverse chronological order, to keep the most up-to-date
0148 material at the top. But all of them contain useful information, and it can be
0149 valuable to go through older material to understand the rationale and context
0150 in which the changes to the DRM subsystem were made.
0151
0152 Conference talks
0153 ----------------
0154
0155 * `An Overview of the Linux and Userspace Graphics Stack <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjAJmqwg47k>`_ - Paul Kocialkowski (2020)
0156 * `Getting pixels on screen on Linux: introduction to Kernel Mode Setting <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haes4_Xnc5Q>`_ - Simon Ser (2020)
0157 * `Everything Great about Upstream Graphics <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVzHOgt6WGE>`_ - Daniel Vetter (2019)
0158 * `An introduction to the Linux DRM subsystem <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbDOCJcDRoo>`_ - Maxime Ripard (2017)
0159 * `Embrace the Atomic (Display) Age <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjiB_JeDn2M>`_ - Daniel Vetter (2016)
0160 * `Anatomy of an Atomic KMS Driver <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lihqR9sENpc>`_ - Laurent Pinchart (2015)
0161 * `Atomic Modesetting for Drivers <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl9suFgbTc8>`_ - Daniel Vetter (2015)
0162 * `Anatomy of an Embedded KMS Driver <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja8fM7rTae4>`_ - Laurent Pinchart (2013)
0163
0164 Slides and articles
0165 -------------------
0166
0167 * `Understanding the Linux Graphics Stack <https://bootlin.com/doc/training/graphics/graphics-slides.pdf>`_ - Bootlin (2022)
0168 * `DRM KMS overview <https://wiki.st.com/stm32mpu/wiki/DRM_KMS_overview>`_ - STMicroelectronics (2021)
0169 * `Linux graphic stack <https://studiopixl.com/2017-05-13/linux-graphic-stack-an-overview>`_ - Nathan Gauër (2017)
0170 * `Atomic mode setting design overview, part 1 <https://lwn.net/Articles/653071/>`_ - Daniel Vetter (2015)
0171 * `Atomic mode setting design overview, part 2 <https://lwn.net/Articles/653466/>`_ - Daniel Vetter (2015)
0172 * `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)
0173 * `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)
0174 * `The Linux Graphics Stack <https://blog.mecheye.net/2012/06/the-linux-graphics-stack/>`_ - Jasper St. Pierre (2012)