[PATCH 3/8] firmware: sysfb: Make CONFIG_SYSFB a user-selectable option

Thomas Zimmermann
2026-04-02T09:23:39Z

Add a descriptive string and help text to CONFIG_SYSFB, so that users
can modify it. Flip all implicit selects in the Kconfig options into
dependencies. This avoids cyclic dependencies in the config.

Enabling CONFIG_SYSFB makes the kernel provide a device for the firmware
framebuffer. As this can (slightly) affect system behavior, having a
user-facing option seems preferable. Some users might also want to set
every detail of their kernel config.

Signed-off-by: Thomas Zimmermann <tzimmermann@suse.de>
---
drivers/firmware/Kconfig | 18 ++++++++++++++++--
drivers/gpu/drm/sysfb/Kconfig | 4 ++--
drivers/hv/Kconfig | 2 +-
drivers/video/fbdev/Kconfig | 5 +++--
4 files changed, 22 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/firmware/Kconfig b/drivers/firmware/Kconfig
index bbd2155d8483..52f8253a46b1 100644
--- a/drivers/firmware/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/firmware/Kconfig
@@ -179,14 +179,28 @@ config MTK_ADSP_IPC
Client might use shared memory to exchange information with ADSP.

config SYSFB
- bool
+ bool "Enable system framebuffer provided by boot loader"
select BOOT_VESA_SUPPORT
select SCREEN_INFO
+ help
+ Use the system framebuffer provided by the boot loader. This will
+ create a device representing the framebuffer. The output depends on
+ EFI, VESA, VGA, or some other firmware-based interface.
+
+ The firmware or boot loader sets the display resolution and color
+ mode. See your boot loader's documentation on how to do this. On
+ some systems the display can also be configured during boot with
+ the kernel's video= or vga= parameters.
+
+ Besides this option, you also have to enable a compatible graphics
+ driver, such as efidrm or vesadrm.
+
+ If unsure, say Y.

config SYSFB_SIMPLEFB
bool "Mark VGA/VBE/EFI FB as generic system framebuffer"
+ depends on SYSFB
depends on X86 || EFI
- select SYSFB
help
Firmwares often provide initial graphics framebuffers so the BIOS,
bootloader or kernel can show basic video-output during boot for
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/sysfb/Kconfig b/drivers/gpu/drm/sysfb/Kconfig
index 2559ead6cf1f..74be3c8e6657 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/sysfb/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/sysfb/Kconfig
@@ -26,12 +26,12 @@ config DRM_COREBOOTDRM
config DRM_EFIDRM
tristate "EFI framebuffer driver"
depends on DRM && MMU && EFI && (!SYSFB_SIMPLEFB || COMPILE_TEST)
+ depends on SYSFB
select APERTURE_HELPERS
select DRM_CLIENT_SELECTION
select DRM_GEM_SHMEM_HELPER
select DRM_KMS_HELPER
select DRM_SYSFB_HELPER
- select SYSFB
help
DRM driver for EFI framebuffers.

@@ -76,12 +76,12 @@ config DRM_SIMPLEDRM
config DRM_VESADRM
tristate "VESA framebuffer driver"
depends on DRM && MMU && X86 && (!SYSFB_SIMPLEFB || COMPILE_TEST)
+ depends on SYSFB
select APERTURE_HELPERS
select DRM_CLIENT_SELECTION
select DRM_GEM_SHMEM_HELPER
select DRM_KMS_HELPER
select DRM_SYSFB_HELPER
- select SYSFB
help
DRM driver for VESA framebuffers.

diff --git a/drivers/hv/Kconfig b/drivers/hv/Kconfig
index 2d0b3fcb0ff8..af0ac6516159 100644
--- a/drivers/hv/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/hv/Kconfig
@@ -60,8 +60,8 @@ config HYPERV_BALLOON
config HYPERV_VMBUS
tristate "Microsoft Hyper-V VMBus driver"
depends on HYPERV
+ depends on SYSFB if EFI && !HYPERV_VTL_MODE
default HYPERV
- select SYSFB if EFI && !HYPERV_VTL_MODE
help
Select this option to enable Hyper-V Vmbus driver.

diff --git a/drivers/video/fbdev/Kconfig b/drivers/video/fbdev/Kconfig
index ac9ac4287c6a..6f55bec8c207 100644
--- a/drivers/video/fbdev/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/video/fbdev/Kconfig
@@ -333,6 +333,7 @@ config FB_IMSTT
config FB_VGA16
tristate "VGA 16-color graphics support"
depends on FB && X86
+ depends on SYSFB
select APERTURE_HELPERS
select FB_CFB_FILLRECT
select FB_CFB_COPYAREA
@@ -424,9 +425,9 @@ config FB_UVESA
config FB_VESA
bool "VESA VGA graphics support"
depends on (FB = y) && X86
+ depends on SYSFB
select APERTURE_HELPERS
select FB_IOMEM_HELPERS
- select SYSFB
help
This is the frame buffer device driver for generic VESA 2.0
compliant graphic cards. The older VESA 1.2 cards are not supported.
@@ -436,10 +437,10 @@ config FB_VESA
config FB_EFI
bool "EFI-based Framebuffer Support"
depends on (FB = y) && EFI
+ depends on SYSFB
select APERTURE_HELPERS
select DRM_PANEL_ORIENTATION_QUIRKS
select FB_IOMEM_HELPERS
- select SYSFB
help
This is the EFI frame buffer device driver. If the firmware on
your platform is EFI 1.10 or UEFI 2.0, select Y to add support for
--
2.53.0