Re: Closed source userspace graphics drivers with an open source kernel component

Theodore Tso
2010-07-04T11:08:29Z

On Jul 4, 2010, at 3:27 AM, Dave Airlie wrote:

> So its as crap as the others since the kernel space is uninteresting
> and doesn't give you any idea how to actually use the GPU, its just a
> slightly intelligent shim which transfers command streams and
> interrupt to/from gpu/userspace.
>
> Its like having an ELF loader but no source to the compiler or linker,
> and saying the CPU is open.

We have sources to our web browsers but not to the a number of the
various web services that the browsers talk to (GMail, AIM, Gmane,
Yahoo Finance, Google Search, etc.).

And we have the sources to the Intel wireless drivers, but not to the
firmware, and that's not necessarily considered a horrendous thing.

And we generally consider our laptops to be open even though
we don't have access to the BIOS or the SMBIOS, which can
interrupt the OS at any time, potentially for milliseconds at a time.

So the world isn't quite as black and white as you would make things
out to be...

-- Ted