AMD Polaris 12 / RX 5xx support for Linux 4.9.x

AMD Polaris 12 / RX 5xx support for Linux 4.9.x

[Axel Rohde]

Hi Kernel Maintainers,
 
I'm using Debian 9 ("Stretch", has just become stable) with Kernel 4.9.30.
 
Recently I added a AMD Radeon RX 550 (Polaris 12) graphics board to my system to connect an
Ultra HD Monitor using Display Port 1.2, which the Intel Ivy Bridge core i5 lacks.
 
Unfortunately 4.9.30 did NOT support AMD Radeon RX 550 (Polaris 12).
I had to use kernel 4.11.
 
Are you planning to backport support for AMDGPU Polaris 12 (AMD Radeon RX 5xx Series graphics boards)
from 4.11 or later back to 4.9?
 
 
"Other things" include Mesa, Firmware, libdrm, xf86-video-amdgpu, which aren't a big deal to compile.
The kernel, however, takes 30min+ and the next lonterm kernel might not be too compatible to Debian 9.
 
Best regards,
   Axel Rohde
 

Re: AMD Polaris 12 / RX 5xx support for Linux 4.9.x

[Greg KH]

On Wed, Aug 09, 2017 at 07:36:20PM +0200, Axel Rohde wrote:
> 
> Hi Kernel Maintainers,
> �
> I'm using Debian 9 ("Stretch", has just become stable) with Kernel 4.9.30.
> �
> Recently I added a AMD Radeon RX 550 (Polaris 12) graphics board to my system to connect an
> Ultra HD Monitor using Display Port 1.2, which the Intel Ivy Bridge core i5 lacks.
> �
> Unfortunately 4.9.30 did NOT support AMD Radeon RX 550 (Polaris 12).
> I had to use kernel 4.11.
> �
> Are you planning to backport support for AMDGPU Polaris 12 (AMD Radeon RX 5xx Series graphics boards)
> from 4.11 or later back to 4.9?

Note, the stable kernel trees do not add new device support to them over
the lifetime of their existance, with the exception of simple new device
ids or quirks.  See:
    https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/process/stable-kernel-rules.html
for a full list of what the rules are.

So, is support for these devices just a simple new device id to add?  If
so, what is the git commit id for them and I'll be glad to queue them
up.

If not, then no, the stable trees are not going to add new support for
them, sorry, just use a new kernel, what is keeping you on an old kernel
version?

thanks,

greg k-h