NVIDIA Publishes Code For X Synchronization Fences

[md1032]

[...] and after we even wanted to put legacy cruft back into X.org because we don't care about modernising our blob code [...]

Did you even read the other thread? Overlays are not "legacy cruft" that needs modernization, they're a useful feature that workstation users rely on.

[...] we made a fancy FLOSS feature we contributed to X.org... Yeah we are awesome and have a fscked up sense for priorities.

Wait, so because they do something you don't like, they're not allowed to contribute to open source projects?

[portets43]

why does everyone think nvidia is anti-open-source?

the most likely thing is that they have a bunch of trade secrets and other crap in their driver.

do people forget to think about vdpau? vdpau is open source, and great. they really did us a favor by releasing it free. it's a great piece of software.

but i guess i understand it a little. if they can't open up the blob, they could at least help out nouveau with docs/free hardware/money/some kind of help.

[BlackStar]

the most likely thing is that they have a bunch of trade secrets and other crap in their driver.

And Intel/Ati don't? Oh, puh-lease...

[V!NCENT]

Did you even read the other thread? Overlays are not "legacy cruft" that needs modernization, they're a useful feature that workstation users rely on.

Why? There already is offscreen rendering. Why is this overlay crucial? What apps use it?

Wait, so because they do something you don't like, they're not allowed to contribute to open source projects?

Ofcourse they are allowed to contribute, just as much as they are allowed to remove their FLOSS driver and just take a complete indifferent stance towards open drivers.
It is just the message that they rather put some functionality in X.org while not supporting the very driver that is part of X.org that is required to accel it with their very own cards...

[portets43]

And Intel/Ati don't? Oh, puh-lease...

well, ati hasn't opened their driver. and intel hasn't opened their driver(the windows driver. the open linux one shares little code).

but i do agree with others. although they gave us vdpau, they are doing nothing to help nouveau.

[V!NCENT]

well, ati hasn't opened their driver. and intel hasn't opened their driver(the windows driver. the open linux one shares little code).

but i do agree with others. although they gave us vdpau, they are doing nothing to help nouveau.

Exactly. They can keep their blob, just like Ati, as long as they just also contribute to an alternative. It doesn't have to be t3h Be5T Dr1Vah Ev4H, but it would be nice if nVidia would work (just) a little to help so that distribution can look modern on systems with nVidia cards without having to ship a blob with a license agreementr that forces users to go over the entire legal train just to use Linux.

[bugmenot3]

nVidia, please help nouveau instead!

[mugginz]

And Intel/Ati don't? Oh, puh-lease...

What we don't know is what particular agreements nVidia have with other providers of IP that they've integrated into their driver.

Could they do better? With no particular internal knowledge of their driver development arrangements I'd still hazard a guess that they could do a bit more. At the very least some hardware donations to the appropriate people would show some more good faith.

But some people maintain that nVidia are anti open source. I and others don't see the evidence of that. Some try to assert that the mere non-supply of an open driver is enough proof of this. Others say that the lack of hardware documentation is enough. At worst all that shows is that they're a bit indifferent towards open source.

What we do have as far as on the record statements is that while they're not going to directly support an open driver going forward, they have no intention of harming the Nouveau guys in their quest for an open driver. Obviously the also contribute to Xorg as has been discussed today.

Hardly the action of an anti open source company.

Neither McDonalds not Nestles make open source drivers for the Linux kernel. That makes sense as that isn't part of their business strategy. nVidia no longer directly contribute to open drivers in the way Intel and AMD do but doesn't mean they're out to harm Linux, it's simply that it isn't part of nVidia's strategy for what ever internal reasons they have.

While I consider an nVidia card and their binary driver to still be the premier combination when it comes to performance and features I think Intel and AMD do better for Linux than do nVidia in the long run but while praising those companies that are active on the open driver front it isn't implicit that in addition to that praise it's also mandatory to bash nVidia. You can simply praise AMD or Intel and leave it at that.

[V!NCENT]

What we don't know is what particular agreements nVidia have with other providers of IP that they've integrated into their driver.

All we know is that AMD and Intel are working around it and nVidia isn't going to attempt it. We know, as this has been posted on Phoronix a while back (half a year?), that they decided to not attempt to even try it.

At the very least some hardware donations to the appropriate people would show some more good faith.

Yet PathScal was the one that did it, while nVidia was leaning backwards and not giving a fsck. What a hell of a gesture. A couple of Fermi cards costs way less than PR, yet they totally didn't gave the most basic of all basics gesture of good faith whatsoever.

But some people maintain that nVidia are anti open source.

Well how about totally removing their Vesa driver? It can't get more anti-open source than that. It actually took manpower to remove the driver.

What we do have as far as on the record statements is that while they're not going to directly support an open driver going forward, they have no intention of harming the Nouveau guys in their quest for an open driver. Obviously the also contribute to Xorg as has been discussed today.

What exactly did they contribute? What the hell is it? Is it contributing or selfishly putting something out there that is only going to help their own blob driver?

You can simply praise AMD or Intel and leave it at that.

Or we could simply just keep hating nVidia for taking the stance "Haha... yeah we like the fact that our cards are supported by FLOSS and so our cards have a good chance of gettijng bought by people who like FLOSS, but when Noveau gets an IP lawsuit it is their problem, not ours. See? We didn't contribute whatsoever. We even removed our FLOSS driver. Hah!"

Getting the good from Noveau but not getting the bad. Yeah that's totally great. We should praise the fact that nVidia will not harm Noveau, like that's a good thing. Like that is some effort that nVidia took. Hmph...

[kazetsukai]

Exactly. They can keep their blob, just like Ati, as long as they just also contribute to an alternative.

You do know why they dropped support, right? Nouveau had already surpassed their open alternative in several ways in a shorter period of time. I imagine they'll contribute small bits and pieces to Nouveau going forward, but noone can say for certain.