Qualcomm Looks To Add HDCP Support To Freedreno

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Qualcomm Looks To Add HDCP Support To Freedreno

One month ago was the surprising contribution by Qualcomm's Innovation Center that they were adding new hardware support to Freedrenon, the open-source and reverse-engineered Gallium3D driver for Adreno graphics hardware. Qualcomm's contributions haven't ended and they're looking to add more patches -- including for HDCP support...

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=MTg1MzI

[GreatEmerald]

That doesn't make much sense to me. Doesn't HDCP rely on secret keys to function, hence not possible to make an open-source implementation of it?

[RSpliet]

That doesn't make much sense to me. Doesn't HDCP rely on secret keys to function, hence not possible to make an open-source implementation of it?

Unless hardware does the encryption for you, before sending it out on the HDMI link. Then the keys and mechanisms can be hard-wired.

[r1348]

Unless hardware does the encryption for you, before sending it out on the HDMI link. Then the keys and mechanisms can be hard-wired.

Also, the keys are no more secret since a while...

[Nille_kungen]

I guess that secret things will be done in microcode.

[shmerl]

Do kernel drivers accept any DRM code? Is there any policy about it?

[smitty3268]

Do kernel drivers accept any DRM code? Is there any policy about it?

It's supposed to be used by open source userspace code, so that the kernel devs can test it and make sure they don't break things. Other than that, no, it's pretty much open.

That doesn't preclude having closed source code use it in addition to the open source code, such as the amdgpu driver which will eventually be shared between Mesa and fglrx.

[GreatEmerald]

I guess that secret things will be done in microcode.

Ah, that makes sense.

[Ibidem]

Not commenting on whether HDCP support is a good thing, but this is a rather impressive turnaround:
about four years ago, we wondered if Qualcomm would be the doom of open Atheros wireless drivers, because they were so hostile to open-source; about two and a half years ago, Rob Clark started reverse-engineering Adreno; a litle over two years ago, he got rendering working; about a year ago, Qualcomm released Adreno 4xx hardware; about a month ago, they contributed support for that hardware to the kernel driver; and now, they're proposing to add HDCP support to the kernel driver, something that not even Intel offers.

[uid313]

Fuck DRM and copy protection.

DRM is defective by design.