Linux 5.11 To Bring Early Bits Around DisplayPort 2.0, Orphans The Frame-Buffer Layer

While Linux 5.10-rc1 was just released two days ago, the first pull request to DRM-Next of various changes was submitted today in beginning to stage material for inclusion with next year's Linux 5.11 kernel release.

There is a wide range of initial material that's built up in drm-misc-next and now on its way to DRM-Next for evaluation until the Linux 5.11 merge window begins in December.

This initial pull has some DisplayPort 2.0 bits added to the core Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) code around DPCD (DisplayPort Configuration Data) for this latest spec revision and DP 2.0 hardware finally going to be appearing more in 2021. So expect more DisplayPort 2.0 open-source Linux driver work to continue into the new year.

This pull request also has a hefty rework to the GEM memory management code and converts all the in-tree drivers to using the new functions, the TTM memory manager has cleared out its AGP-specific code, support for blob resources in the VirtIO driver, various other memory management changes, and other low-level driver work.

The DRM frame-buffer layer has also been marked as "orphaned" within the upstream kernel. The Samsung engineer who previously maintained the frame-buffer layer no longer has the time to do so.

The full list of changes for this initial drm-misc-next batch for Linux 5.11 can be found via this pull request.