SUSE Rolls Out New Version Of Their In-Kernel Boot Splash Screen

Back in October I wrote about SUSE working on a new, in-kernel bootsplash project. That work has yet to be mainlined but it looks like it's still on track for going upstream in the future with the latest version now being released that addresses issues uncovered during review.

SUSE is developing this in-kernel bootsplash program as an alternative to the user-space Plymouth and other programs. SUSE's implementation runs off the FBCON frame-buffer console rather than DRM/KMS and they hope with it being in the kernel will prove to be more reliable. This in-kernel bootsplash can also allow hiding all kernel output and other differences compared to user-space implementations.

The 13 patches sent out on Wednesday by Max Staudt of SUSE address feedback, bundle in a user-space tool for generating compatible splash theme files, a sysfs hook for loading of theme files, and various other changes.

More details on SUSE's kernel-based bootsplash via their v2 series. More on their reasoning for pursuing the in-kernel solution are outlined in this patch message.