Mesa receives additional financing from Valve for further ‘Steam Deck’ Radeon Linux graphics driver testing
Charlie Turner, a programming consultant for Igalia, created a merge request today on FreeDesktop’s Mesa site for more additional dEQP runners. Igalia is an open-source consultant agency that “specializes in the growth of innovative projects and solutions.” The request shows Valve’s involvement in overseeing further AMD Radeon Linux driver testing. Valve uses Radeon graphics in their system, and it would stand that Valve would want to make sure their newest handheld would be as compatible as possible. The dEQP runners, or the drawElements Quality Program, incorporate tests for numerous graphics APIs, including OpenGL ES, EGL, and Vulkan. The testing of graphic APIs has been crucial for Mesa’s continuous integration testing for securing unstable commits that don’t reach mainline Mesa for retrogressing OpenGL/Vulkan graphics API actions. The below statement was Turner’s explanation of Valve’s request for additional testing on Freedesktop. Mesa’s CI testing for the AMD Radeon Linux graphics driver has shown restraint by the number of hardware systems they have committed, including ones capable of testing new Mesa merge requests and creating fixes immediately. Valve’s backing will assist in forwarding the process in detecting further issues efficiently and effectively. This process allows for efficiency without slowing the creation of patches that may still be waiting for testing before releasing the driver publicly. A follow-up series will add trace testing runners to the CI, using a similar approach to the above. Valve’s new CI bare metal runners are fully Radeon-based, so, understandably, the company is requesting additional tests. Especially that Valve’s direction with the new Steam Deck gaming system, featuring AMD Radeon graphics, includes open-source drivers that focus on RADV Vulkan work. The continuing testing now features Navi and Navi 2 systems, Kabini, Stoney, Polaris, Vega, and Renoir series. Source: Phoronix, Freedesktop.org
