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-rw-r--r--Documentation/DocBook/drm.tmpl69
1 files changed, 69 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/DocBook/drm.tmpl b/Documentation/DocBook/drm.tmpl
index 9fc8ed4ac0f..ed1d6d28902 100644
--- a/Documentation/DocBook/drm.tmpl
+++ b/Documentation/DocBook/drm.tmpl
@@ -205,6 +205,12 @@
Driver implements DRM PRIME buffer sharing.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>DRIVER_RENDER</term>
+ <listitem><para>
+ Driver supports dedicated render nodes.
+ </para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
@@ -2644,6 +2650,69 @@ int (*resume) (struct drm_device *);</synopsis>
info, since man pages should cover the rest.
</para>
+ <!-- External: render nodes -->
+
+ <sect1>
+ <title>Render nodes</title>
+ <para>
+ DRM core provides multiple character-devices for user-space to use.
+ Depending on which device is opened, user-space can perform a different
+ set of operations (mainly ioctls). The primary node is always created
+ and called <term>card&lt;num&gt;</term>. Additionally, a currently
+ unused control node, called <term>controlD&lt;num&gt;</term> is also
+ created. The primary node provides all legacy operations and
+ historically was the only interface used by userspace. With KMS, the
+ control node was introduced. However, the planned KMS control interface
+ has never been written and so the control node stays unused to date.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ With the increased use of offscreen renderers and GPGPU applications,
+ clients no longer require running compositors or graphics servers to
+ make use of a GPU. But the DRM API required unprivileged clients to
+ authenticate to a DRM-Master prior to getting GPU access. To avoid this
+ step and to grant clients GPU access without authenticating, render
+ nodes were introduced. Render nodes solely serve render clients, that
+ is, no modesetting or privileged ioctls can be issued on render nodes.
+ Only non-global rendering commands are allowed. If a driver supports
+ render nodes, it must advertise it via the <term>DRIVER_RENDER</term>
+ DRM driver capability. If not supported, the primary node must be used
+ for render clients together with the legacy drmAuth authentication
+ procedure.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ If a driver advertises render node support, DRM core will create a
+ separate render node called <term>renderD&lt;num&gt;</term>. There will
+ be one render node per device. No ioctls except PRIME-related ioctls
+ will be allowed on this node. Especially <term>GEM_OPEN</term> will be
+ explicitly prohibited. Render nodes are designed to avoid the
+ buffer-leaks, which occur if clients guess the flink names or mmap
+ offsets on the legacy interface. Additionally to this basic interface,
+ drivers must mark their driver-dependent render-only ioctls as
+ <term>DRM_RENDER_ALLOW</term> so render clients can use them. Driver
+ authors must be careful not to allow any privileged ioctls on render
+ nodes.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ With render nodes, user-space can now control access to the render node
+ via basic file-system access-modes. A running graphics server which
+ authenticates clients on the privileged primary/legacy node is no longer
+ required. Instead, a client can open the render node and is immediately
+ granted GPU access. Communication between clients (or servers) is done
+ via PRIME. FLINK from render node to legacy node is not supported. New
+ clients must not use the insecure FLINK interface.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Besides dropping all modeset/global ioctls, render nodes also drop the
+ DRM-Master concept. There is no reason to associate render clients with
+ a DRM-Master as they are independent of any graphics server. Besides,
+ they must work without any running master, anyway.
+ Drivers must be able to run without a master object if they support
+ render nodes. If, on the other hand, a driver requires shared state
+ between clients which is visible to user-space and accessible beyond
+ open-file boundaries, they cannot support render nodes.
+ </para>
+ </sect1>
+
<!-- External: vblank handling -->
<sect1>