Revision as of 19:24, February 28, 2015

New OpenGL management in Funtoo

Funtoo is switching to an improved system for managing multiple OpenGL providers (Mesa/Xorg, AMD and nVidia). The update may involve blockers and file collisions.

By Mgorny / February 28, 2015

New OpenGL management

System principles

The new OpenGL management design assumes that the reference OpenGL implementation (mesa/Xorg) is to be used to build packages. After switching to the new system, all packages will use the mesa/Xorg headers and link to the mesa/Xorg libraries. This improves portability of software built on Funtoo and solves some of the build failures when non-standard OpenGL provider was enabled.

The third-party OpenGL libraries and modules provided by proprietary driver vendors can be enabled for run-time program use. They will not affect how the program is built. However, they will be loaded by the dynamic loader when starting executables. The Xorg server will also load the modules provided by blob driver vendor if appropriate.

Implementation

The reference implementation (mesa/Xorg) packages install headers and libraries into standard system locations (/usr/include, /usr/lib*). The compiler and linker finds them using the usual rules and uses them.

The third-party OpenGL vendors install libraries and server extension modules into vendor-named subdirectories of /usr/lib*/opengl. Those files are not used directly.

app-admin/eselect-opengl is used to select OpenGL implementation used at run-time. The choice of implementation is controlled via dynamic linker configuration (ld.so.conf) and Xorg server configuration. If the reference implementation is selected, the eselect module outputs null configuration that causes the linker and server to use the standard paths. If an another implementation is selected, the configuration prepends /usr/lib*/opengl paths to linker and server configuration, causing them to prefer the third-party libraries over reference.

Upgrade information

Before upgrade

Please note that the OpenGL subsystem upgrade is a lock-step update involving file collisions and blockers. This means that a few packages need to be upgraded consecutively during a single emerge run, and during that process the OpenGL support may become temporarily broken. If the upgrade is interrupted, your system may require manual attention.

Therefore, before upgrading please make sure that you can upgrade all the following packages, if installed:

x11-base/xorg-server to 1.16.4-r1 or newer,
media-libs/mesa to 10.3.4-r1 or newer,
x11-proto/glproto to 1.4.17-r1 or newer,
x11-drivers/ati-drivers to 14.9-r2 or newer,
app-emulation/emul-linux-x86-opengl to 20140508-r1 or newer.

If you need to use an older version of one of those packages long-term, please report a bug so that we can backport the support for the new system to it.

Additionally, please make sure to not enable FEATURES=collision-protect for the upgrade since it will involve replacing some of externally created symlinks with package files. FEATURES=protect-owned (enabled by default) is fine.

The upgrade process

Normally, the upgrade should be performed as part of a regular @world upgrade.

However, if one desires to perform the upgrade stand-alone, he needs to pass all installed packages from the following list to emerge:

app-admin/eselect-opengl,
app-emulation/emul-linux-x86-opengl,
media-libs/mesa,
x11-base/xorg-server,
x11-drivers/ati-drivers,
x11-proto/glproto.

Post upgrade

There should be no manual steps needed after the upgrade. The currently selected OpenGL implementation will be activated automatically.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{Note|I like this idea, and it is well-written so far. How did you get the idea of 5 sections? Are you copying this from somewhere else? It would be good to write it from scratch, if that is the case.}}
+{{News
+|Summary=Funtoo is switching to an improved system for managing multiple OpenGL providers (Mesa/Xorg, AMD and nVidia). The update may involve blockers and file collisions.
+|News Format=Extended
+|News Category=Packages
+|Author=Mgorny
+|Publication Status=Draft
+|Publication Date=2015/02/28
+}}
+== New OpenGL management ==
+=== System principles ===
+The new OpenGL management design assumes that the reference OpenGL implementation (mesa/Xorg) is to be used to build packages. After switching to the new system, all packages will use the mesa/Xorg headers and link to the mesa/Xorg libraries. This improves portability of software built on Funtoo and solves some of the build failures when non-standard OpenGL provider was enabled.
-Welcome to Funtoo Linux! This handbook covers the installation and day to day use of Funtoo Linux. This manual is a work in progress and is the work of many individuals. As such, some sections may become dated and require updating. If you are interested in helping out with this project, create an account on this site and start editing.
+The third-party OpenGL libraries and modules provided by proprietary driver vendors can be enabled for run-time program use. They will not affect how the program is built. However, they will be loaded by the dynamic loader when starting executables. The Xorg server will also load the modules provided by blob driver vendor if appropriate.
-== Preface ==
+=== Implementation ===
-=== Intended Audience ===
+The reference implementation (mesa/Xorg) packages install headers and libraries into standard system locations (/usr/include, /usr/lib*). The compiler and linker finds them using the usual rules and uses them.
-The Funtoo newcomer will find that the first section of this book guides the user through the Funtoo installation process and gently introduces the concepts and conventions that underpin LINUX®/UNIX®. Working through this section requires little more than the desire to explore, and the ability to take on board new concepts as they are introduced.
-Once you have traveled this far, the second, far larger, section of the Handbook is a comprehensive reference to all manner of topics of interest to Funtoo system administrators. Some of these chapters may recommend that you do some prior reading, and this is noted in the synopsis at the beginning of each chapter.
+The third-party OpenGL vendors install libraries and server extension modules into vendor-named subdirectories of /usr/lib*/opengl. Those files are not used directly.
-For a list of additional sources of information, please see [[Handbook/Bibliography|Appendix B, Bibliography]].
+{{Package|app-admin/eselect-opengl}} is used to select OpenGL implementation used at run-time. The choice of implementation is controlled via dynamic linker configuration (ld.so.conf) and Xorg server configuration. If the reference implementation is selected, the eselect module outputs null configuration that causes the linker and server to use the standard paths. If an another implementation is selected, the configuration prepends /usr/lib*/opengl paths to linker and server configuration, causing them to prefer the third-party libraries over reference.
-=== Organization of This Book ===
+== Upgrade information ==
+=== Before upgrade ===
+Please note that the OpenGL subsystem upgrade is a lock-step update involving file collisions and blockers. This means that a few packages need to be upgraded consecutively during a single emerge run, and during that process the OpenGL support may become temporarily broken. If the upgrade is interrupted, your system may require manual attention.
-This book is split into five logically distinct sections. The first section, Getting Started, covers the installation and basic usage of Funtoo. It is expected that the reader will follow these chapters in sequence, possibly skipping chapters covering familiar topics. The second section, Common Tasks, covers some frequently used features of Funtoo. This section, and all subsequent sections, can be read out of order. Each chapter begins with a succinct synopsis that describes what the chapter covers and what the reader is expected to already know. This is meant to allow the casual reader to skip around to find chapters of interest. The third section, System Administration, covers administration topics. The fourth section, Network Communication, covers networking and server topics. The fifth section contains appendices of reference information.
+Therefore, before upgrading please make sure that you can upgrade all the following packages, if installed:
+* x11-base/xorg-server to 1.16.4-r1 or newer,
+* media-libs/mesa to 10.3.4-r1 or newer,
+* x11-proto/glproto to 1.4.17-r1 or newer,
+* x11-drivers/ati-drivers to 14.9-r2 or newer,
+* app-emulation/emul-linux-x86-opengl to 20140508-r1 or newer.
-[[Category:Handbook]]
+If you need to use an older version of one of those packages long-term, please report a bug so that we can backport the support for the new system to it.
+Additionally, please make sure to not enable FEATURES=collision-protect for the upgrade since it will involve replacing some of externally created symlinks with package files. FEATURES=protect-owned (enabled by default) is fine.
+=== The upgrade process ===
+Normally, the upgrade should be performed as part of a regular @world upgrade.
+However, if one desires to perform the upgrade stand-alone, he needs to pass all installed packages from the following list to emerge:
+* app-admin/eselect-opengl,
+* app-emulation/emul-linux-x86-opengl,
+* media-libs/mesa,
+* x11-base/xorg-server,
+* x11-drivers/ati-drivers,
+* x11-proto/glproto.
+=== Post upgrade ===
+There should be no manual steps needed after the upgrade. The currently selected OpenGL implementation will be activated automatically.
+{{NewsFooter}}

Difference between pages "Handbook" and "News:New OpenGL management in Funtoo"