Gallium Nine, end of the road

[David Heidelberg]

We can deploy more widely Nine tests in CI, as Pavel Ondračka did for r300, so we'll be sure basivs are still in good shape.

David


-------- Original Message --------
From: Axel Davy <davyaxel0 at gmail.com>
Sent: September 29, 2024 4:25:13 PM UTC
To: Martin Roukala <martin.peres at free.fr>, mesa-dev at lists.freedesktop.org
Subject: Re: Gallium Nine, end of the road

Hi Martin,

Thanks for your reply.

I think it makes sense to wait the Amber branch.
I'll see what I can do to help prevent it from breaking until then.

Yours,

Axel Davy

On 22/08/2024 09:33, Martin Roukala wrote:
> On 8/22/24 1:11 AM, Axel Davy wrote:
>> Hi there.
> 
> Hi Axel!
> 
>> 
>> I think this will surprise no one here, but here we are. I think it's time for Gallium Nine to end.
>> 
>> Long story short, Gallium Nine was a success. Its purpose is fulfilled. But there is not enough reasons to keep it around.
>> 
>> Gallium Nine doesn't have enough users anymore and it totally makes sense why. DXVK just works. Gallium Nine might get you a little less CPU usage or a few more fps, maybe.
>> But as PCs have caught up, and users have moved to shinier games with newer APIs, Gallium Nine is not relevant in the current landmark.
>> 
>> There has been no new volunteers to work on gallium nine for a long time, and regressions take a long time to get noticed.
>> Not breaking Nine puts effort on driver devs.
>> 
>> For all these reasons, unless there is vigorous protestations here, I will propose a PR to remove gallium nine.
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> 
>> Axel Davy
>> 
>> 
>> ===== Long Version =====
> 
> [...]
> 
>> 
>> Thank you !
>> 
>> Axel Davy
> 
> No, thank YOU for your dedication and I wholeheartedly agree with what you said about Nine having been a success, even if it has lost its relevance!
> 
> I think Gallium Nine's place is probably in the Amber branch, for historical purposes and users who still need it to work on their now-old hardware. Modern-ish hardware will be better served with DXVK and if not, the drivers should be improved to support DXVK's needs.
> 
> In any case, I hope you will remain in our community and hopefully even pick up a new project that will be exciting to you and maybe to the community at large! Your expertise is appreciated :)
> 
> Thanks,
> Martin