Fbdev-backend removal from Weston (Re: Upcoming release)

[nerdopolis]

On Tuesday, January 22, 2019 9:55:15 AM EST Pekka Paalanen wrote:
> Let's make the title more catchy, so that people who care about fbdev
> would notice.
> 
> 
> On Tue, 22 Jan 2019 10:17:32 +0200
> Pekka Paalanen <ppaalanen at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > On Mon, 21 Jan 2019 20:30:52 -0500
> > nerdopolis <bluescreen_avenger at verizon.net> wrote:
> > 
> > > On Friday, January 18, 2019 5:20:40 PM EST Derek Foreman wrote:  
> > > > Also, I'd like to float the idea of removing the fbdev backend for this
> > > > release (or the next).  The bulk of the interesting features target the
> > > > drm backend, and it feels like fbdev can sometimes be a bit of a pain to
> > > > update when changes are required elsewhere.  Any strong opinions either way?  
> > 
> > > I feel like the fbdev backend is a good fallback still. Maybe not for Virtual
> > > Box anymore, since there is now a driver for it in Mainline (I haven't tested
> > > it personally though) ...Currently the Framebuffer backend is the only way to
> > > get Weston working on some obscure hardware such as UDL/DisplayLink2 devices.  
> > 
> > Hi,
> > 
> > do you actually have a use case for that? It's ok if you do, we can
> > keep it around for some more, but the simple fact that some hardware
> > exists that does not have a working DRM driver is not enough. There
> > should be users too.
> > 
> > The fbdev-backend certainly has its shortcomings, and I don't mean just
> > the lack of multi-output or monitor hotplug or GPU acceleration or
> > tearing or timings based on nothing but timers; I recall VT-switching
> > being broken for years now, and it doesn't (cannot?) use logind to open
> > the FB devices. Did I forget some?
> > 
> > 
> > Thanks,
> > pq
> 

Hi

Well, TBH, It's just my quazi-distribution Live CD that I still maintain...
It falls back to the Framebuffer on systems (or seats) that don't have 
Kernel Mode Setting. The number of users now probably is low...

VT switching works great. It works without weston-launch, and I can switch away
to a second instance of Weston using the Framebuffer, without them stepping on
each other, and I can switch back to the original one, and it continues working


I do have to create a udev file that sets
SUBSYSTEM=="graphics", KERNEL=="fb*", TAG+="uaccess"
though...


Thanks