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LINUX: Intel reverses position on Ubuntu. XMir removed from main video driver

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40hz:
Seems like there's more trouble in Paradise for Ubuntu's Mir Display Server plans.

Intel has announced it will not be incorporating Ubuntu's XMir patches into their video driver code.

Apparently Ubuntu's recent and controversial tendency to go its own separate way - even if it meant reinventing the wheel at times - is starting to come home to roost.

From Distrowatch:

One of the features Ubuntu has been working on for the past several months is Mir, an alternative display server Canonical hopes to run on all Ubuntu-powered devices, from desktop computers to mobile phones. One of the many challenges facing Mir is the availability of video drivers and the Mir team received some bad news on that front this week. Intel has stated that, at this time, they do not plan to support XMir patches in their driver code. A recent patch to the Intel driver comes with the comment, "We do not condone or support Canonical in the course of action they have chosen, and will not carry XMir patches upstream." Intel video cards may still work with XMir, though it will mean Intel driver support will have to be maintained by Canonical as their patches will not be applied upstream.
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From Phoronix:

Intel Reverts Plans, Will Not Support Ubuntu's XMir
Posted by Michael Larabel on September 07, 2013

In an interesting change of events, the mainline Intel Linux graphics driver has reverted the patch to support XMir -- the X11 compatibility layer for the Mir Display Server in Ubuntu Linux.

This week there was the surprise of the Intel 3.0 Linux DDX driver coming and with it SNA acceleration is enabled by default and it also integrated support for XMir. There's small work needed to the DDX X.Org graphics drivers to be able to support running XMir, similar to XWayland for Wayland users. The support was merged as Canonical said the XMir API should be stable.

However, this morning the XMir work was reverted. In releasing a new 3.0 xf86-video-intel driver snapshot, Intel's Chris Wilson wrote in a Git commit:

   We do not condone or support Canonical in the course of action they have chosen, and will not carry XMir patches upstream.

    -The Management


Intel, which is a company heavily invested in Wayland and has many full-time employees working on the competing display server (including Kristian Høgsberg, the Wayland founder), now doesn't want any XMir support in their mainline driver. It's interesting to see Intel management force the XMir removal from the Intel driver just days after it was committed and to publicly state a neutral stance on Canonical's controversial display server.

Canonical will now need to carry the XMir support out-of-tree from the xf86-video-intel driver. Canonical is also carrying patched versions of Mesa, xf86-video-ati, and xf86-video-nouveau for being able to support Mir/XMir in Ubuntu 13.10. The binary AMD and NVIDIA graphics drivers also remain incompatible with Mir.
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 :tellme:

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