xref: /linux/Documentation/gpu/amdgpu/display/display-contributing.rst (revision db5d28c0bfe566908719bec8e25443aabecbb802)
1.. _display_todos:
2
3==============================
4AMDGPU - Display Contributions
5==============================
6
7First of all, if you are here, you probably want to give some technical
8contribution to the display code, and for that, we say thank you :)
9
10This page summarizes some of the issues you can help with; keep in mind that
11this is a static page, and it is always a good idea to try to reach developers
12in the amdgfx or some of the maintainers. Finally, this page follows the DRM
13way of creating a TODO list; for more information, check
14'Documentation/gpu/todo.rst'.
15
16Gitlab issues
17=============
18
19Users can report issues associated with AMD GPUs at:
20
21- https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/amd
22
23Usually, we try to add a proper label to all new tickets to make it easy to
24filter issues. If you can reproduce any problem, you could help by adding more
25information or fixing the issue.
26
27Level: diverse
28
29IGT
30===
31
32`IGT`_ provides many integration tests that can be run on your GPU. We always
33want to pass a large set of tests to increase the test coverage in our CI. If
34you wish to contribute to the display code but are unsure where a good place
35is, we recommend you run all IGT tests and try to fix any failure you see in
36your hardware. Keep in mind that this failure can be an IGT problem or a kernel
37issue; it is necessary to analyze case-by-case.
38
39Level: diverse
40
41.. _IGT: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/igt-gpu-tools
42
43Compilation
44===========
45
46Fix compilation warnings
47------------------------
48
49Enable the W1 or W2 warning level in the kernel compilation and try to fix the
50issues on the display side.
51
52Level: Starter
53
54Fix compilation issues when using um architecture
55-------------------------------------------------
56
57Linux has a User-mode Linux (UML) feature, and the kernel can be compiled to
58the **um** architecture. Compiling for **um** can bring multiple advantages
59from the test perspective. We currently have some compilation issues in this
60area that we need to fix.
61
62Level: Intermediate
63
64Code Refactor
65=============
66
67Add prefix to DC functions to improve the debug with ftrace
68-----------------------------------------------------------
69
70The Ftrace debug feature (check 'Documentation/trace/ftrace.rst') is a
71fantastic way to check the code path when developers try to make sense of a
72bug. Ftrace provides a filter mechanism that can be useful when the developer
73has some hunch of which part of the code can cause the issue; for this reason,
74if a set of functions has a proper prefix, it becomes easy to create a good
75filter. Additionally, prefixes can improve stack trace readability.
76
77The DC code does not follow some prefix rules, which makes the Ftrace filter
78more complicated and reduces the readability of the stack trace. If you want
79something simple to start contributing to the display, you can make patches for
80adding prefixes to DC functions. To create those prefixes, use part of the file
81name as a prefix for all functions in the target file. Check the
82'amdgpu_dm_crtc.c` and `amdgpu_dm_plane.c` for some references. However, we
83strongly advise not to send huge patches changing these prefixes; otherwise, it
84will be hard to review and test, which can generate second thoughts from
85maintainers. Try small steps; in case of double, you can ask before you put in
86effort. We recommend first looking at folders like dceXYZ, dcnXYZ, basics,
87bios, core, clk_mgr, hwss, resource, and irq.
88
89Level: Starter
90
91Reduce code duplication
92-----------------------
93
94AMD has an extensive portfolio with various dGPUs and APUs that amdgpu
95supports. To maintain the new hardware release cadence, DCE/DCN was designed in
96a modular design, making the bring-up for new hardware fast. Over the years,
97amdgpu accumulated some technical debt in the code duplication area. For this
98task, it would be a good idea to find a tool that can discover code duplication
99(including patterns) and use it as guidance to reduce duplications.
100
101Level: Intermediate
102
103Make atomic_commit_[check|tail] more readable
104---------------------------------------------
105
106The functions responsible for atomic commit and tail are intricate and
107extensive. In particular `amdgpu_dm_atomic_commit_tail` is a long function and
108could benefit from being split into smaller helpers. Improvements in this area
109are more than welcome, but keep in mind that changes in this area will affect
110all ASICs, meaning that refactoring requires a comprehensive verification; in
111other words, this effort can take some time for validation.
112
113Level: Advanced
114
115Documentation
116=============
117
118Expand kernel-doc
119-----------------
120
121Many DC functions do not have a proper kernel-doc; understanding a function and
122adding documentation is a great way to learn more about the amdgpu driver and
123also leave an outstanding contribution to the entire community.
124
125Level: Starter
126
127Beyond AMDGPU
128=============
129
130AMDGPU provides features that are not yet enabled in the userspace. This
131section highlights some of the coolest display features, which could be enabled
132with the userspace developer helper.
133
134Enable underlay
135---------------
136
137AMD display has this feature called underlay (which you can read more about at
138'Documentation/gpu/amdgpu/display/mpo-overview.rst') which is intended to
139save power when playing a video. The basic idea is to put a video in the
140underlay plane at the bottom and the desktop in the plane above it with a hole
141in the video area. This feature is enabled in ChromeOS, and from our data
142measurement, it can save power.
143
144Level: Unknown
145
146Adaptive Backlight Modulation (ABM)
147-----------------------------------
148
149ABM is a feature that adjusts the display panel's backlight level and pixel
150values depending on the displayed image. This power-saving feature can be very
151useful when the system starts to run off battery; since this will impact the
152display output fidelity, it would be good if this option was something that
153users could turn on or off.
154
155Level: Unknown
156
157
158HDR & Color management & VRR
159----------------------------
160
161HDR, Color Management, and VRR are huge topics and it's hard to put these into
162concise ToDos. If you are interested in this topic, we recommend checking some
163blog posts from the community developers to better understand some of the
164specific challenges and people working on the subject. If anyone wants to work
165on some particular part, we can try to help with some basic guidance. Finally,
166keep in mind that we already have some kernel-doc in place for those areas.
167
168Level: Unknown
169