The big set of open-source graphics driver updates for Linux 6.15 have been merged but Linux creator Linus Torvalds isn’t particularly happy with the pull request. In particular, he’s unhappy with some new “hdrtest” testing code being built as part of full kernel builds and the “turds” it leaves behind and this code “needs to die” at least from the perspective of non-DRM driver developers.
AFAICT this is super mundane. Devs added some checks that when run will drop .hdrtest files all over the source tree when you do a normal build. This is really unclean and has practical ramifications even if you gitignore them as Linus points out. Pretty much any lead developer would be upset if someone tried to merge something like this in a software project, and it has essentially nothing to do with the particular drivers or code functionality.
Some context from the article I found helpful as a layman :)
When seeing this mailing list post, my immediate assumption was it being some new HDR testing code that slipped under my radar from DRM-Next coverage, given all the ongoing High Dynamic Range / color management work happening recently for the Linux desktop. But when digging into the merge, it’s actually even more mundane. The “hdr” in this sense is around the C header files. The new “hdrtest” code is for the Intel Xe kernel driver and is around trying to help ensure the DRM header files are self-contained and pass kernel-doc tests. Basic maintenance checks on the included DRM header files to ensure they are all in good shape.
Apparently this is about neither DRM, nor HDR in the sense an average user might think of those terms 😅
Apparently this is about neither DRM
It’s not about the DRM people think about… but the Direct Rendering Manager
Kernel devs used both DRM and HDR for Direct Rendering Manager and Header years before Digital rights management or High dynamic range was a thing. So they have the older rights to this acronyms and the others are the filthy thiefs and imposters 😜
digital rights management (drm) predates linux
The concept yes, the term for it (and the abbreviation) I am not sure.
IMSTOA. WDNPSEAM?
(I’m so tired of acronyms. Why don’t people write in English anymore?)
Níl fhios agam.
cthulhu fthaghn
It’s the new trend in software engineering: Turd-Driven Development
Turd-vibing-programming 🚀
My work finally getting the recognition it deserves!
Helping DRM in my kernel? GETOUTAHERE
Direct Rendering Manager, not Digital Rights Management
Thanks.
Digital
RightsRestrictions ManagementFTFY. Do not allow the enemy to frame the debate.
That’s not what DRM is in kernel/hardware land
It stands for display rendering manager and it predates any of the other stuff.
I believe they were insinuating that “DRM” as in “Digital Rights Management” (as the comment they were replying to had spelled out) actually has nothing to do with “rights,” and further that we shouldn’t let companies reframe restrictions to the user as rights of the creator, not that the comment they replied to is wrong about which “DRM” is being referenced in relation to the kernel.
Precisely. I was pointing out that the accurate expansion of the acronym (in the context of copyright, not graphics rendering) is the one as explained in https://www.defectivebydesign.org/what_is_drm, not the self-serving loaded language pushed by the copyright cartel.
Thanks for the context!
I don’t care, I don’t want no damn Direct Rendering Manager, oh no siree.
all my rendering is done indirectly AT BEST
Who needs a display honestly. I just use a thin client running Windows 11
