i965: Document the sad story of the kernel command parser.

This should help us figure out the complexities of which kernel
versions we need to get various features on various platforms.

Signed-off-by: Kenneth Graunke <[email protected]>
Reviewed-by: Samuel Iglesias Gonsálvez <[email protected]>

1 files changed, 97 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/src/mesa/drivers/dri/i965/intel_screen.c b/src/mesa/drivers/dri/i965/intel_screen.c
index 2d8e007e79d..17e5a4692e5 100644
--- a/src/mesa/drivers/dri/i965/intel_screen.c
+++ b/src/mesa/drivers/dri/i965/intel_screen.c
@@ -1748,6 +1748,103 @@ __DRIconfig **intelInitScreen2(__DRIscreen *dri_screen)
       screen->subslice_total = 1 << (devinfo->gt - 1);
    }
 
+   /* Gen7-7.5 kernel requirements / command parser saga:
+    *
+    * - pre-v3.16:
+    *   Haswell and Baytrail cannot use any privileged batchbuffer features.
+    *
+    *   Ivybridge has aliasing PPGTT on by default, which accidentally marks
+    *   all batches secure, allowing them to use any feature with no checking.
+    *   This is effectively equivalent to a command parser version of
+    *   \infinity - everything is possible.
+    *
+    *   The command parser does not exist, and querying the version will
+    *   return -EINVAL.
+    *
+    * - v3.16:
+    *   The kernel enables the command parser by default, for systems with
+    *   aliasing PPGTT enabled (Ivybridge and Haswell).  However, the
+    *   hardware checker is still enabled, so Haswell and Baytrail cannot
+    *   do anything.
+    *
+    *   Ivybridge goes from "everything is possible" to "only what the
+    *   command parser allows" (if the user boots with i915.cmd_parser=0,
+    *   then everything is possible again).  We can only safely use features
+    *   allowed by the supported command parser version.
+    *
+    *   Annoyingly, I915_PARAM_CMD_PARSER_VERSION reports the static version
+    *   implemented by the kernel, even if it's turned off.  So, checking
+    *   for version > 0 does not mean that you can write registers.  We have
+    *   to try it and see.  The version does, however, indicate the age of
+    *   the kernel.
+    *
+    *   Instead of matching the hardware checker's behavior of converting
+    *   privileged commands to MI_NOOP, it makes execbuf2 start returning
+    *   -EINVAL, making it dangerous to try and use privileged features.
+    *
+    *   Effective command parser versions:
+    *   - Haswell:   0 (reporting 1, writes don't work)
+    *   - Baytrail:  0 (reporting 1, writes don't work)
+    *   - Ivybridge: 1 (enabled) or infinite (disabled)
+    *
+    * - v3.17:
+    *   Baytrail aliasing PPGTT is enabled, making it like Ivybridge:
+    *   effectively version 1 (enabled) or infinite (disabled).
+    *
+    * - v3.19: f1f55cc0556031c8ee3fe99dae7251e78b9b653b
+    *   Command parser v2 supports predicate writes.
+    *
+    *   - Haswell:   0 (reporting 1, writes don't work)
+    *   - Baytrail:  2 (enabled) or infinite (disabled)
+    *   - Ivybridge: 2 (enabled) or infinite (disabled)
+    *
+    *   So version >= 2 is enough to know that Ivybridge and Baytrail
+    *   will work.  Haswell still can't do anything.
+    *
+    * - v4.0: Version 3 happened.  Largely not relevant.
+    *
+    * - v4.1: 6702cf16e0ba8b0129f5aa1b6609d4e9c70bc13b
+    *   L3 config registers are properly saved and restored as part
+    *   of the hardware context.  We can approximately detect this point
+    *   in time by checking if I915_PARAM_REVISION is recognized - it
+    *   landed in a later commit, but in the same release cycle.
+    *
+    * - v4.2: 245054a1fe33c06ad233e0d58a27ec7b64db9284
+    *   Command parser finally gains secure batch promotion.  On Haswell,
+    *   the hardware checker gets disabled, which finally allows it to do
+    *   privileged commands.
+    *
+    *   I915_PARAM_CMD_PARSER_VERSION reports 3.  Effective versions:
+    *   - Haswell:   3 (enabled) or 0 (disabled)
+    *   - Baytrail:  3 (enabled) or infinite (disabled)
+    *   - Ivybridge: 3 (enabled) or infinite (disabled)
+    *
+    *   Unfortunately, detecting this point in time is tricky, because
+    *   no version bump happened when this important change occurred.
+    *   On Haswell, if we can write any register, then the kernel is at
+    *   least this new, and we can start trusting the version number.
+    *
+    * - v4.4: 2bbe6bbb0dc94fd4ce287bdac9e1bd184e23057b and
+    *   Command parser reaches version 4, allowing access to Haswell
+    *   atomic scratch and chicken3 registers.  If version >= 4, we know
+    *   the kernel is new enough to support privileged features on all
+    *   hardware.  However, the user might have disabled it...and the
+    *   kernel will still report version 4.  So we still have to guess
+    *   and check.
+    *
+    * - v4.4: 7b9748cb513a6bef4af87b79f0da3ff7e8b56cd8
+    *   Command parser v5 whitelists indirect compute shader dispatch
+    *   registers, needed for OpenGL 4.3 and later.
+    *
+    * - v4.8:
+    *   Command parser v7 lets us use MI_MATH on Haswell.
+    *
+    *   Additionally, the kernel begins reporting version 0 when
+    *   the command parser is disabled, allowing us to skip the
+    *   guess-and-check step on Haswell.  Unfortunately, this also
+    *   means that we can no longer use it as an indicator of the
+    *   age of the kernel.
+    */
    if (intel_detect_pipelined_so(screen))
       screen->kernel_features |= KERNEL_ALLOWS_SOL_OFFSET_WRITES;