| 30 Jun 2022 |
 matthewcroughan - nix.how | Line 6 of mesa-gl_%.bbappend is basically what we could do with foo.overrideAttrs (_: { postFixup = "rm -rf someFile"'; }) | 08:57:58 |
 dramforever | In reply to @dramforever:matrix.org
IMHO We're not even sure how long the VisionFive will last, and what other things StarFive will do, and what the other Linux-capable RISC-V computers in the future will be like. We already know StarFive is working on a JH7110, an even better 8-core thing (I think these two are not the same?).
Will we be updating linux_visionfive or will we need linux_visionfive_v2? Are we prepared to deal with upstream issues in github:starfive-tech/*? Will StarFive keep upstreaming their drivers or not? A question I've been thinking of throughout this discussion is... Why doesn't the Unmatched need all this, honestly, crap? | 08:59:51 |
| matthewcroughan - nix.how | Has it not just been around for longer and therefore upstreamed more stuff? | 09:00:25 |
| matthewcroughan - nix.how | And perhaps SiFive are just faster, better, at upstreaming? | 09:00:35 |
| matthewcroughan - nix.how | It's all down to upstreaming, etiquette, putting the work in, on behalf of the vendor isn't it? | 09:00:53 |
| dramforever | Upstreaming in this case means putting things into linux not linux_unmatched, right? | 09:01:21 |
| matthewcroughan - nix.how | It takes work and time to do the extra step of upstreaming the code, and ultimately the vendor needs to do that work | 09:01:24 |
| matthewcroughan - nix.how | In reply to @dramforever:matrix.org
Upstreaming in this case means putting things into linux not linux_unmatched, right? yes | 09:01:29 |
| matthewcroughan - nix.how | technically anyone can do the work of upstreaming the code to Linux, but it's a lot easier for people working for the vendor to do it | 09:01:49 |
| matthewcroughan - nix.how | And if it's simply not in the culture to do that, fast, and readily, then it just chugs along at a snails pace | 09:02:12 |
| matthewcroughan - nix.how | All of this will eventually settle, since all of the work is being done in the open | 09:03:02 |
| matthewcroughan - nix.how | With android phones there are genuine proprietary bits which make this a permanent problem though | 09:03:30 |
| dramforever | So the thing is about what we do in the meantime | 09:03:32 |
| matthewcroughan - nix.how | Yeah, and nixos-hardware is a collection of nix code, equivalent to yocto BSPs which you import and it gets rid of all the quirks. | 09:03:52 |
| matthewcroughan - nix.how | so it's definitely a good thing to figure out how we best integrate with that | 09:04:21 |
| matthewcroughan - nix.how | I wonder at which point we stop though. Where is the distinction? Yocto don't make one. | 09:05:26 |
| matthewcroughan - nix.how | In their BSPs, they will provide overlays which patch all of the software possible, which seems clearly wrong to me :D | 09:05:41 |
| matthewcroughan - nix.how | If Yocto were doing nixos-hardware, they would add overlays for all of the software that came to their mind, and patch it to work better with the hardware. | 09:06:12 |
| matthewcroughan - nix.how | I seem to remember a version off ffmpeg in nixpkgs specifically for the raspberry pi | 09:07:00 |
| dramforever | I feel like the situation with StarFive is slightly better than no upstreaming, because there's one person, Emil Renner Berthing, doing all the Linux upstreaming | 09:07:06 |
| matthewcroughan - nix.how | * I seem to remember a version of ffmpeg in nixpkgs specifically for the raspberry pi | 09:07:06 |
| matthewcroughan - nix.how | It looks like that too has been removed. But it's an interesting comparison. | 09:07:13 |
| dramforever | At least reading the mailing list feels like that | 09:07:18 |
| dramforever | I think that's Esmil elsewhere? | 09:08:00 |
| matthewcroughan - nix.how | Let's hope they keep doing it! | 09:09:03 |
| matthewcroughan - nix.how | Would love to help if I could, but I honestly don't know too much of what is involved in that work. | 09:09:20 |
| matthewcroughan - nix.how | It's lower level than I've been before. | 09:09:30 |
| matthewcroughan - nix.how | I just patch, upstreaming is hard. | 09:09:42 |
| matthewcroughan - nix.how | Just imagine what happens if Linux doesn't accept the code? | 09:10:38 |
| matthewcroughan - nix.how | Requires someone on the kernel who likes the jh7100 and is willing to do things fast, and take an interest | 09:11:24 |
