Public bug reported:

$ lsb_release -rd
Description:    Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS
Release:        20.04

$ apt-cache policy mutter
mutter:
  Installed: 3.36.9-0ubuntu0.20.04.1
  Candidate: 3.36.9-0ubuntu0.20.04.1
  Version table:
 *** 3.36.9-0ubuntu0.20.04.1 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/main amd64 
Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     3.36.1-3ubuntu3 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages

---

As an example with one output, scaling it with e.g. 'xrandr --output
<output> --mode 3840x2160 --scale-from 1920x1080', would usually result
in a screen size of 1920x1080, as xrandr sets the screen size to the
bounding box of the configured crtcs.

Ubuntu carries an out-of-tree patch for Mutter:
x11-Add-support-for-fractional-scaling-using-Randr.patch, attached. It adds a 
new function, meta_monitor_manager_xrandr_update_screen_size_derived(), that in 
response to RandR configuration changes will attempt to set its own screen 
size. When calculating the new screen size, it applies a scaling factor to each 
crtc that effectively reverses the requested one. As a result, in the above 
example the resulting screen size is 3840x2160, despite the fact that there is 
only a 1920x1080 viewport into it.

With the modesetting driver, this isn't a huge issue. The resulting
screen size is larger than you can actually interact with, wasting
memory, but it doesn't cause any visible functional issues.

The NVIDIA driver automatically configures panning when the requested
outputs' viewports are smaller than the screen size. This increases crtc
size, which impacts Mutter's screen size calculation. When Mutter sets
the larger-than-outputs screen size, it triggers the NVIDIA driver to
automatically configure panning. Mutter reacts to the RandR
configuration change by again recalculating the screen size, this time
growing it even larger due to the larger crtcs. In response, the NVIDIA
driver sets up the new, larger panning configuration, causing the crtcs
to be even larger, and causing Mutter to once again recalculate the
screen size. This goes on until all memory is consumed and gnome-shell
is killed by the OOM killer, or the screen reaches maximum size. In the
meantime, the screen is black with only a cursor while gnome-shell
spins.

It appears that meta_monitor_manager_xrandr_update_screen_size_derived()
is intended for GNOME fractional scaling, adjusting the screen size to
accommodate. In this case we are manually configuring output scaling
with RandR, but this code still runs, causing unintended consequences.

** Affects: mutter (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

** Patch added: "x11-Add-support-for-fractional-scaling-using-Randr.patch"
   
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1942653/+attachment/5522890/+files/x11-Add-support-for-fractional-scaling-using-Randr.patch

-- 
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Desktop Bugs, which is subscribed to mutter in Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1942653

Title:
  RandR fractional scaling patch interferes with manual RandR output
  scaling

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