On Mon, Oct 20, 2025 at 4:43 PM Dmitry Osipenko
<[email protected]> wrote:
>
> From: Alex Bennée <[email protected]>
>
> This attempts to tidy up the VirtIO GPU documentation to make the list
> of requirements clearer. There are still a lot of moving parts and the
> distros have some catching up to do before this is all handled
> automatically.
>
> Signed-off-by: Alex Bennée <[email protected]>
> Cc: Sergio Lopez Pascual <[email protected]>
> Reviewed-by: Akihiko Odaki <[email protected]>
> Signed-off-by: Dmitry Osipenko <[email protected]>
> [[email protected]: Extended and corrected doc]
> ---
>  docs/system/devices/virtio-gpu.rst | 100 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
>  1 file changed, 97 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/docs/system/devices/virtio-gpu.rst 
> b/docs/system/devices/virtio-gpu.rst
> index ea3eb052df3c..3324a697013f 100644
> --- a/docs/system/devices/virtio-gpu.rst
> +++ b/docs/system/devices/virtio-gpu.rst
> @@ -5,14 +5,28 @@ virtio-gpu
>  ==========
>
>  This document explains the setup and usage of the virtio-gpu device.
> -The virtio-gpu device paravirtualizes the GPU and display controller.
> +The virtio-gpu device provides a GPU and display controller
> +paravirtualized using VirtIO. It supports a number of different modes
> +from simple 2D displays to fully accelerated 3D graphics.
>
> -Linux kernel support
> ---------------------
> +Linux guest kernel support
> +--------------------------
>
>  virtio-gpu requires a guest Linux kernel built with the
>  ``CONFIG_DRM_VIRTIO_GPU`` option.
>
> +3D acceleration
> +---------------
> +
> +3D acceleration of a virtualized GPU is still an evolving field.
> +Depending on the 3D mode you are running you may need to override
> +distribution supplied libraries with more recent versions or enable
> +build options. There are a number of requirements the host must meet
> +to be able to be able to support guests. QEMU must be able to access the
> +host's GPU and for the best performance be able to reliably share GPU
> +memory with the guest. Details of 3D acceleration requirements are
> +described in a further sections.
> +
>  QEMU virtio-gpu variants
>  ------------------------
>
> @@ -65,8 +79,14 @@ intermediate representation is communicated to the host 
> and the
>  `virglrenderer`_ library on the host translates the intermediate
>  representation back to OpenGL API calls.
>
> +By default OpenGL version on guest is limited to 4.3. In order to enable
> +OpenGL 4.6 support, virtio-gpu  host blobs feature (``hostmem`` and ``blob``
> +fields) should be enabled.  The ``hostmem`` field specifies the size of
> +virtio-gpu host memory window. This is typically between 256M and 8G.
> +
>  .. parsed-literal::
>      -device virtio-gpu-gl
> +    -device virtio-gpu-gl,hostmem=8G,blob=true
>
>  .. _virgl: https://docs.mesa3d.org/drivers/virgl.html
>  .. _Gallium3D: https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/gallium/
> @@ -94,6 +114,62 @@ of virtio-gpu host memory window. This is typically 
> between 256M and 8G.
>
>  .. _drm: 
> https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/virgl/virglrenderer/-/tree/main/src/drm
>
> +.. list-table:: Linux Host Requirements
> +  :header-rows: 1
> +
> +  * - Capability
> +    - Kernel Version
> +    - Libvirglrenderer Version
> +  * - OpenGL pass-through
> +    - Any Linux version compatible with QEMU if not using host blobs feature,
> +      Linux 6.13+ otherwise
> +    - 0.8.2+
> +  * - Vulkan pass-through
> +    - Linux 6.13+
> +    - 1.0.0+
> +  * - AMDGPU DRM native context
> +    - Linux 6.13+
> +    - 1.1.0+
> +  * - Freedreno DRM native context
> +    - Linux 6.4+
> +    - 1.0.0+
> +  * - Intel i915 DRM native context
> +    - Linux 6.13+
> +    - `mr1384`_
> +  * - Asahi DRM native context
> +    - `Downstream version`_ of Asahi Linux kernel
> +    - 1.2.0+
> +
> +.. _mr1384: 
> https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/virgl/virglrenderer/-/merge_requests/1384
> +.. _Downstream version: https://github.com/AsahiLinux/linux
> +
> +.. list-table:: Linux Guest Requirements
> +  :header-rows: 1
> +
> +  * - Capability
> +    - Kernel Version
> +    - Mesa Version
> +  * - OpenGL pass-through
> +    - Any Linux version supporting virtio-gpu
> +    - 16.0.0+
> +  * - Vulkan pass-through
> +    - Linux 5.16+
> +    - 24.2.0+
> +  * - AMDGPU DRM native context
> +    - Linux 6.14+
> +    - 25.0.0+
> +  * - Freedreno DRM native context
> +    - Linux 6.14+
> +    - 23.1.0+
> +  * - Intel i915 DRM native context
> +    - Linux 6.14+
> +    - `mr29870`_
> +  * - Asahi DRM native context
> +    - Linux 6.14+
> +    - 24.2.0+
> +
> +.. _mr29870: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/mesa/mesa/-/merge_requests/29870
> +
>  virtio-gpu rutabaga
>  -------------------
>
> @@ -133,3 +209,21 @@ Surfaceless is the default if ``wsi`` is not specified.
>  .. _Wayland display passthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZJiHMtIQ2M
>  .. _gfxstream-enabled rutabaga: 
> https://crosvm.dev/book/appendix/rutabaga_gfx.html
>  .. _guest Wayland proxy: https://crosvm.dev/book/devices/wayland.html
> +
> +.. list-table:: Linux Host Requirements
> +  :header-rows: 1
> +
> +  * - Capability
> +    - Kernel Version
> +  * - Vulkan+Wayland pass-through
> +    - Linux 6.13+
> +
> +.. list-table:: Linux Guest Requirements
> +  :header-rows: 1
> +
> +  * - Capability
> +    - Kernel Version
> +    - Mesa Version
> +  * - Vulkan+Wayland pass-through
> +    - Linux 5.16+
> +    - 24.3.0+
> --
> 2.51.0
>

Reviewed-by: Yiwei Zhang <[email protected]>

Reply via email to