hardfp support for PowerVR drivers?
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Alison Chaiken
May 9, 2011, 11:13:15 AM5/9/11
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Summary: need hardfp variant of pvr-omap4-0.24.11.7 shared-object
libraries to continue on current development path for automotive
applications of OMAP4.
Details: The MeeGo Linux variant I'm working with is undergoing an ABI
break with the change from current version 1.1 to the 1.2 release that
is scheduled to drop later this month. Right now I have the PowerVR
drivers from Ubuntu 10.10 working with the 1.1 release, but they are
compiled against the softfp ARM instruction set.
When the 1.2 release comes out, we can use the instructions at the
link provided by Jayabharath (http://adventuresinsilicon.blogspot.com/
2011/04/powervr-how-to-get-gles-examples-to.html) in order to
recompile the pvrsrvkm kernel driver using the sources in pvr-omap4-
kernel_0.24.11.orig.tar.gz. However, the other publicly available
tarball pvr-omap4-0.24.11.7 contains only binaries of the shared
object libraries that pvrsrvkm needs (libEGL.so, libGLESv2.so,
etc.). As far as I can tell, users have no way of getting source to
recompile these libraries as hardfp. Unless TI provides a hardfp
version of these SO libraries or (less likely!) provides source, we
cannot proceed.
Auto companies are quite interested in using MeeGo on OMAP4 (http://
wiki.meego.com/In-vehicle) for in-dash displays and backseat
infotainmen. Unfortunately if MeeGo developers can't get the
binaries they need, they will be forced to switch to ST Ericsson's
Snowball instead of Panda. MeeGo is causing the problem with the
ABI break I know, but "I just work here"!
I really appreciate all TI's support for open source to date. I
know that the employees who work on Panda and Beagle are doing their
best.
--
Alison Chaiken
(650) 279-5600
(cell)
http://www.exerciseforthereader.org/
A career in Silicon Valley is just like a chess game, only players can
move all the pieces every turn and some of the pawns bite.
libraries to continue on current development path for automotive
applications of OMAP4.
Details: The MeeGo Linux variant I'm working with is undergoing an ABI
break with the change from current version 1.1 to the 1.2 release that
is scheduled to drop later this month. Right now I have the PowerVR
drivers from Ubuntu 10.10 working with the 1.1 release, but they are
compiled against the softfp ARM instruction set.
When the 1.2 release comes out, we can use the instructions at the
link provided by Jayabharath (http://adventuresinsilicon.blogspot.com/
2011/04/powervr-how-to-get-gles-examples-to.html) in order to
recompile the pvrsrvkm kernel driver using the sources in pvr-omap4-
kernel_0.24.11.orig.tar.gz. However, the other publicly available
tarball pvr-omap4-0.24.11.7 contains only binaries of the shared
object libraries that pvrsrvkm needs (libEGL.so, libGLESv2.so,
etc.). As far as I can tell, users have no way of getting source to
recompile these libraries as hardfp. Unless TI provides a hardfp
version of these SO libraries or (less likely!) provides source, we
cannot proceed.
Auto companies are quite interested in using MeeGo on OMAP4 (http://
wiki.meego.com/In-vehicle) for in-dash displays and backseat
infotainmen. Unfortunately if MeeGo developers can't get the
binaries they need, they will be forced to switch to ST Ericsson's
Snowball instead of Panda. MeeGo is causing the problem with the
ABI break I know, but "I just work here"!
I really appreciate all TI's support for open source to date. I
know that the employees who work on Panda and Beagle are doing their
best.
--
Alison Chaiken
(650) 279-5600
(cell)
http://www.exerciseforthereader.org/
A career in Silicon Valley is just like a chess game, only players can
move all the pieces every turn and some of the pawns bite.
Vladimir Pantelic
May 9, 2011, 11:28:02 AM5/9/11
to panda...@googlegroups.com
does the pvr API use float at all? If not, you might get away with
running the "wrong" calling convention libs, did you try?
running the "wrong" calling convention libs, did you try?
Regards,
Vladimir
Stehle, Vincent
May 9, 2011, 11:45:26 AM5/9/11
to panda...@googlegroups.com
On Mon, May 9, 2011 at 5:13 PM, Alison Chaiken <alch...@gmail.com> wrote:
FYI, we are thinking of compiling those libraries for hardfp and/or neon (for performances) on Ubuntu. In all cases, we would need to ensure Ubuntu libraries honour the softfp ABI (e.g. passing floating arguments into "generic" registers instead of fp registers), so I am not sure this would help you.
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ARM/Thumb2
--
Vincent Stehlé
Systems Engineer - TI France
Texas
Instruments France SA, 821 Avenue Jack Kilby, 06270 Villeneuve Loubet.
036 420 040 R.C.S Antibes. Capital de EUR 753.920
(hardfp version of pvr libs)
As far as I can tell, users have no way of getting source to
recompile these libraries as hardfp. Unless TI provides a hardfp
version of these SO libraries or (less likely!) provides source, we
cannot proceed.
FYI, we are thinking of compiling those libraries for hardfp and/or neon (for performances) on Ubuntu. In all cases, we would need to ensure Ubuntu libraries honour the softfp ABI (e.g. passing floating arguments into "generic" registers instead of fp registers), so I am not sure this would help you.
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ARM/Thumb2
--
Vincent Stehlé
Systems Engineer - TI France
Texas
Instruments France SA, 821 Avenue Jack Kilby, 06270 Villeneuve Loubet.
036 420 040 R.C.S Antibes. Capital de EUR 753.920
Alison Chaiken
May 9, 2011, 1:14:20 PM5/9/11
to pandaboard
Vincent Stehle responds:
developing the Ubuntu port as a separate effort? I hate to ask, but
do you have any time estimate when the libraries might be available?
> we would need to ensure Ubuntu
> libraries honour the softfp ABI (e.g. passing floating arguments into
> "generic" registers instead of fp registers)
Hmm. Do you mean that there will be a compile-time option to choose
softfp versus hardfp for backward-compatibility reasons?
> FYI, we are thinking of compiling those libraries for hardfp and/or neon
> (for performances) on Ubuntu.
Thanks for your rapid response. Would TI be downstream of Linaro, or
> (for performances) on Ubuntu.
developing the Ubuntu port as a separate effort? I hate to ask, but
do you have any time estimate when the libraries might be available?
> we would need to ensure Ubuntu
> libraries honour the softfp ABI (e.g. passing floating arguments into
> "generic" registers instead of fp registers)
softfp versus hardfp for backward-compatibility reasons?
Stehle, Vincent
May 9, 2011, 1:30:23 PM5/9/11
to panda...@googlegroups.com
On Mon, May 9, 2011 at 7:14 PM, Alison Chaiken <alch...@gmail.com> wrote:
Currently TI is developing OMAP specific packages, with the help of Canonical and Linaro.
I am not sure when the hardfp libraries will be released. We need to do some performances assessment first.
Yes. Ubuntu wants softfp ABI at the "interfaces" (--float-abi=softfp). AFAIK, this was chosen so that Ubuntu could run on all armv7a (even with no VFP and no NEON, which are optional). On OMAP we can use actual VFP/NEON instructions inside the libraries as we know the hardware supports them, but we still need to honor the softfp ABI at the libraries "interface".
Best regards,
V.
(..) Would TI be downstream of Linaro, or
developing the Ubuntu port as a separate effort?
Currently TI is developing OMAP specific packages, with the help of Canonical and Linaro.
I hate to ask, but
do you have any time estimate when the libraries might be available?
I am not sure when the hardfp libraries will be released. We need to do some performances assessment first.
(softfp ABI)
Hmm. Do you mean that there will be a compile-time option to choose
softfp versus hardfp for backward-compatibility reasons?
Yes. Ubuntu wants softfp ABI at the "interfaces" (--float-abi=softfp). AFAIK, this was chosen so that Ubuntu could run on all armv7a (even with no VFP and no NEON, which are optional). On OMAP we can use actual VFP/NEON instructions inside the libraries as we know the hardware supports them, but we still need to honor the softfp ABI at the libraries "interface".
Best regards,
V.
Daman Sahota
Jun 3, 2011, 3:32:57 AM6/3/11
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