Installing upstream snapshot of xf86-video-ati

eomanis · n00b Joined: 08 Mar 2011 Posts: 6

Hello all,

I recently built a new home server since the old one ran out of space and I chose to try out gentoo Linux for the new one. So far, I like what I'm seeing. However, I cannot put the new server productive because I've hit what I believe to be this bug:

https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=32188

To sum it up, my Gnome desktop is being zapped back to GDM quite frequently and I cannot use it for virtually anything.
The mainboard is an Asus M4A88T-V Evo 880G AM3 ATX having an ATI Radeon HD 4250 onboard graphics chip.
The current version of xf86-video-ati installed is 6.14, I have KMS enabled and the firmware blobs included into the kernel.

What I've tried so far is

This post

http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=35298&start=15#p172187

leaves me with the impression that an upstream build would fix that bug for me.

So, my question as a gentoo newbie is basically, how do I get an upstream version of xf86-video-ati compiled and installed?
Can I do that using portage by just unmasking a higher version and making sure portage has access to the right sources ... and where would those sources, should they exist in a portage-compatible form, be located?

Thanks in advance,
eomanis

pingufunkybeat · l33t Joined: 01 Dec 2004 Posts: 610

There is nothing later than 6.14 in portage, so you have to use an overlay. The easiest way is to use the x11 overlay, but this will update everything related to xorg, which may be an overkill.

If the 2d X driver is the only thing you need, then I suggest the following:

- get the live/git ebuild from here
- save it as /usr/local/portage/x11-drivers/xf86-video-ati/xf86-video-ati-9999.ebuild
- cd /usr/local/portage/x11-drivers/xf86-video-ati/
- digest it: "ebuild xf86-video-ati-9999.ebuild manifest"
- install it: "emerge -av =x11-drivers/xf86-video-ati-9999"

It should work, but it might ask for some other stuff. Generally, it's a good idea to update libdrm and mesa at the same time.

BTW, this is the procedure which works for adding any custom ebuilds to your local portage repository.

Aquous · l33t Joined: 08 Jan 2011 Posts: 700

In addition to the above: also make sure you have /usr/local/portage added to the PORTDIR_OVERLAY setting in /etc/make.conf.

eomanis · n00b Joined: 08 Mar 2011 Posts: 6

Thanks a lot guys, the described overlay procedure worked, at least for xf86-video-ati.
I set PORTAGE_OVERLAY as described, got the files and put this in /etc/portage/package.keywords:

pingufunkybeat · l33t Joined: 01 Dec 2004 Posts: 610

The bug you described seemed to be an EXA bug. EXA is 2d acceleration, and it is in the X driver (xf86-video-ati). So I expect that this should fix the bug. Mesa is for 3d acceleration, and libdrm for the kernel interface (this is pretty stable nowadays and does not need constant upgrading).

eomanis · n00b Joined: 08 Mar 2011 Posts: 6

Long story short, the cutting-edge version of xf86-video-ati did not have an effect on this bug that I'm experiencing.

In combination with another showstopper that plagues my new server, https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-6610293.html#6610293, I'm actually considering to use Ubuntu again or go for Debian Squeeze, just to have at least a somewhat reliable and performant system...

Still, thanks a lot for your support, I really learned a lot of new stuff through that.

eomanis

pingufunkybeat · l33t Joined: 01 Dec 2004 Posts: 610

If it's an upstream bug, then Debian and Ubuntu will not help you.

eomanis · n00b Joined: 08 Mar 2011 Posts: 6

Hmh, at least Debian Squeeze does not crash the X server all the time. Maybe I am having an entirely different bug after all, or this is a regression.
Unfortunatly Debian has some bad problems of its own ... gaaahhh, I want what gentoo can do! Now that I've tried it I don't want to go back to Debian/Ubuntu!

If anybody has a clue how to at least fix the desktop I would be thankful ... I don't need fancy effects or 3D or whatever, I just want to keep some GUI programs running over a longer period of time...
Here's what lspci -v says about the graphics chip:

eomanis · n00b Joined: 08 Mar 2011 Posts: 6

I managed to sort out Debian Squeeze's problem (the RAID controller kicking the boot disk from /dev/sda to /dev/sdb and therefore screwing up some stuff). Desktop is stable, and the data is being pulled in with, well, 14MiB/s. Not quite what should be possible, but better than Gentoo's 8MiB none the less.
Hello there de-branded Firefox aka. Iceweasel version 3.5.x

... meh, I don't really dig nostalgia.

Guess I'll be back for another Gentoo Linux try in maybe 6 months or so

Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

eomanis