Wayland and xf86-video-amdgpu

boilersuit · 2025-12-24 07:03:13

Hello,

I am using wayland (KDE Plasma), and most of the applications run natively (such as firefox and zed editor).

Does it makes sense to install the drivers xf86-video-amdgpu? Do they have any impact on the applications running natively on wayland, or which uses xwayland?

# lspci -k -d ::03xx
03:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Picasso/Raven 2 [Radeon Vega Series / Radeon Vega Mobile Series] (rev d2)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device 5125
	Kernel driver in use: amdgpu
	Kernel modules: amdgpu

Lone_Wolf · 2025-12-24 09:39:16

It will only affect applications using xwayland .

There is very little xf86-video-amdgpu offers that isn't present in the xorg modesetting driver nowadays.
Try without and see if you notice issues.

seth · 2025-12-24 09:52:08

Do they have any impact on the applications running natively on wayland

No.

or which uses xwayland?

Possibly, but I'd skip them unless you run into issues w/ xwayland clients and then you can test their impact on the specific situation.
Xwayland clients will still be accelerated via glamor.

Edit: F5ck

Last edited by seth (2025-12-24 09:52:27)

boilersuit · 2025-12-24 20:27:58

Thank you!

I've noticed some lag in applications, for example in ff when the cursor shape changes (e.g. hover a link), or in zed editor while scrolling.
That's why I was wondering if missing driver package could be the cause.

How can I verify that they're indeed running in native wayland? In ff about:support has been checked, but in general?
In "top" those applications are not part of the "xwayland tree" (actually there's none under xwayland tree, though xwayland seems to be running anyway).

seth · 2025-12-24 20:58:55

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Waylan … plications

boilersuit · 2025-12-25 10:00:23

Thank you seth!

I've checked with the command below and both ff and zed are running in wayland.

qdbus6 org.kde.KWin /KWin org.kde.KWin.showDebugConsole

There's nothing running in X11, at this point I am wondering if I can disable/remove it entirely (or disable/remove xwayland).

I've noticed some lag in applications, for example in ff when the cursor shape changes (e.g. hover a link), or in zed editor while scrolling.

This is not related to drivers, must be something else then. Let me know if you have any ideas.

seth · 2025-12-25 10:39:26

in ff when the cursor shape changes

How exactly does lag?
It takes a moment between you, hovering the link and the cursor shape to change(how long? 50ms, 250ms, 1s or 1m?) or are there side effects (the entire system starts to lag etc)?

lilydjwg · 2025-12-25 12:41:12

Lone_Wolf wrote:

It will only affect applications using xwayland .

No. xf86-video-amdgpu is a DDX driver for Xorg, not xwayland. You can look at the contents of the package: basically one Xorg driver and one Xorg config file.

Xwayland uses the Wayland API instead of interacting with the display card directly.

seth · 2025-12-25 13:08:32

x-ref, https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=311247
Might be a KDE specific problem?

boilersuit · 2025-12-25 15:26:51

How exactly does lag?
It takes a moment between you, hovering the link and the cursor shape to change(how long? 50ms, 250ms, 1s or 1m?) or are there side effects (the entire system starts to lag etc)?

It's hard to measure, but nothing dramatic, you just see that the transition is not smooth.

No. xf86-video-amdgpu is a DDX driver for Xorg, not xwayland. You can look at the contents of the package: basically one Xorg driver and one Xorg config file.

Thanks!

I know it's off-topic but is it possible to remove/disable X11 (or xwayland) entirely?

seth · 2025-12-25 15:32:25

I know it's off-topic but is it possible to remove/disable X11 (or xwayland) entirely?

Theoretically, but plasma-workspace specifically hard depends on xwayland, you might have to build your own KDE packages for that.
It's likely also not a good idea and SDDM still defaults to the X11 backend.

you just see that the transition is not smooth

No, /I/ don't
That's why we're gonna need some quantification of the problem to ballpark the cause.

boilersuit · 2025-12-25 19:17:07

I'd say 50ms, the instant when the cursor shapes changes to index finger.
Moving the cursor horizontally on the link is smooth.

So yeah it's probably related to KDE (scrolling code files in zed must be a different thing, maybe the video card is just not good enough to give a smooth rendering).

seth · 2025-12-25 23:22:13

Moving the cursor horizontally on the link is smooth

You mean the problem is that the cursor briefly gets stuck when moving it onto a link (triggering the shape change)?
Does that only affect (specific) browsers or anything that alters the cursor shape (eg. into an i-beam should be easy enough to trigger)

Do you use

echo $KWIN_FORCE_SW_CURSOR

?
If not you could test to "export KWIN_FORCE_SW_CURSOR=1" and see whether that makes a difference.

boilersuit · 2025-12-26 18:51:58

You mean the problem is that the cursor briefly gets stuck when moving it onto a link (triggering the shape change)?

Yes. What's an i-beam?

I've just tried KWIN_FORCE_SW_CURSOR=1, seems better with it.

seth · 2025-12-26 21:03:47

Yes. What's an i-beam?

You get that when hovering above any text input - looks like a capital I

So seems a problem w/ amdgpu if the software cursor renders fine.
Do you get this w/ the LTS kernel?

boilersuit · 2025-12-27 18:11:07

Yes, happens with i-beam too, and yes also with LTS kernel

seth · 2025-12-27 20:28:02

Is a non-KDE compositor affected (weston, sway, labwc, hyprland, …)?

boilersuit · 2025-12-27 22:44:00

Does not happen with hyprland

seth · 2025-12-28 09:19:51

Probably https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=509669 ?

boilersuit · 2025-12-28 10:58:17

Dunno tbh, will probably find out once fixed... in the meantime I'll use the env var you suggested (unless there can be any issue which discourages daily usage)

boilersuit · 2025-12-29 22:35:46

After a deeper look I'd say it's very likely.

Arch Linux

#1 2025-12-24 07:03:13

Wayland and xf86-video-amdgpu

#2 2025-12-24 09:39:16

Re: Wayland and xf86-video-amdgpu

#3 2025-12-24 09:52:08

Re: Wayland and xf86-video-amdgpu

#4 2025-12-24 20:27:58

Re: Wayland and xf86-video-amdgpu

#5 2025-12-24 20:58:55

Re: Wayland and xf86-video-amdgpu

#6 2025-12-25 10:00:23

Re: Wayland and xf86-video-amdgpu

#7 2025-12-25 10:39:26

Re: Wayland and xf86-video-amdgpu

#8 2025-12-25 12:41:12

Re: Wayland and xf86-video-amdgpu

#9 2025-12-25 13:08:32

Re: Wayland and xf86-video-amdgpu

#10 2025-12-25 15:26:51

Re: Wayland and xf86-video-amdgpu

#11 2025-12-25 15:32:25

Re: Wayland and xf86-video-amdgpu

#12 2025-12-25 19:17:07

Re: Wayland and xf86-video-amdgpu

#13 2025-12-25 23:22:13

Re: Wayland and xf86-video-amdgpu

#14 2025-12-26 18:51:58

Re: Wayland and xf86-video-amdgpu

#15 2025-12-26 21:03:47

Re: Wayland and xf86-video-amdgpu

#16 2025-12-27 18:11:07

Re: Wayland and xf86-video-amdgpu

#17 2025-12-27 20:28:02

Re: Wayland and xf86-video-amdgpu

#18 2025-12-27 22:44:00

Re: Wayland and xf86-video-amdgpu

#19 2025-12-28 09:19:51

Re: Wayland and xf86-video-amdgpu

#20 2025-12-28 10:58:17

Re: Wayland and xf86-video-amdgpu

#21 2025-12-29 22:35:46

Re: Wayland and xf86-video-amdgpu

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