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Pickelgold

Member

Registered: 2023-09-28

Posts: 4

No Xorg TearFree option in Xe2 Intel Graphics

I am unable to enable TearFree in Xorg, both using xrandr and /etx/X11/xorg.conf.d, and I'm wondering if there are any solutions to enable it.

I am aware that I can enable compositing in Xfwm4, but I find that enabling it results in more latency than TearFree, as tested on another system where both are functioning.

### Hardware Specs
* CPU: Intel Core Ultra 5 226V
* iGPU: Intel Arc 130V

### Software Environment
* Linux 6.13.6.arch1-1
* XFCE with compositing disabled
* Xfwm4
* Xorg-server 21.1.16-1

### Output of inxi -G
```
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Lunar Lake [Intel Arc Graphics 130V / 140V] driver: xe
    v: kernel
  Device-2: Shinetech USB2.0 FHD UVC WebCam driver: uvcvideo type: USB
  Display: x11 server: X.org v: 1.21.1.16 driver: X: loaded: modesetting
    dri: iris gpu: xe resolution: 1920x1200~60Hz
  API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: iris,swrast platforms: gbm,x11,surfaceless,device
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa v: 25.1.0-devel
    renderer: Mesa Intel Graphics (LNL)
  Info: Tools: api: eglinfo,glxinfo de: xfce4-display-settings
    x11: xprop,xrandr
```

### Output of xrandr
```
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1920 x 1200, maximum 16384 x 16384
eDP-1 connected 1920x1200+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 302mm x 189mm
...
```

### What I tried
```
$ xrandr --output eDP-1 --set TearFree on
X Error of failed request:  BadName (named color or font does not exist)
  Major opcode of failed request:  140 (RANDR)
  Minor opcode of failed request:  11 (RRQueryOutputProperty)
  Serial number of failed request:  33
  Current serial number in output stream:  33
```

```
Section "Device"
  Identifier "Intel Graphics"
  Driver "modesetting"
  Option "TearFree" "true"
EndSection
```

Last edited by Pickelgold (2025-03-15 00:54:17)

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 13,724

Re: No Xorg TearFree option in Xe2 Intel Graphics

Last I knew, TearFree for the modesetting driver wasn't backported to the stable releases. You would have to build xorg yourself from the master branch.

I haven't looked at it in quite a while, so someone correct me if it has been backported in the meantime.

Pickelgold

Member

Registered: 2023-09-28

Posts: 4

Re: No Xorg TearFree option in Xe2 Intel Graphics

I see, unfortunately xorg-server-git causes all inputs (my keyboard and touchpad) to stop working, so it looks like I'll just have to wait until it's in stable.

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 75,086

Re: No Xorg TearFree option in Xe2 Intel Graphics

You could see whether you get better results w/ picom - also transferring the results reg. latency from a system that's apparently running on xf86-video-intel to a completely different HW/driver stack isn't really up to scientific standards.
Have you tested the compositors behavior on the current stack to see how bad the latency actually is?

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Pickelgold

Member

Registered: 2023-09-28

Posts: 4

Re: No Xorg TearFree option in Xe2 Intel Graphics

By "apparently running on xf86-video-intel", if you mean the other system, it's running on AMD which supports TearFree. I do agree the tests weren't very scientific, so I measured the latency results:

No compositor: 0ms late (baseline)
Picom with unredirect fullscreen: 0.2ms late
Xfwm4 compositor with unredirect fullscreen: 5.6ms late
TearFree: DNF

It seems like Xfwm4 doesn't properly redirect fullscreen windows resulting in noticeably worse latency, while Picom does, which I guess means I'll be using Picom as my compositor now, although when TearFree is in the stable release I'll have to test it as well.