Bug 443086

Summary:	Add software rendering toggle for OpenGL backends
Product:	[Applications] systemsettings	Reporter:	kde
Component:	kcm_kwincompositing	Assignee:	KWin default assignee <kwin-bugs-null>
Status:	REPORTED ---
Severity:	wishlist	CC:	bharadwaj.raju777, grahamperrin, kde, kde, lucasrizzini, nate, nroycea+kde, plasma-bugs, qydwhotmail, r2b2x3+kdebug, texstar, uwu
Priority:	NOR
Version:	git-master
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Other
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description kde 2021-09-28 17:21:51 UTC

With the removal of xrender (https://invent.kde.org/plasma/kwin/-/merge_requests/1088), users looking for software rendering will not know where to go, as they assume xrender is the software rendering alternative. On systems with buggy graphics stacks and/or remote desktop software, software rendering can alleviate many issues.

I would propose that systemsettings add a toggle for software-based rendering to make this simple.

As a workaround for those that need it, users may add LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=true and GALLIUM_DRIVER=llvmpipe to $HOME/.config/plasma-workspace/env/path.sh. This is however, both unfriendly and not well documented, whereas a checkbox in the settings app would be obvious and user-friendly.

Comment 1 vindicator 2021-10-27 10:47:11 UTC

OH! This should be good (not).
Much like how I refuse to install Wayland given amount and kind of bugs I've encountered, so too do I hate that xrender was removed.

My most notable issue with OpenGl was when viewing videos in the browser or Kodi, at some random point in time (doesn't even have to be in that viewing session), rendering would get all borked.

The audio would still play, but the video would freeze and may get some partial renders when moving my mouse or switching/moving windows.

The only "fix" would be to switch rendering version (going back and forth between 2.0/3.1.

Yeah, I'm definitely going to hate this and can't wait for Alder Lake to come out so I can upgrade to that (from Haswell) and this won't be an issue any longer... "hopefully".

I'm quite certain I posted about this before, though don't see it in my bug post list. Maybe it didn't come with my email address change or something. Or maybe I hopped on someone else's post regarding my rendering issue.

And yes, I've toyed with the X driver settings.

Comment 2 David Edmundson 2021-10-27 11:04:22 UTC

Note that LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=1 will only affect mesa, so that needs querying or explaining in the UI.

Comment 3 Graham Perrin 2021-11-21 08:21:35 UTC

If I'm not mistaken: transparency of my side panel is not what it should be since the XRender option (my preference) was removed. 

Operating System: FreeBSD 14.0
KDE Plasma Version: 5.23.2
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.87.0
Qt Version: 5.15.2
Kernel Version: 14.0-CURRENT (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: X11
Memory: 15.9 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: AMD TURKS