GNU Linux-libre 6.9 Released: More Deblobbing, Fixes Intel Graphics On GuC-Less Systems

New driver, Renesas FemtoClock3 Wireless, needed cleaning up in this release cycle due to new blob names. Other drivers also affected.

In the latest release cycle, only one new driver required cleaning up due to the introduction of new blob names: the Renesas FemtoClock3 Wireless as PTP clock. Additionally, drivers such as amdgpu and ath12k have seen an increase in new source files that also needed cleaning up because of blob names.

Furthermore, various new devicetree files for AArch64 implementations by TI, QCom, and MediaTek have undergone cleaning up for the same reason. Existing drivers like adreno, btusb, and r8169, as well as preexisting files in the amdgpu driver, have also required cleaning up due to new mentions of blobs.

Adjustments were made to clean up a hex-encoded sourceless binary patch due to changes in the pseudo-source file containing it.

Regarding the i915 bug fix, users of i915 graphics cards were experiencing freezing issues early during boot. Booting with i915.enable_guc=0 helped avoid the freeze on affected systems. During the 6.9 cycle, the problem was understood and fixed. The logic was changed to skip disabled blobs entirely, allowing the driver to proceed to activate the card without attempting to load blobs. Users have reported improved graphics acceleration with this fix, which was a welcome development.

The team behind the fix hopes that it will work for all users whose cards can run without loaded blobs and not cause any new problems for those whose cards require them. Feedback on any regressions is encouraged.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to making and testing this fix. The team plans to backport it to upcoming releases on stable branches soon.

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