DORMANTno replies REVIEWED: 6 (6M)

[PATCH v2] firmware: sysfb: Mark CONFIG_SYSFB_SIMPLEFB as deprecated

From: Thomas Zimmermann <tzimmermann@suse.de>
Date: 2026-06-25 06:57:31
Also in: dri-devel, lkml, sashiko-reviews
Subsystem: drm driver for firmware framebuffers, drm drivers, drm drivers and misc gpu patches, the rest · Maintainers: Thomas Zimmermann, Javier Martinez Canillas, David Airlie, Simona Vetter, Maarten Lankhorst, Maxime Ripard, Linus Torvalds

Mark CONFIG_SYSFB_SIMPLEFB as deprecated. Enabling it allows to
run simpledrm and simplefb on EFI/VESA framebuffers. Doing this
is discouraged in favor of using efidrm and vesadrm.

v2:
- resolve conflicting help texts (Sashiko)

Signed-off-by: Thomas Zimmermann <tzimmermann@suse.de>
Reviewed-by: Javier Martinez Canillas <javierm@redhat.com>
---
 drivers/firmware/Kconfig      | 32 ++++++++++----------------------
 drivers/gpu/drm/sysfb/Kconfig |  7 ++-----
 2 files changed, 12 insertions(+), 27 deletions(-)
diff --git a/drivers/firmware/Kconfig b/drivers/firmware/Kconfig
index bbd2155d8483..637e3bb5549e 100644
--- a/drivers/firmware/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/firmware/Kconfig
@@ -184,32 +184,20 @@ config SYSFB
 	select SCREEN_INFO
 
 config SYSFB_SIMPLEFB
-	bool "Mark VGA/VBE/EFI FB as generic system framebuffer"
+	bool "Mark VGA/VBE/EFI FB as generic system framebuffer (deprecated)"
 	depends on X86 || EFI
 	select SYSFB
 	help
-	  Firmwares often provide initial graphics framebuffers so the BIOS,
+	  Firmware often provides initial graphics framebuffers so the BIOS,
 	  bootloader or kernel can show basic video-output during boot for
-	  user-guidance and debugging. Historically, x86 used the VESA BIOS
-	  Extensions and EFI-framebuffers for this, which are mostly limited
-	  to x86 BIOS or EFI systems.
-	  This option, if enabled, marks VGA/VBE/EFI framebuffers as generic
-	  framebuffers so the new generic system-framebuffer drivers can be
-	  used instead. If the framebuffer is not compatible with the generic
-	  modes, it is advertised as fallback platform framebuffer so legacy
-	  drivers like efifb, vesafb and uvesafb can pick it up.
-	  If this option is not selected, all system framebuffers are always
-	  marked as fallback platform framebuffers as usual.
-
-	  Note: Legacy fbdev drivers, including vesafb, efifb, uvesafb, will
-	  not be able to pick up generic system framebuffers if this option
-	  is selected. You are highly encouraged to enable simplefb as
-	  replacement if you select this option. simplefb can correctly deal
-	  with generic system framebuffers. But you should still keep vesafb
-	  and others enabled as fallback if a system framebuffer is
-	  incompatible with simplefb.
-
-	  If unsure, say Y.
+	  user-guidance and debugging.
+
+	  This option, if enabled, marks VBE/EFI framebuffers as system
+	  framebuffers so the generic simpledrm driver can be used.
+
+	  This option is deprecated and will be removed in the near future. If
+	  unsure, say N and select efidrm, vesadrm instead. The dedicated DRM
+	  drivers provide the same functionality plus additional features.
 
 config TH1520_AON_PROTOCOL
 	tristate "Always-On firmware protocol"
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/sysfb/Kconfig b/drivers/gpu/drm/sysfb/Kconfig
index 2559ead6cf1f..f7e48178885e 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/sysfb/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/sysfb/Kconfig
@@ -67,11 +67,8 @@ config DRM_SIMPLEDRM
 
 	  This driver assumes that the display hardware has been initialized
 	  by the firmware or bootloader before the kernel boots. Scanout
-	  buffer, size, and display format must be provided via device tree,
-	  UEFI, VESA, etc.
-
-	  On x86 BIOS or UEFI systems, you should also select SYSFB_SIMPLEFB
-	  to use UEFI and VESA framebuffers.
+	  buffer, size, and display format must be provided via device tree's
+	  simple-framebuffer node.
 
 config DRM_VESADRM
 	tristate "VESA framebuffer driver"
-- 
2.54.0
Keyboard shortcuts
hback out one level
jnext message in thread
kprevious message in thread
ldrill in
Escclose help / fold thread tree
?toggle this help