Remote VIRTIO GPU (RVGPU) is a client-server based rendering engine, which allows to render 3D on one device (client) and display it via network on another device (server)
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├── documentation # documents
├── include
│ ├── librvgpu # librvgpu header files
│ ├── rvgpu-generic # common header files for all components
│ ├── rvgpu-proxy # rvgpu-proxy header files
│ ├── rvgpu-renderer # rvgpu-renderer header files
├── src
│ ├── librvgpu # librvgpu source files
│ ├── rvgpu-proxy # rvgpu-proxy source files
│ ├── rvgpu-renderer # rvgpu-renderer source files
│ ├── rvgpu-sanity # sanity module source files
The install instructions described here are tested on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS AMD64.
However you can try it with different Linux distros with Wayland display
server. Assuming, you have a clean Ubuntu 20.04 installed, perform the
following steps.
You have two options for installing RVGPU: either build from source code (Building from Source) or install from a binary (Binary-only Install).
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Install the build prerequisites
sudo apt install cmake pkg-config libvirglrenderer-dev libegl-dev libgles-dev libwayland-dev libgbm-dev libdrm-dev libinput-dev -
Install the header for
virtio-loopback-driver.Download the
virtio-lo-dev_X.X.X.debdevelopment ubuntu package from the latest release builds from its github repository and install it.
Specify the correct version ofX.X.Xby referring to https://github.com/unified-hmi/virtio-loopback-driver/releases/latest
For example:virtio-lo-dev_1.0.0.deb.wget https://github.com/unified-hmi/virtio-loopback-driver/releases/latest/download/virtio-lo-dev_X.X.X.deb sudo dpkg -i virtio-lo-dev_X.X.X.debAlternatively you can just copy the header to
/usr/include/linux:wget https://github.com/unified-hmi/virtio-loopback-driver/raw/main/virtio_lo.h sudo cp virtio_lo.h /usr/include/linux -
Build and install remote-virtio-gpu
git clone https://github.com/unified-hmi/remote-virtio-gpu.git cd ./remote-virtio-gpu cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release make -C build sudo make install -C build
Download the remote-virtio-gpu_X.X.X.deb ubuntu package from the latest
release builds from this github repository and install it.
Specify the correct version of X.X.X by referring to https://github.com/unified-hmi/remote-virtio-gpu/releases/latest
For example: remote-virtio-gpu_1.0.0.deb.
Note: An error about unresolved dependencies will occur when executing the following 2nd command, sudo dpkg -i remote-virtio-gpu_X.X.X.deb. This error can be resolved by running the 3rd one, sudo apt -f install.
wget https://github.com/unified-hmi/remote-virtio-gpu/releases/latest/download/remote-virtio-gpu_X.X.X.deb
sudo dpkg -i remote-virtio-gpu_X.X.X.deb
sudo apt -f install
When using RVGPU, this module is also necessary.
For instructions on how to install Virtio-loopback-driver, please refer to the README.
The operation of RVGPU can be tested using Weston version 8.0.93 or above.
Install Weston-8.0.93
sudo apt install libjpeg-dev libwebp-dev libsystemd-dev libpam-dev libva-dev freerdp2-dev \
libxcb-composite0-dev liblcms2-dev libcolord-dev libgstreamer1.0-dev libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-dev libpipewire-0.2-dev \
libxml2-dev meson libxkbcommon-x11-dev libpixman-1-dev libinput-dev libdrm-dev wayland-protocols libcairo2-dev \
libpango1.0-dev libdbus-1-dev libgbm-dev libxcursor-dev
wget https://wayland.freedesktop.org/releases/weston-8.0.93.tar.xz
tar -xf weston-8.0.93.tar.xz
cd ~/weston-8.0.93/
meson build/
sudo ninja -C build/ install
sudo ldconfig
RVGPU software consists of client (rvgpu-proxy) and server (rvgpu-renderer).
Let's describe how to run them on the same machine via the localhost interface.
We will start with rvgpu-renderer.
To use RVGPU, you should be able to load the kernel, so turn Secure Boot off.
rvgpu-renderer with Wayland backend creates a window in the Wayland environment
and renders into it. So you should have a window system supporting Wayland protocol
(such as Gnome with Wayland protocol or Weston) running.
To make this work, you can choose from Using Ubuntu on Wayland or Using Ubuntu (default).
Select Ubuntu on Wayland at the login screen. Open a terminal and run this command:
rvgpu-renderer -b 1280x720@0,0 -p 55667
After this command, launching rvgpu-proxy will make the rvgpu-renderer create a window.
You can launch a dedicated instance of Weston and run rvgpu-renderer
inside it.
weston --width 2200 --height 1200 &
rvgpu-renderer -b 1280x720@0,0 -p 55667
This command will create a weston window. Launching rvgpu-proxy will make the rvgpu-renderer create nested subwindow. The script does not require the window system uses Wayland protocol, so it could be run under X Window system.
rvgpu-proxy should be able to access the kernel modules virtio-lo and virtio-gpu
so it should be run with superuser privileges.
sudo -i
modprobe virtio-gpu
modprobe virtio-lo
rvgpu-proxy -s 1280x720@0,0 -n 127.0.0.1:55667
Note: Those who have performed "Building from source" please follow the instructions below.
rvgpu-proxy -s 1280x720@0,0 -n 127.0.0.1:55667 -c /usr/local/etc/virgl.capset
After you run this, another GPU node /dev/dri/cardX appear.
Also, if you are running rvgpu-renderer in Wayland mode, it create
a new window.
You can test the new gpu node for example running Weston-8.0.93 on it:
export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/tmp
weston --backend drm-backend.so --tty=2 --seat=seat_virtual -i 0
After that rvgpu-renderer will display weston rendered and transferred
via localhost by rvgpu-proxy. Now you can launch glmark2-es2-wayland or
some other graphical application to verify that everything works.
sudo apt install glmark2-es2-wayland
glmark2-es2-wayland
rvgpu-proxy can emulate VSYNC feature (see the -f command option).
To support the VSYNC feature in rvgpu-proxy, apply and rebuild the Linux kernel with the following path remote-virtio-gpu/documentation/patches/kernel.
The patches could be applied to the linux kernel with versions before 5.15.
The software still could be compiled or run on the recent kernels without support for VSYNC feature.
Get the Linux kernel souce code, which must be compatible with your Linux distro, use the patch file corresponding with kernel version you get for performing build and generate the necessary deb files
Here, the build instructions described to support the VSYNC feature to the kernel version 5.8.18 for Ubuntu 20.04.
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Get the kernel version 5.8.18 for Ubuntu 20.04.
cd /usr/src sudo apt-get install -y build-essential libncurses5-dev \ gcc libssl-dev grub2 bc bison flex libelf-dev sudo wget https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/linux-5.8.18.tar.xz sudo tar -xf linux-5.8.18.tar.xz cd linux-5.8.18 patch -p1 < ~/remote-virtio-gpu/documentation/patches/kernel/0001-drm-virtio-Add-VSYNC-support-linux-5-8.patch cp /boot/config-5.8.0-50-generic .config # Other versions of config are acceptable vim .config # comment this line CONFIG_SYSTEM_TRUSTED_KEYS="" make menuconfig # save config make -j`nproc` deb-pkg # the -j`nproc` argument sets the build to use as many cpu's as you have -
After that, some deb packages should be under /usr/src directory:
linux-headers-5.8.18_5.8.18-1_amd64.deb linux-image-5.8.18_5.8.18-1_amd64.deb linux-image-5.8.18-dbg_5.8.18-1_amd64.deb linux-libc-dev_5.8.18-1_amd64.deb -
Install packages:
dpkg –i linux-*.deb update-grub -
If there are no problems, restart your PC
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Make sure the Kernel is updated after reboot. Check Kernel version:
uname -r
The way is almost the same as to run RVGPU locally. Launch
rvgpu-renderer on one machine and rvgpu-proxy with the kernel modules
on the another one, and pass the IP address and port number on which
rvgpu-renderer is listening to rvgpu-proxy through -n option.
Note
Some graphical applications generate much network traffic. It is recommended to Configure the network to 1Gbps speed.
Sometimes the software does not work because the provided virgl.capset file does not specify
the capset of the rendering side. It may manifest in black window.
In this case:
- Run
rvgpu-rendererwith-c virgl.capset.newoption. - Run
rvgpu-proxywith the the default old capset. - Kill the proxy and use the capset written by
rvgpu-rendererfor the next invocations of proxy.
