WebGL on Pinebook Pro?

oui

Does anyone know if WebGL on Firefox can work through Mesa LLVMpipe which is currently used for software-accelerated 3D graphics? Not very experienced when it comes to graphics but I thought that since glxgears is running just fine WebGL would too. However, visiting any website that uses WebGL just crashes the tab.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated 🙏

rvp

oui Try something like env LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=true firefox &. See this page for more.

oui

rvp Thanks for the tip rvp! Unfortunately it doesn't solve the tab from crashing. Tried to compare the ouput of glxgears and firefox with LIBGL_DEBUG=verbose - both outputs are identical regarding libgl:

libGL: screen 0 does not appear to be DRI2 capable
libGL: OpenDriver: trying /usr/X11R7/lib/modules/dri/tls/swrast_dri.so
libGL: OpenDriver: trying /usr/X11R7/lib/modules/dri/swrast_dri.so
libGL: Can't open configuration file /home/x/.drirc: No such file or directory.
libGL: Can't open configuration file /home/x/.drirc: No such file or directory.

Launching firefox with LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=true + LIBGL_DEBUG=verbose and I get the same output as above except for the first line gone: libGL: screen 0 does not appear to be DRI2 capable.

Firefox settings are stock default.

rvp

oui Unfortunately it doesn't solve the tab from crashing.

If Firefox tabs are crashing even with SW rendering, then it's a bug. You should report this.

FYI: On Amd64/FreeBSD-12.2, with LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=true this WebGL aquarium is slow (~ 10fps), but works fine. With HW-assisted rendering (ie. GPU-rendering), it locks-up the whole system, hard.

Linux used to be the same with older versons of Firefox, but, the latest FF beta works fine with both SW and GPU rendering.

I'll check how NetBSD does, when the FF binary package lands.

rvp

rvp FYI: On Amd64/FreeBSD-12.2, with LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=true this WebGL aquarium is slow (~ 10fps), ...

This was in Firefox 84.0.1. After updating to 84.0.2 just now, LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=true disables WebGL altogether. An additional env. var. is now needed: GALLIUM_DRIVER=softpipe. Performance is execrable: ~ 1 fps for the aquarium (softpipe only seems to use 1 CPU). The other GALLIUM_DRIVERS mentioned on the page (llvmpipe, swr (software raster)) don't work.

More FYI: Use the about:support to check these things:

Ubuntu 19.04 (Firefox 85.0b7) default:

Graphics:
WebGL 1 Driver Renderer: Intel Open Source Technology Center -- Mesa DRI Intel(R) Ivybridge Mobile
WebGL 1 Driver Version: 3.0 Mesa 19.0.8
WebGL 2 Driver Renderer: Intel Open Source Technology Center -- Mesa DRI Intel(R) Ivybridge Mobile
WebGL 2 Driver Version: 4.2 (Core Profile) Mesa 19.0.8

GPU #1:
Description: Mesa DRI Intel(R) Ivybridge Mobile
Driver Vendor: mesa/i965
Driver Version: 19.0.8.0

LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=true

Graphics:
WebGL 1 Driver Renderer: VMware, Inc. -- llvmpipe (LLVM 8.0, 256 bits)
WebGL 1 Driver Version: 3.1 Mesa 19.0.8
WebGL 2 Driver Renderer: VMware, Inc. -- llvmpipe (LLVM 8.0, 256 bits)
WebGL 2 Driver Version: 3.3 (Core Profile) Mesa 19.0.8

GPU #1:
Description: llvmpipe (LLVM 8.0, 256 bits)
Driver Vendor: mesa/llvmpipe
Driver Version: 19.0.8.0

FreeBSD 12.2-RELEASE-p1 (Firefox 84.0.2) default:

Graphics:
WebGL 1 Driver Renderer: Intel Open Source Technology Center -- Mesa DRI Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 (IVB GT2)
WebGL 1 Driver Version: 3.0 Mesa 20.2.3
WebGL 2 Driver Renderer: Intel Open Source Technology Center -- Mesa DRI Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 (IVB GT2)
WebGL 2 Driver Version: 4.2 (Core Profile) Mesa 20.2.3

GPU #1:
Description: Mesa DRI Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 (IVB GT2)
Driver Vendor: mesa/i965
Driver Version: 20.2.3.0

LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=true

Graphics:
WebGL 1 Driver Renderer: WebGL creation failed:
                         * tryNativeGL
                         * Exhausted GL driver options.
WebGL 1 Driver Version: -
WebGL 2 Driver Renderer: WebGL creation failed:
                         * tryNativeGL
                         * Exhausted GL driver options.
WebGL 2 Driver Version: -

GPU #1:
Description: llvmpipe (LLVM 10.0.1, 256 bits)
Driver Vendor: mesa/llvmpipe
Driver Version: 20.2.3.0

LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=true GALLIUM_DRIVER=softpipe

Graphics:
WebGL 1 Driver Renderer: Mesa/X.org -- softpipe
WebGL 1 Driver Version: 3.1 Mesa 20.2.3
WebGL 2 Driver Renderer: Mesa/X.org -- softpipe
WebGL 2 Driver Version: 3.3 (Core Profile) Mesa 20.2.3

GPU #1:
Description: softpipe
Driver Vendor: mesa/softpipe
Driver Version: 20.2.3.0

Also notice how much of the advanced rendering stuff (*_COMPOSITING, WEBRENDER_*) is still disabled on the Unixes.

oui

rvp Thank you for all the info! 🙌 Then it seems to be a bug, will look into reporting this to the mailing list.

rvp

oui Then it seems to be a bug, will look into reporting this to the mailing list.

Yeah. In the meantime do: env LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=true GALLIUM_DRIVER=softpipe firefox. It'll be slow as hell, but, it won't crash the browser (or the kernel). More on drivers here.

rvp

Well, it looks like Mozilla is finally enabling some WebGL stuff on 8+ year-old devices--on Linux, at least. From FF 86.0b4:

HW_COMPOSITING:
available by default

OPENGL_COMPOSITING:
available by default

WEBRENDER:
available by default

WEBRENDER_QUALIFIED:
available by default

WEBRENDER_COMPOSITOR:
disabled by default: Disabled by default

WEBRENDER_PARTIAL:
available by default

WEBRENDER_ANGLE:
available by default
unavailable by env: OS not supported

WEBRENDER_DCOMP_PRESENT:
available by default
disabled by user: User disabled via pref
unavailable by env: Requires Windows 10 or later
unavailable by runtime: Requires ANGLE

WEBRENDER_SOFTWARE:
available by default

OMTP:
available by default

WEBGPU:
disabled by default: Disabled by default
blocked by runtime: WebGPU can only be enabled in nightly

The WebGL aquarium runs at a respectable ~23 FPS (about the same as before); but more importantly, my CPUs are not getting hammered to get there.

oui

rvp This is good news! I'll wait until the FF 86 binary package becomes available for aarch64 on NetBSD and report back here.