Talk: GNOME login screen might not start when mesa-va-drivers-freeworld from RPMFusion are installed

[kparal (Kamil Páral)]

This is a discussion topic for the following Common Issue:

GNOME login screen might not start when mesa-va-drivers-freeworld from RPMFusion are installed

Problem A GNOME login screen might not start and display Oh no! Something has gone wrong message instead. This only happens if you have installed video acceleration codecs from RPMFusion. (There might be other reasons why you see this screen, but those are not covered in this topic). [GNOME login screen failure] Cause GNOME login screen fails when important Mesa subpackages (like mesa-libGL or mesa-libEGL) have a different version than the main driver package mesa-dri-drivers. This proble…

You can discuss the problem and its solutions here, but please note that debugging and technical feedback should primarily go to the issue trackers (e.g. Bugzilla) linked in the Common Issue, because that’s the place that developers watch, not here.

If there are any updates/changes/amendments for the Common Issue description, which you believe should be performed, please post it here.

[ilikelinux (L.S.)]

We could probably point out on which Hardware this driver makes sense. I was reading in a follow up link from here to reddit, that says it not affects Intel Hardware:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Fedora/comments/131lvjp/comment/ji1ufpu/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

I never had an issue with the default mesa from Fedora. Just started to play around while reading that some hardware has acceleration just with the free-world driver.

Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics driver: i915 v: kernel
  Device-2: Sunplus Innovation FHD Camera Microphone type: USB
    driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo
  Display: wayland server: X.Org v: 22.1.9 with: Xwayland v: 22.1.9
    compositor: gnome-shell v: 43.4 driver: X: loaded: modesetting
    unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: crocus gpu: i915 resolution: 2560x1080~60Hz
  API: OpenGL v: 4.2 Mesa 23.0.3 renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 4000 (IVB
    GT2)

[kparal (Kamil Páral)]

The hardware is described in the Common Issue related to installing mesa-freeworld in the first place (also linked from the Common Issue described above):

Proprietary video codecs are no longer hardware accelerated by default on AMD GPUs since Fedora 37

Problem Fedora 37 includes a notable change which disables hardware acceleration for proprietary video codecs (most commonly H.264 and H.265) when using the Mesa drivers stack. Open video codecs (VP8, VP9, AV1 - based on your hardware capabilities) are unaffected and can still be hardware-accelerated out of the box. This change mainly affects AMD graphics cards. (Intel GPUs don’t use Mesa for video acceleration, Nvidia cards use the proprietary driver, and Mesa video acceleration mostly doesn’…

Even the RPMFusion guide with instructions on how to install mesa-freeworld has different sections for different GPUs.

[gbcox (Gerald B Cox)]

Another way to mitigate is to skip the rpmfusion version and use the negativo17 multimedia repository: Negativo17 Multimedia. Negativo17 is not designed as a complete replacement for rpmfusion, but depending on your needs, it may be good fit.

[kparal (Kamil Páral)]

Negativo17 only contains the Nvidia driver. It doesn’t contain full-featured mesa-va-drivers. So it’s not really related to the described issue.

[gbcox (Gerald B Cox)]

You might want to double check before posting:
Name : mesa-va-drivers
Epoch : 1
Version : 23.0.2
Release : 1.fc38
Architecture : x86_64
Size : 12 M
Source : mesa-23.0.2-1.fc38.src.rpm
Repository : @System
From repo : fedora-multimedia
Summary : Mesa-based VA-API video acceleration drivers
URL : http://www.mesa3d.org
License : MIT
Description : Mesa-based VA-API video acceleration drivers.

[kparal (Kamil Páral)]

Alright, it’s not stated here but there really is mesa inside that repo. It’s not clear how it differs from Fedora, presumably it contains even patented VA drivers, but does it change anything else? I’d have to compare the spec files.

I don’t think it’s a good idea to rely on a third-party repository for such important system packages like Mesa, but everyone is free to do what they like. I wouldn’t want to forward people to a full mesa rebuild from our official Common Issue description, though.

[gbcox (Gerald B Cox)]

@kparal

I don’t think it’s a good idea to rely on a third-party repository for such important system packages like Mesa, but everyone is free to do what they like. I wouldn’t want to forward people to a full mesa rebuild from our official Common Issue description, though.

RPMFUSION isn’t part of the Fedora Project. It’s a 3rd party repository. This issue is a direct result of people using a third party repository for mesa, so that ship has sailed. Your argument is a distinction without a difference. My sole point was to tell people about another 3rd party repository that includes mesa, that doesn’t experience this problem. Fedora does not endorse the use of 3rd party repositories. If they did, Fedora Legal would most likely have issues with that.

[ilikelinux (L.S.)]

@gbcox

My sole point was to tell people about another 3rd party repository that includes mesa,

RPMFUSION relays on the mesa-filesystem from the official Fedora repository while negativo17.org distributes a own package.

My personal doubts about negativo17 is the anonymity.

What is RPM Fusion?

RPM Fusion is a repository of add-on packages for Fedora and EL+EPEL maintained by a group of volunteers. RPM Fusion is not a standalone repository, but an extension of Fedora. RPM Fusion distributes packages that have been deemed unacceptable to Fedora.

[gbcox (Gerald B Cox)]

My point was not to lobby people to choose one 3rd party repository over another, or to encourage the use of a 3rd party repository. As I mentioned above, this problem is a result of people using a 3rd party repository and I was simply pointing out an alternative that doesn’t experience the problem. Again, Fedora does not endorse the use of RPMFUSION or any 3rd party repository.

[blackcrack]

i have the same troubles here in sddm+VBox,
work around: login in promt, startx and kde/plasma starts…

test it with gnome, ctrl+F3 , login and try start with “startx”

best
blacky