Intel Graphics Support in Linux Kernels

Table of Contents Support Maps LTS and latest kernels All kernels Commits which removed Preliminary/Alpha Support Flags CNL CFL GLK BXT KBL SKL CHV BDW

Support Maps

The below tables provide information which upstream Linux kernels support the named Intel Graphics. Please, pay attention that Linux distributions may customize their kernels pulling in changes from the later kernels (forklifting). In such a case you may find that Intel Graphics works while the table below claims it should not. Please, consult your Linux distribution Release Notes to check which Intel Graphics is actually supported. The tables below applies strictly to upstream Linux kernels and can only suite as a hint when you consider particular Linux distribution.

While tables in this section give understanding whether upstream Linux kernel support the platform or not, keep in mind that not all kernels are equal. In case you are trying to select a kernel to use, first of all review a list of currently active upstream kernel releases. General recommendations are (considering you intend to use a kernel in some product):

• Avoid using a kernel if it has only preliminary/alpha support for your platform
• Avoid using a mainline kernel
• Avoid using prepatch kernels
• If you can afford to frequently change kernels, consider to use latest stable release. Mind that stable releases are supported for a few bug fixes only and then developers switch to the next stable release support.
• If you need a long term solution, consider to use latest LTS release which has support for your platform

LTS and latest kernels

The following table is actually a shortened version of the table from the next section. The difference between the tables is that the table in the current section lists only those kernels which:

• Are currently actively supported (which are not EOL)
• Have official support for the named platform

Kernel	LTS, EOL	BDW	CHV	SKL	BXT	KBL	GLK	CFL	CNL	ICL
3.16	LTS, April 2020	✅
4.4	LTS, February 2022	✅	✅	✅
4.9	LTS, January 2019	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
4.14	LTS, January 2020	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
4.17		✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
mainline		✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
	Legend	✅	Named platform graphics is officially supported by this kernel, we will refer to such kernels as ""

All kernels

Kernel	LTS, EOL	BDW	CHV	SKL	BXT	KBL	GLK	CFL	CNL	ICL
3.12
3.13 [1]		❗
3.14		✅
3.15		✅
3.16	LTS, April 2020	✅	❗
3.17		✅	❗
3.18		✅	❗
3.19		✅	❗	❗
4.0		✅	❗	❗
4.1		✅	✅	❗
4.2		✅	✅	❗	❗
4.3		✅	✅	✅	❗
4.4	LTS, February 2022	✅	✅	✅	❗
4.5		✅	✅	✅	❗	❗
4.6		✅	✅	✅	❗	❗
4.7		✅	✅	✅	❗	✅
4.8		✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
4.9	LTS, January 2019	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
4.10 [2]		✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
4.11		✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	❗
4.12		✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	❗
4.13		✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	❗	❗
4.14	LTS, January 2020	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	❗	❗
4.15		✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	❗
4.16		✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	❗
4.17		✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	❗
mainline		✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	❗
	Legend	❗	Kernel has preliminary (experimental) support for the named platform graphics, we will refer to such kernels as "Preliminary/Alpha Support Kernels"
		✅	Named platform graphics is officially supported by this kernel, we will refer to such kernels as ""
	References	[1]	Starting from this kernel use i915.preliminary_hw_support=1 to enable experimental support for the platform
		[2]	Starting from this kernel use use i915.alpha_support=1 to enable experimental support for the platform

Notes:

• Preliminary/Alpha Support Kernels are kernels where support for the named Intel Graphics exists, but is experimental and not officially supported. To try the support you will need to boot the kernel with the special module parameter. Pay attention that the parameter was renamed: starting from kernel 4.10 you need to use i915.alpha_support=1 instead of i915.preliminary_hw_support=1. Please, avoid usage of such kernels unless told otherwise by kernel engineers.

Commits which removed Preliminary/Alpha Support Flags

CNL

commit [https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git/commit/?id=ccf74400da4d7c94307ac24e7398337d9c4312d9 ccf74400da4d7c94307ac24e7398337d9c4312d9]
Author: Rodrigo Vivi <[email protected]>
Date:   Wed Feb 14 12:42:05 2018 -0800

    drm/i915/cnl: Remove alpha_support protection

    We now have a stable cnl on our CI and it seems mostly
    green without big risks of blank screen or anything
    blowing up on linux installations in the future.

    As a reminder i915.alpha_support was created to protect
    future linux installation's iso images that might contain a
    kernel from the enabling time of the new platform. Without this
    protection most of linux installation was recommending
    nomodeset option during installation that was getting stick
    there after installation.

    Specifically, alpha support says nothing about the development
    state of the hardware, and everything about the state of the
    driver in a kernel release.

    This is semantically no different from the old
    preliminary_hw_support flag, but the old one was all too often
    interpreted as (preliminary hw) support instead of the intended
    (preliminary) hw support, and it was misleading for everyone.
    Hence the rename.

    v2: Fix the typos and include more history about the parameter
    rename on commit message. (Jani)

    Reference: https://intel-gfx-ci.01.org/tree/drm-tip/fi-cnl-y3.html
    Cc: James Ausmus <[email protected]>
    Cc: Lucas De Marchi <[email protected]>
    Cc: Jani Saarinen <[email protected]>
    Cc: Jani Nikula <[email protected]>
    Cc: Joonas Lahtinen <[email protected]>
    Signed-off-by: Rodrigo Vivi <[email protected]>
    Acked-by: Jani Nikula <[email protected]>
    Link: https://patchwork.freedesktop.org/patch/msgid/[email protected]

CFL

commit [https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git/commit/?id=e6b20bf1b77c24465393b5b1e12781110cedc12c
Author: Rodrigo Vivi <[email protected]>
Date:   Thu Sep 7 16:06:32 2017 -0700

    drm/i915/cfl: Remove alpha support protection.

    We now have Coffee Lake on our CI systems.

    Coffee Lake is at this point in same stage as Kaby Lake.

    And it seems that we don't have any risk of bad blank
    screens or anything like that. So let's remove the protection.

    Cc: Daniel Vetter <[email protected]>
    Cc: Dhinakaran Pandiyan <[email protected]>
    Signed-off-by: Rodrigo Vivi <[email protected]>
    Reviewed-by: Dhinakaran Pandiyan <[email protected]>
    Link: https://patchwork.freedesktop.org/patch/msgid/[email protected]

GLK

commit [https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git/commit/?id=07981f2b27a4ff4bdbc4bb6b5ec965f33f4117c3
Author: Ander Conselvan de Oliveira <[email protected]>
Date:   Thu Jun 8 14:48:00 2017 +0300

    drm/i915/glk: Remove the alpha_support flag

    Geminilake is now included in CI, making it part of the pre-merge
    criteria. The support should be in good enough shape, so let's remove
    the alpha_support flag.

    Signed-off-by: Ander Conselvan de Oliveira <[email protected]>
    Reviewed-by: Rodrigo Vivi <[email protected]>
    Link: http://patchwork.freedesktop.org/patch/msgid/[email protected]

BXT

commit [https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git/commit/?id=c73930266d3b060d0ff0832b71caad95ac09b4a6
Author: Imre Deak <[email protected]>
Date:   Fri Jul 1 17:40:45 2016 +0300

    drm/i915/bxt: Remove the preliminary_hw_support flag

    Broxton is now part of CI which doesn't indicate any major problems so
    enable the driver by default.

    Signed-off-by: Imre Deak <[email protected]>
    Reviewed-by: Rodrigo Vivi <[email protected]>
    Link: http://patchwork.freedesktop.org/patch/msgid/[email protected]

KBL

commit 9c7417022ded5700a4b1a11da59951ebf080e4e0
Author: Rodrigo Vivi <[email protected]>
Date: Wed Mar 30 07:58:01 2016 -0700

drm/i915/kbl: Remove preliminary_hw_support protection from KBL.

We now have KBL machines running in our CI systems and with no
 blocking issues that could cause a full hangs or blank screens.

Signed-off-by: Rodrigo Vivi <[email protected]>
 Link: http://patchwork.freedesktop.org/patch/msgid/[email protected]
 Acked-by: Daniel Vetter [email protected]

SKL

commit 4b0c8bb016e7f36e2d6ec230f9177f88def690d5
Author: Damien Lespiau <[email protected]>
Date:   Thu Jul 16 17:08:09 2015 +0100

    drm/i915/skl: Drop the preliminary_hw_support flag

    Time to light a candle and remove the preliminary_hw_support flag.

    Signed-off-by: Damien Lespiau <[email protected]>
    Signed-off-by: Daniel Vetter <[email protected]>

CHV

commit 7a8785f7eea5f1a35f10d2fbdee7df1febb850de
Author: Ville Syrjälä <[email protected]>
Date:   Wed Mar 11 22:52:28 2015 +0200

    drm/i915: Remove the preliminary_hw_support shackles from CHV

    CHV should be in a good enough shape now, so let's drop the
    .is_preliminary flag.

    Signed-off-by: Ville Syrjälä <[email protected]>
    Signed-off-by: Daniel Vetter [email protected]

BDW

commit babb1903511f147b7c9ef3c06f13b036cac31997
Author: Jesse Barnes <[email protected]>
Date:   Tue Jan 14 11:04:16 2014 -0800

    drm/i915/bdw: remove preliminary_hw_support flag from BDW

    It ought to work ok in 3.14.  We have some fun stuff coming after that,
    but all the basics are in place now and seem relatively stable.

    Signed-off-by: Jesse Barnes <[email protected]>
    Acked by: Ben Widawsky <[email protected]>
    Signed-off-by: Daniel Vetter [email protected]