# KWin pivot — fix the `glTexImage2D(GL_ALPHA)` stall

> **2026-04-28 update — Phase 2 collapsed onto Phase 1: it's not KWin.**
> Source-grep nailed the offender on the first pass. Real culprit:
> Qt 6's `QOpenGLTextureGlyphCache` (`src/opengl/qopengltextureglyphcache.cpp:111-117`)
> and `QRhiGles2::toGlTextureFormat` (`src/gui/rhi/qrhigles2.cpp:1373-1378`).
> KWin's own GL paths use `GL_R8` correctly (`src/opengl/gltexture.cpp:61`,
> `src/scene/shadowitem.cpp:494`). The pivot becomes a **Qt-fourier**
> patch, not a kwin-fourier one. Plan rewritten below; the pre-rewrite
> reproduction/triangulation phases are kept verbatim because they
> still apply to whatever lives downstream of the Qt fix.
>
> Qt's broken logic, in plain English: *"If qtbase was built with
> opengles2, just always use `GL_ALPHA`."* That's correct for an
> OpenGL ES 2.x context. It's wrong for OpenGL ES 3.x, where
> `GL_ALPHA` is no longer a valid `glTexImage2D` internalFormat
> (only sized formats — `GL_R8`, etc.). Mali / panfrost on RK3566
> exposes ES 3.2; KWin requests an ES 3.2 context; Qt picks
> `GL_ALPHA`; mesa returns `GL_INVALID_VALUE`; the texture is
> permanently broken; every dependent draw errors at level 0; the
> compositor's frame-callback path stalls. Affects every Qt 6
> application on Mali-class hardware that ends up rendering text
> through `QOpenGLTextureGlyphCache` (KDE's window decorations,
> Plasma overlays, Qt Quick scenegraph via RHI, ad nauseam) — KWin
> just happens to be the most visible victim because it's the
> compositor and its stall takes everyone else down with it.

## What we know

KWin 6.6.4-1 on Arch Linux ARM (Plasma 6.6.4-1, mesa 26.0.5-1, libdrm
2.4.131-1) on ohm (PineTab2 / RK3566 / panfrost) silently corrupts its
GL command queue mid-frame whenever a wayland client posts a video
buffer. The journal carries a rolling stream of:

```
kwin_wayland: 0x4: GL_INVALID_VALUE in glTexImage2D(internalFormat=GL_ALPHA)
kwin_wayland: 0x4: GL_INVALID_OPERATION in glTexSubImage2D(invalid texture level 0) × N
```

`GL_ALPHA` is not a valid `internalFormat` for `glTexImage2D` under
**OpenGL ES 3.x** (it was the GLES1.x single-channel alpha format;
GLES3 deprecates it for sized formats — `GL_R8`, `GL_LUMINANCE8_ALPHA8`,
etc.). Once the texture allocation fails, the `glTexSubImage2D` calls
that should populate it all error at level 0. KWin keeps retrying the
same broken upload every frame, never recovers, and the present-callback
path that depends on that texture stops acking client frames. Every
wayland video client deadlocks on the missing ack.

First occurrence in this box's journal: **2026-03-06** — the bug
predates any chromium-fourier work by roughly seven weeks.

## Triangulation already in hand

| Client | Outcome |
|---|---|
| chromium-fourier 149-r2 (with patch 3/3) | plays ~3 s @ 34.7 % CPU then renderer/GPU park in `futex_do_wait` |
| chromium-fourier 149-r2 (without patch 3/3) | plays ~10 s (slower path delays surfacing) then identical deadlock |
| VLC | `cannot convert decoder/filter output to any format supported by the output` → `could not initialize video chain` |
| mpv `--vo=null --hwdec=v4l2request` | `Could not create device.` (mpv-side bug, separate, unrelated) |
| ffmpeg `-hwaccel v4l2request -i bbb -f null -` | plays through clean at 36 fps; hardware path is healthy |

Decode path is healthy on this hardware. The wall is exclusively the
compositor's GL backend.

## Constraint: ohm is the only test box on hand

ampere (RK3588 / panthor) is in the boxes-from-Shenzhen pile, currently
DOWN. fresnel (RK3399 / Pinebook Pro) is offline. boltzmann (Rock 5
ITX+ build host) doesn't run KWin. We do every step on ohm; we accept
the wifi flakiness and the occasional reboot.

## Phase 1 — Reproduce outside chrome and bound the trigger (1 evening)

Goal: a deterministic, headless-or-near-headless reproduction that
doesn't require launching a 800-MB browser.

1. **Smallest-possible client.** Build a 50-line C wayland client that
   creates a `wp_linux_dmabuf_v1` buffer, pumps frames at 30 fps, and
   exits when KWin first errors. Use `weston-simple-dmabuf-egl` from
   the `weston` package as a starting template — already does exactly
   this but without our specific format/modifier matrix.
2. **Vary the format/modifier matrix.** Run the smallest-possible
   client with each of: NV12 + LINEAR, NV12 + AFBC, NV12 + AFRC,
   AR24 + LINEAR, XR24 + LINEAR. We already know NV12 paths trigger;
   confirming AR24/XR24 do *not* trigger localizes the bug to KWin's
   YUV import path (vs a generic dmabuf import bug).
3. **Vary the buffer dimensions.** Some KWin texture-cache paths
   allocate fixed-size internal scratch textures; non-power-of-two,
   non-multiple-of-16, or specifically odd-aspect cases sometimes
   trigger paths that healthy aspect ratios skip. Test 1920×1080,
   1280×720, 854×480, 640×360 and a deliberately weird 1366×768.
4. **Vary KWin scene type.** Switch
   `kwin_wayland --scene-type=opengl` vs `--scene-type=opengl-es`
   (current default on this hardware). If the bug only fires under
   GLES, that's a strong signal — the offending site is in a
   GLES-only fallback.

By the end of Phase 1 we should have a one-line `weston-simple-dmabuf-egl
-format=NV12 -modifier=…` that triggers the GL_ALPHA error within
seconds, plus a yes/no answer to "does AR24 also trigger".

## Phase 2 — Identify the call site (1–2 evenings)

The crime scene is somewhere in `kwin/src/scene/*` or
`kwin/src/effects/*`. Suspects, ranked:

- **`SurfaceItemWayland::createPixmapTexture` → `GLTexture::create`
  with `GL_ALPHA`.** This is the most likely path: KWin allocates a
  fallback per-plane texture when the dmabuf import path can't take
  the buffer whole. NV12 has a Y plane (single-channel) and a CbCr
  plane (two-channel); historically the Y plane has been allocated as
  `GL_ALPHA` in software fallbacks. If the EGL dmabuf import returned
  `EGL_BAD_ATTRIBUTE` for `external_only` modifiers and KWin fell
  through to per-plane, this is exactly where it would land.
- **`BlurEffect::initBlurTexture` / `BackgroundContrastEffect::*`.**
  Single-channel noise textures for blur dither. Less likely (these
  fire on every frame regardless of video clients) but listed for
  completeness.
- **Window-decoration text glyph cache.** Qt's QGLTexture historically
  requested `GL_ALPHA` for monochrome glyph atlases. Plasma 6 should
  have moved to `GL_RED` long ago, but a stale code path in a
  third-party theme or systray icon could still hit it.
- **Cursor texture upload via `wl_shm_pool` + ARGB8888.** KWin's
  cursor scene sometimes uploads via glTexImage2D — but the format
  there is `GL_RGBA`, not `GL_ALPHA`. Probably not the suspect.

Tooling to identify *which*:

1. **`apitrace trace --api egl kwin_wayland …`** then
   `apitrace dump trace.trace | grep -B5 GL_ALPHA`. Apitrace gives
   us the C++ call stack at the offending site if KWin was built with
   debug symbols.
2. **`MESA_GL_DEBUG=context KWIN_GL_DEBUG=1 kwin_wayland --replace`**
   plus `glDebugMessageCallback` already installed in KWin's
   `OpenGLBackend` will print the source/type/severity for each
   `GL_INVALID_VALUE`. Whether the file/line in the message includes
   the user-space caller depends on Mesa's debug-extension support;
   on panfrost it usually does include the GL function name and an
   ID, but not the C++ source — that is what apitrace adds.
3. **Build kwin from source** (`extra/kwin` PKGBUILD on Arch ARM,
   patch in `-DDEBUG=ON`, `-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug`) so the call
   stacks resolve to file:line.

## Phase 3 — Write the patch (½ evening once Phase 2 is done)

The Qt 6 fix is two ~3-line changes, runtime-safe, no new dependency.

**Fix #1 — `src/opengl/qopengltextureglyphcache.cpp` lines 111-117:**

```diff
 #if !QT_CONFIG(opengles2)
     const GLint internalFormat = isCoreProfile() ? GL_R8 : GL_ALPHA;
     const GLenum format = isCoreProfile() ? GL_RED : GL_ALPHA;
 #else
-    const GLint internalFormat = GL_ALPHA;
-    const GLenum format = GL_ALPHA;
+    // OpenGL ES 3.x deprecated GL_ALPHA as a glTexImage2D
+    // internalFormat; only true ES 2 contexts retain it. Use GL_R8
+    // + the matching swizzle (handled in the fragment shader's .r
+    // sample below) on ES 3+ hardware so Mali / panfrost / panthor
+    // GLES3 contexts stop emitting GL_INVALID_VALUE every frame.
+    const bool useR8 = ctx->format().majorVersion() >= 3;
+    const GLint internalFormat = useR8 ? GL_R8 : GL_ALPHA;
+    const GLenum format = useR8 ? GL_RED : GL_ALPHA;
 #endif
```

The downstream fragment shader path that samples this texture must
read `.r` instead of `.a` when `GL_R8` is used. Qt's text-rendering
fragment program already has both code paths conditioned on context
core-profile; the ES 3+ branch needs the same treatment. Lines
214-216 of the same file (the resize / re-upload path) need the
identical change.

**Fix #2 — `src/gui/rhi/qrhigles2.cpp` lines 1373-1378:**

```diff
     case QRhiTexture::RED_OR_ALPHA8:
-        *glintformat = caps.coreProfile ? GL_R8 : GL_ALPHA;
+        *glintformat = (caps.coreProfile || (caps.gles && caps.ctxMajor >= 3))
+                       ? GL_R8 : GL_ALPHA;
         *glsizedintformat = *glintformat;
-        *glformat = caps.coreProfile ? GL_RED : GL_ALPHA;
+        *glformat = (caps.coreProfile || (caps.gles && caps.ctxMajor >= 3))
+                    ? GL_RED : GL_ALPHA;
         *gltype = GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE;
         break;
```

`caps.gles` and `caps.ctxMajor` are populated at context creation
(qrhigles2.cpp:804 + :855); the disjunct is free.

**Fix #3 — `src/opengl/qopengltextureuploader.cpp` lines 253-257:**

This is the QImage→GL upload path (used by `QOpenGLPaintEngineEx`
and its descendants). Same pattern, same fix shape: extend the
"core profile or GLES2 fallback" branching to also consider GLES3+
as needing `GL_R8`.

If we want to be aggressive, we can collapse all three sites onto a
single `qt_gl_use_r8_for_alpha8(ctx)` helper in `qopenglhelper_p.h`
so future Qt versions don't drift apart again — but a minimal patch
should keep the three sites independent so each is reviewable in
isolation by the relevant Qt module owner.

## Phase 4 — Ship and upstream (1 evening)

1. **Local Arch package** as `qt6-base-fourier` under
   `marfrit-packages/arch/qt6-base-fourier/`, sibling to chromium-fourier
   and firefox-fourier. PKGBUILD inherits from `extra/qt6-base`, drops
   in the three patches above, bumps `pkgrel`. Same
   `provides=qt6-base conflicts=qt6-base` pattern. Rebuild is heavy
   (qtbase compile is ~30 minutes on boltzmann; ohm rebuild is
   sustained-fan-territory and probably better avoided — boltzmann
   builds the aarch64 .pkg.tar.zst, then we rsync it to ohm and
   `pacman -U` there).
2. **Validate on ohm** by:
   - `pacman -U` the patched qt6-base.
   - Restart Plasma session (logout / login) so the new qt6-base.so
     is mapped into the fresh kwin_wayland.
   - Re-run `journalctl -u plasma-kwin_wayland.service -f` while
     opening any Qt 6 application that triggers text caching (a
     terminal, kate, the system tray) — the GL_INVALID_VALUE spam
     should be **gone**.
   - Then run chromium-fourier 149-r2 + the bbb sample for a full
     minute uninterrupted. Success = smooth playback through to EOF
     at the 34.7 % CPU number, no stall, no audio static, no
     KWin-side errors in the journal.
3. **Upstream** via:
   - File on `bugreports.qt.io` against `QtBase: OpenGL`, with: the
     three diff hunks above, the exact behavior on Mali-G52 panfrost
     RK3566 mainline 6.19, an excerpt of the journal noise, and
     mesa 26.0.5 / qt 6.11.0 / kwin 6.6.4 versions.
   - Push a Gerrit change against `qtbase` `dev` branch
     (`codereview.qt-project.org`). Qt won't accept a GitHub MR —
     they live on Gerrit. Create a Qt account, configure
     `git-review`, push.
   - Reference the chromium-fourier project as the discovery site
     so the next Mali-on-Linux Qt 6 user finds the breadcrumb.
4. **Document** the fix in
   `chromium-fourier/docs/dmabuf-zero-copy.md` "Caveat — KWin 6.6.4
   GLES backend on this hardware" subsection: replace the "to be
   investigated" wording with "fixed by qt6-base-fourier; see
   `marfrit-packages/arch/qt6-base-fourier/`. Upstream Qt change
   pending review at `<gerrit-link>`."

## Reflection — corporate IT spec leakage, as predicted

The user's Phase-1 hypothesis was that this was the result of code
written by people who never read the spec they were claiming to
implement. They were correct, with one nuance: the Qt code did read
the spec — *the OpenGL ES 2.x spec*, where `GL_ALPHA` is genuinely
the canonical single-channel format for `glTexImage2D`. What it
never went back and re-read is the OpenGL ES 3.0 spec
(section 3.8.3, "Texture Image Specification"), where `GL_ALPHA`
is moved to the deprecated list and only sized formats are
retained. The bug is: *Qt 6 was written assuming "OpenGL ES" is
one thing, and never updated the assumption when ES 3 dropped the
unsized formats.* That's a corporate-IT-style architectural
shortcut: codify the world in two boxes (desktop vs ES), call it
done, ship. The fact that a category had a sub-category which moved
in 2012 is not the framework's job to track. Until the bug report
arrives and someone has to extend the boolean to a triple.

## What success looks like

`chromium-fourier-149-r2` on ohm under KWin Wayland plays
`bbb_1080p30_h264.mp4` end-to-end at the 34.7 % CPU figure already
recorded by the architectural validation, with zero `GL_INVALID_VALUE`
in the journal during playback. That number is the goal of the entire
chromium-fourier campaign for RK3566 — it is currently blocked on a
bug that has nothing to do with chromium.

## Scope discipline

We do not turn this into "audit the entire KWin GLES backend." If
Phase 2 surfaces additional latent GL_INVALID_* errors that don't
matter for video playback, we note them in the bug report and move
on. The pivot is explicitly "remove this single wall so the
chromium-fourier patch series can ship a working stack on RK3566."