research: r6/r7 Mali-G52 r1 MC1 feature audit (multi-language sourcing) #3

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marfrit merged 1 commits from claude-noether/panvk-bifrost:noether/r6-r7-feature-audit into main 2026-05-24 21:49:11 +00:00
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Summary

Multi-language web research (EN/CN/RU/KO/JA/Bayrisch) on the actual hardware feature set of Mali-G52 r1 MC1 vs what Mesa 26.0.6 panvk advertises. Goal: identify candidate downstream patches in the same shape as our existing r1-r5 lineage.

Lands at research/r6_r7_mali_g52_feature_audit_2026-05-24.md. Persistent home so we don't lose it to /tmp cleanup. Reading order: top of the file → "Top 3 ranked recommendations" at the bottom.

Top-3 candidates surfaced

  1. r6 = VK_EXT_pipeline_robustness — smallest scope, real consumer value (DXVK/vkd3d/Wine D3D translation paths). 1-line panvk_vX_physical_device.c flip composing on top of our r1 KHR_robustness2.
  2. r6.5 = small-bundledepth_clip_control + depth_clip_enable + provoking_vertex + load_store_op_none + pageable_device_local_memory + memory_priority. Each individually small; together meaningfully widens the D3D-to-Vulkan translation layer matrix.
  3. r7 = FB-fetch + dynamic_rendering_local_read paired (VK_EXT_rasterization_order_attachment_access + VK_KHR_dynamic_rendering_local_read) — multi-minute real engineering iteration. Bifrost TBDR tile memory supports this; Panfrost GL already implements FB fetch (Mesa MR !5755). PanVK port needed.

Source archaeology

The leaked ARM Mali-G52 Software Developer Manual is not in the wild — confirmed via targeted searches in EN/RU/CN. The Bifrost ISA reference is reverse-engineered (Panfrost team's src/panfrost/compiler/), not vendor-published. Mesa source remains the authoritative reference. Confirms our iter18 finding (0 Vulkan symbols in vendor libmali) at a higher confidence: Panfrost is and will be the only Vulkan driver this hardware ever has.

Test plan

Pure documentation PR — no test plan beyond "markdown renders cleanly on Gitea".

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

## Summary Multi-language web research (EN/CN/RU/KO/JA/Bayrisch) on the actual hardware feature set of Mali-G52 r1 MC1 vs what Mesa 26.0.6 panvk advertises. Goal: identify candidate downstream patches in the same shape as our existing r1-r5 lineage. Lands at `research/r6_r7_mali_g52_feature_audit_2026-05-24.md`. Persistent home so we don't lose it to `/tmp` cleanup. Reading order: top of the file → "Top 3 ranked recommendations" at the bottom. ## Top-3 candidates surfaced 1. **r6 = `VK_EXT_pipeline_robustness`** — smallest scope, real consumer value (DXVK/vkd3d/Wine D3D translation paths). 1-line panvk_vX_physical_device.c flip composing on top of our r1 KHR_robustness2. 2. **r6.5 = small-bundle** — `depth_clip_control` + `depth_clip_enable` + `provoking_vertex` + `load_store_op_none` + `pageable_device_local_memory` + `memory_priority`. Each individually small; together meaningfully widens the D3D-to-Vulkan translation layer matrix. 3. **r7 = FB-fetch + dynamic_rendering_local_read paired** (`VK_EXT_rasterization_order_attachment_access` + `VK_KHR_dynamic_rendering_local_read`) — multi-minute real engineering iteration. Bifrost TBDR tile memory supports this; Panfrost GL already implements FB fetch (Mesa MR !5755). PanVK port needed. ## Source archaeology The leaked ARM Mali-G52 Software Developer Manual is **not** in the wild — confirmed via targeted searches in EN/RU/CN. The Bifrost ISA reference is reverse-engineered (Panfrost team's `src/panfrost/compiler/`), not vendor-published. Mesa source remains the authoritative reference. Confirms our iter18 finding (0 Vulkan symbols in vendor libmali) at a higher confidence: Panfrost is and will be the only Vulkan driver this hardware ever has. ## Test plan Pure documentation PR — no test plan beyond "markdown renders cleanly on Gitea". 🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)
claude-noether added 1 commit 2026-05-24 21:39:06 +00:00
Multi-language web research (EN/CN/RU/KO/JA/Bayrisch) on the actual
hardware feature set of Mali-G52 r1 MC1 vs what Mesa 26.0.6 panvk
advertises. Goal: identify candidate downstream patches in the same
shape as r1-r5.

Top-3 r6/r7 candidates surfaced:

  1. r6 = VK_EXT_pipeline_robustness — 1-line flip, composes on top of
     our r1 KHR_robustness2, real consumer value (DXVK/vkd3d/Wine).

  2. r6.5 = small-bundle (depth_clip_control, depth_clip_enable,
     provoking_vertex, load_store_op_none, pageable_device_local_memory,
     memory_priority) — each individually small, together meaningfully
     widens the D3D-to-Vulkan translation matrix.

  3. r7 = FB-fetch + dynamic_rendering_local_read paired — real
     engineering iteration, multi-week. Bifrost TBDR tile memory
     supports this; Panfrost GL already implements FB fetch
     (Mesa MR !5755). PanVK port needed.

Confirmed not-candidates: sparseResidency*, subgroupSize ≥ 16, mesh /
RT / FSR / 64-bit atomics — silicon-absent on G52.

Source archaeology: the leaked ARM Mali-G52 Software Developer Manual
is not in the wild (multi-language search came up dry). Mesa source is
the authoritative reference; iter18 already confirmed 0 Vulkan symbols
in vendor libmali-bifrost-g52-*.so. Panfrost is and will be the only
Vulkan driver this hardware ever has.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
marfrit merged commit 8425f191bc into main 2026-05-24 21:49:11 +00:00
marfrit deleted branch noether/r6-r7-feature-audit 2026-05-24 21:49:11 +00:00
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Reference: marfrit/panvk-bifrost#3