Linux 6.10 To Merge NTSYNC Driver For Emulating Windows NT Synchronization Primitives (www.phoronix.com)
from soloojos@lemmy.ml to linux@lemmy.ml on 14 Apr 2024 18:07
https://lemmy.ml/post/14456283

Going through my usual scanning of all the “-next” Git subsystem branches of new code set to be introduced for the next Linux kernel merge window, a very notable addition was just queued up… Linux 6.10 is set to merge the NTSYNC driver for emulating the Microsoft Windows NT synchronization primitives within the kernel for allowing better performance with Valve’s Steam Play (Proton) and Wine of Windows games and other apps on Linux.

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autotldr@lemmings.world on 14 Apr 2024 18:10 next collapse

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Going through my usual scanning of all the “-next” Git subsystem branches of new code set to be introduced for the next Linux kernel merge window, a very notable addition was just queued up… Linux 6.10 is set to merge the NTSYNC driver for emulating the Microsoft Windows NT synchronization primitives within the kernel for allowing better performance with Valve’s Steam Play (Proton) and Wine of Windows games and other apps on Linux.

The past several months has seen much work on the NTSYNC kernel driver for allowing better Wine (Windows) gaming/app performance on Linux.

"ntsync uses a misc device as the simplest and least intrusive uAPI interface.

It was very exciting to see this morning that Greg Kroah-Hartman has queued the NTSYNC patches into char/misc’s char-misc-next branch.

With the patches now residing there, they will be submitted for the Linux 6.10 merge window opening up in May and then debuting as stable this summer – barring any last minute issues or objections raised by Linus Torvalds.

Very exciting year for Linux gamers with NTSYNC going mainline, ongoing work around HDR and other display improvements, and all of the Wayland advancements being made, among the usual Linux hardware support advancements and other common kernel milestones being seen in 2024.


The original article contains 345 words, the summary contains 209 words. Saved 39%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

lemmyreader@lemmy.ml on 14 Apr 2024 18:31 next collapse

2024, the most memorable year of Linux gaming so far :-)

thingsiplay@beehaw.org on 14 Apr 2024 21:35 next collapse

The Year of Memorable Linux

umbrella@lemmy.ml on 14 Apr 2024 22:31 next collapse

why? i feel things are stabilizing and we are seeing incremental improvement instead of sweeping change now.

4am@lemm.ee on 14 Apr 2024 23:46 collapse

Oh no, all the projects are maturing and stabilizing? How boring, I don’t know how Linux gaming will survive

umbrella@lemmy.ml on 14 Apr 2024 23:52 collapse

oh i didnt mean to imply this is bad, just that it isnt memorable.

entropicdrift@lemmy.sdf.org on 15 Apr 2024 02:28 next collapse

Yeah, I’m team @umbrella@lemmy.ml on this one. It’s important but it’s not revolutionary

thingsiplay@beehaw.org on 15 Apr 2024 04:10 collapse

The start of the environment stabilizing is memorable. People ten thousands of generations in the future will remember the exact day when Linux Gaming became stable.

dosse91@lemmy.trippy.pizza on 16 Apr 2024 07:35 collapse

Nah mate, 2022 was when it started getting really good, GPL got rid of shader compilation stuttering (as well as dxvk-async related glitches), compatibility improved massively with improvements to both dxvk and vkd3d, and ray tracing finally started working

refurbishedrefurbisher@lemmy.sdf.org on 14 Apr 2024 20:16 next collapse

Is this an alternative to FSYNC and ESYNC?

Atemu@lemmy.ml on 14 Apr 2024 20:21 next collapse

Yes.

uis@lemm.ee on 14 Apr 2024 21:51 collapse

What about futex2?

LeFantome@programming.dev on 14 Apr 2024 20:39 next collapse

In addition to being useful for gamers, these are probably about to be the least likely to change APIs in the kernel.

umbrella@lemmy.ml on 14 Apr 2024 22:30 collapse

something something win32 is the most stable api

pastermil@sh.itjust.works on 14 Apr 2024 20:57 next collapse

I was wondering if this can be used outside of Windows context.

Edit: I’m asking specifically for Linux context.

uis@lemm.ee on 14 Apr 2024 21:50 next collapse

Please don’t

pastermil@sh.itjust.works on 15 Apr 2024 06:23 collapse

Why not? Would you rather that we have a Windows-exclusive subsystem in our kernel?

uis@lemm.ee on 15 Apr 2024 06:59 collapse

  1. Kernel devs then would want to make it stable API. I don’t want Windows API being stable part of kernel.

  2. It mostly implements racy stuff like pulsing event.

  3. There is already known subsystem that does not have stable API because it is used by only one project - DRI.

ProgrammingSocks@pawb.social on 15 Apr 2024 04:03 collapse

Backwards compatibility is important

pastermil@sh.itjust.works on 15 Apr 2024 04:22 collapse

How does that have to do with the sync primitive?

ProgrammingSocks@pawb.social on 15 Apr 2024 06:58 collapse

Since it’s a new feature, would it not cause incompatibility for any kernel versions before it was added (for any software that used it)?

MichaelTen@lemmy.world on 14 Apr 2024 23:41 next collapse

So will FL Studio and Photoshop work on Linux then?

Limitless Peace

dyc3@lemmy.world on 15 Apr 2024 01:37 collapse

Fl studio already works fine for me through wine

dan@upvote.au on 15 Apr 2024 06:51 next collapse

I remember running FL Studio using WINE 15 years ago and it worked fine.

MichaelTen@lemmy.world on 15 Apr 2024 07:11 collapse

Really… interesting…

What about loopcloud and all vsts?

dyc3@lemmy.world on 15 Apr 2024 10:25 collapse

Vsts are a bit of a gamble. Serum’s UI is bit buggy, and Massive works flawlessly. I don’t really have many vsts to test though. Idk what loopcloud is.

Procapra@hexbear.net on 15 Apr 2024 03:13 next collapse

I usually only run LTS kernels but I might make an exception here.

bloodfart@lemmy.ml on 16 Apr 2024 07:21 collapse

I want it that way!