Don't want to see articles from a certain category? When logged in, go to your User Settings and adjust your feed in the Content Preferences section where you can block tags!
We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here.

Mesa 19.2 released to push open source graphics drivers

By - | Views: 15,049

A few months after the last release, Mesa 19.2 is officially available today pushing open source GPU drivers to new heights.

Since this is a major release, as the developers note you might want to wait for the first point release (19.2.1) to clear up any nuisance issues as it sees more testing.

As an NVIDIA owner and user, I don't tend to follow Mesa development and their release notes aren't exactly an easy read unless you really know your graphics API features. You know the drill with driver releases: you should hopefully see better performance, support for newer hardware and so on. Anyway, these are the highlights they noted:

  • GL_ARB_post_depth_coverage on radeonsi (Navi)
  • GL_ARB_seamless_cubemap_per_texture on etnaviv (if GPU supports SEAMLESS_CUBE_MAP)
  • GL_EXT_shader_image_load_store on radeonsi (with LLVM >= 10)
  • GL_EXT_shader_samples_identical on iris and radeonsi (if using NIR)
  • GL_EXT_texture_shadow_lod on i965, iris
  • EGL_EXT_platform_device
  • VK_AMD_buffer_marker on radv
  • VK_EXT_index_type_uint8 on radv
  • VK_EXT_post_depth_coverage on radv
  • VK_EXT_queue_family_foreign on radv
  • VK_EXT_sample_locations on radv
  • VK_EXT_shader_demote_to_helper_invocation on Intel.
  • VK_KHR_depth_stencil_resolve on radv
  • VK_KHR_imageless_framebuffer on radv
  • VK_KHR_shader_atomic_int64 on radv
  • VK_KHR_uniform_buffer_standard_layout on radv

Around 25 bugs were solved with this release as well including issues with KWin, Overwatch, Tropico 6, Geekbench 5, Supraland, The Surge, Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun and more.

Our friends over at Phoronix have a few interesting links of features added in Mesa 19.2 which you can find here.

You can find the official release notes here.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
19 Likes
About the author -
author picture
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
See more from me
The comments on this article are closed.
13 comments
Page: 1/2»
  Go to:

vipor29 Sep 25, 2019
I have the Mesa aco drivers should I stick with that or go with this one
x_wing Sep 25, 2019
Quoting: linuxcityI have the Mesa aco drivers should I stick with that or go with this one

If you want to use valve compiler for AMD GPU you should stick with your current drivers or use a bleeding-edge version of Mesa (aco was merged and will be shipping with Mesa 19.3).

From my point of view, your best option is to keep at system wide a stable version of Mesa and compile ACO drivers by yourself. That way you will have a stable system and you will also be able to use ACO on the games/app you prefer.

EDIT: worth mention that compiling may not be mandatory if you have an Ubuntu based distro. In that case you can unpack deb files of a Mesa-ACO ppa in specific directories in order to get the driver running (the same should be possible with arch based distros).


Last edited by x_wing on 25 September 2019 at 8:29 pm UTC
sr_ls_boy Sep 25, 2019
Quoting: linuxcityI have the Mesa aco drivers should I stick with that or go with this one
You should stick with the ACO repository. Not everything that ACO needs was merged yet.
Namely some NIR bits.
scaine Sep 25, 2019
View PC info
  • Contributing Editor
  • Mega Supporter
Quoting: x_wing
Quoting: linuxcityI have the Mesa aco drivers should I stick with that or go with this one

If you want to use valve compiler for AMD GPU you should stick with your current drivers or use a bleeding-edge version of Mesa (aco was merged and will be shipping with Mesa 19.3).

From my point of view, your best option is to keep at system wide a stable version of Mesa and compile ACO drivers by yourself. That way you will have a stable system and you will also be able to use ACO on the games/app you prefer.

EDIT: worth mention that compiling may not be mandatory if you have an Ubuntu based distro. In that case you can unpack deb files of a Mesa-ACO ppa in specific directories in order to get the driver running (the same should be possible with arch based distros).

You lost me at "compile". I kept at it, but then there was something about unpack deb files. Jesus, it's 2019. This isn't 2012 Linux anymore. Either it'll work by adding a package/snap, or at worst, I have to add a PPA. Compiling? C'mon.

In all seriousness, I didn't understand pretty much any of your answer. And while I realise that ignorance is nothing to be proud of, if this is what we need to learn to play games on Linux, we've already lost this fight, I think. No idea what "KDE Neon" architecture is, but it sounds like Gentoo, Slackware, or Arch - totally hardcore. Not my scene (obviously).
lejimster Sep 26, 2019
Quoting: linuxcityI have the Mesa aco drivers should I stick with that or go with this one

Personally I would stick with what you have, if you are using valves repo/ppa, you get access to the updates before they're upstreamed and from my personal experience it's working very well already. It's easy enough to disable aco in favour of llvm on a per game basis with RADV_PERFTEST=llvm if you do encounter any problems.

When the project has matured more and is enabled by default in mesa, then I will probably switch back to mesa stable or mesa-git.
x_wing Sep 26, 2019
Quoting: scaine
Quoting: x_wing
Quoting: linuxcityI have the Mesa aco drivers should I stick with that or go with this one

If you want to use valve compiler for AMD GPU you should stick with your current drivers or use a bleeding-edge version of Mesa (aco was merged and will be shipping with Mesa 19.3).

From my point of view, your best option is to keep at system wide a stable version of Mesa and compile ACO drivers by yourself. That way you will have a stable system and you will also be able to use ACO on the games/app you prefer.

EDIT: worth mention that compiling may not be mandatory if you have an Ubuntu based distro. In that case you can unpack deb files of a Mesa-ACO ppa in specific directories in order to get the driver running (the same should be possible with arch based distros).

You lost me at "compile". I kept at it, but then there was something about unpack deb files. Jesus, it's 2019. This isn't 2012 Linux anymore. Either it'll work by adding a package/snap, or at worst, I have to add a PPA. Compiling? C'mon.

In all seriousness, I didn't understand pretty much any of your answer. And while I realise that ignorance is nothing to be proud of, if this is what we need to learn to play games on Linux, we've already lost this fight, I think. No idea what "KDE Neon" architecture is, but it sounds like Gentoo, Slackware, or Arch - totally hardcore. Not my scene (obviously).

I understand that it can sound complex and difficult (still, believe it or not compiling mesa only requires to run three commands... after you resolve a ton of dependencies :P) but it is only related to being able to use an experimental driver with the flexibility I suggested.

To be fair, the easiest and simple way to test mesa-aco is to keep it installed system wide and that requires as much knowledge as installing a beta driver on Windows (if not less). So the learning curve for playing games on Linux is not different to Windows even if you want to play around with experimental features.

BTW, KDE Neon is a Ubuntu based distro. No black magic involved and it's a nice distro if you like to get KDE latest releases.


Last edited by x_wing on 26 September 2019 at 3:05 am UTC
jarhead_h Sep 26, 2019
I have been delayed in building my 3900X/X570. I am building a 48inX48in CNC router instead. However when I can afford a new PC build I will be buying some sort of factory OC 5700XT. So far my favorite would be the Sapphire Nitro, followed by the ASUS Strix, and then the Powercolor Red Devil - and they are all three completely sold out. However, when I can settle on something, I expect these drivers to be rather a welcome change from the NVIDIA experience.
MayeulC Sep 26, 2019
Quoting: scaine
Quoting: x_wing
Quoting: linuxcityI have the Mesa aco drivers should I stick with that or go with this one

If you want to use valve compiler for AMD GPU you should stick with your current drivers or use a bleeding-edge version of Mesa (aco was merged and will be shipping with Mesa 19.3).

From my point of view, your best option is to keep at system wide a stable version of Mesa and compile ACO drivers by yourself. That way you will have a stable system and you will also be able to use ACO on the games/app you prefer.

EDIT: worth mention that compiling may not be mandatory if you have an Ubuntu based distro. In that case you can unpack deb files of a Mesa-ACO ppa in specific directories in order to get the driver running (the same should be possible with arch based distros).

You lost me at "compile". I kept at it, but then there was something about unpack deb files. Jesus, it's 2019. This isn't 2012 Linux anymore. Either it'll work by adding a package/snap, or at worst, I have to add a PPA. Compiling? C'mon.

In all seriousness, I didn't understand pretty much any of your answer. And while I realise that ignorance is nothing to be proud of, if this is what we need to learn to play games on Linux, we've already lost this fight, I think. No idea what "KDE Neon" architecture is, but it sounds like Gentoo, Slackware, or Arch - totally hardcore. Not my scene (obviously).

Oh, please. If you want the latest, bleeding-edge, experimental stuff (like ACO), then you are obviously going to dirty your hands. The ecosystem around them isn't mature, the projects cannot necessarily be considered "stable", and are not included by default in most "simple" environments :)

I mean, this is like trying to perform some extreme overclocking, and complaining that you have to learn stuff on CPU and memory architecture. Or buying a custom set of "performance" parts for your car, and complaining about having to bolt them on yourself.

It isn't that hard to do or learn, but are you sure that's really what you want, if you are not prepared to spend some time learning?

Personally, even though I could do it, and have done so occasionally, I prefer to stay with the defaults, and spend my energy elsewhere ;)


Last edited by MayeulC on 26 September 2019 at 12:27 pm UTC
scaine Sep 26, 2019
View PC info
  • Contributing Editor
  • Mega Supporter
Quoting: MayeulC
Quoting: scaine
Quoting: x_wing
Quoting: linuxcityI have the Mesa aco drivers should I stick with that or go with this one

If you want to use valve compiler for AMD GPU you should stick with your current drivers or use a bleeding-edge version of Mesa (aco was merged and will be shipping with Mesa 19.3).

From my point of view, your best option is to keep at system wide a stable version of Mesa and compile ACO drivers by yourself. That way you will have a stable system and you will also be able to use ACO on the games/app you prefer.

EDIT: worth mention that compiling may not be mandatory if you have an Ubuntu based distro. In that case you can unpack deb files of a Mesa-ACO ppa in specific directories in order to get the driver running (the same should be possible with arch based distros).

You lost me at "compile". I kept at it, but then there was something about unpack deb files. Jesus, it's 2019. This isn't 2012 Linux anymore. Either it'll work by adding a package/snap, or at worst, I have to add a PPA. Compiling? C'mon.

In all seriousness, I didn't understand pretty much any of your answer. And while I realise that ignorance is nothing to be proud of, if this is what we need to learn to play games on Linux, we've already lost this fight, I think. No idea what "KDE Neon" architecture is, but it sounds like Gentoo, Slackware, or Arch - totally hardcore. Not my scene (obviously).
Oh, please. If you want the latest, bleeding-edge, experimental stuff (like ACO), then you are obviously going to dirty your hands. The ecosystem around them isn't mature, the projects cannot necessarily be considered "stable", and are not included by default in most "simple" environments :)

I mean, this is like trying to perform some extremem overclocking, and complaining that you have to learn stuff on CPU and memory architecture. Or buying a custom set of "performance" parts for your car, and complaining about having to bolt them on yourself.

It isn't that hard to do or learn, but are you sure that's reeally what you want, if you are not prepared to spend some time learning?

Personally, even though I could do it, and have done so occasionaly, I prefer to stay with the defaults, and spend my energy elsewhere ;)

Yep, x_wing already answered to this effect. The fact that this is all very experimental/cutting-edge was lost on me when I typed my comment. Like you, I prefer to just "play games" these days. My interest in that level of tinkering pretty much dried up when Steam launched on Linux and the whole experience became that much more mainstream.
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
The comments on this article are closed.