LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=1 renderer used instead of Intel on Xorg sessions because of unity leftover file /etc/X11/Xsession.d/50_check_unity_support

[shankao]

3D acceleration is not working at the moment in Xorg because the LLVMpipe renderer is used. Instead, the correct Intel driver is used when trying Wayland sessions.

shankao@schwifty:~$ glxinfo | grep -i opengl
OpenGL vendor string: VMware, Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: llvmpipe (LLVM 5.0, 256 bits)
OpenGL core profile version string: 3.3 (Core Profile) Mesa 18.0.0-rc4
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 3.30
OpenGL core profile context flags: (none)
OpenGL core profile profile mask: core profile
OpenGL core profile extensions:
OpenGL version string: 3.0 Mesa 18.0.0-rc4
OpenGL shading language version string: 1.30
OpenGL context flags: (none)
OpenGL extensions:
OpenGL ES profile version string: OpenGL ES 3.0 Mesa 18.0.0-rc4
OpenGL ES profile shading language version string: OpenGL ES GLSL ES 3.00
OpenGL ES profile extensions:
shankao@schwifty:~$

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: libegl-mesa0 18.0.0~rc4-1ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-10.11-generic 4.15.3
Uname: Linux 4.15.0-10-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.8-0ubuntu10
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
CompositorRunning: None
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Mon Mar 12 15:06:16 2018
DistUpgraded: 2018-01-09 22:07:50,078 DEBUG Running PostInstallScript: './xorg_fix_proprietary.py'
DistroCodename: bionic
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus: virtualbox, 5.2.8, 4.15.0-10-generic, x86_64: installed
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes, if not too technical
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation UHD Graphics 620 [8086:5917] (rev 07) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] UHD Graphics 620 [1025:118c]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2018-01-09 (61 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20170215.2)
MachineType: Acer Swift SF314-52
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_SG:en
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_SG.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.15.0-10-generic root=UUID=e60d0a36-2013-48c7-bf91-fd01764bae3b ro quiet splash vt.handoff=1
SourcePackage: mesa
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to bionic on 2018-01-09 (61 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 07/18/2017
dmi.bios.vendor: Insyde Corp.
dmi.bios.version: V1.06
dmi.board.asset.tag: Type2 - Board Asset Tag
dmi.board.name: Suntory_KL
dmi.board.vendor: KBL
dmi.board.version: V1.06
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Acer
dmi.chassis.version: Chassis Version
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnInsydeCorp.:bvrV1.06:bd07/18/2017:svnAcer:pnSwiftSF314-52:pvrV1.06:rvnKBL:rnSuntory_KL:rvrV1.06:cvnAcer:ct10:cvrChassisVersion:
dmi.product.family: Swift 3
dmi.product.name: Swift SF314-52
dmi.product.version: V1.06
dmi.sys.vendor: Acer
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.13.1+18.04.20180302-0ubuntu1
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.90-1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 18.0.0~rc4-1ubuntu3
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 18.0.0~rc4-1ubuntu3
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.19.6-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev N/A
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.10.0-1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.917+git20171229-1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.15-2

[Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton)]

run:

apt-cache policy libgl1 libegl1

[shankao (shankao)]

$ apt-cache policy libgl1 libegl1
libgl1:
  Installed: 1.0.0-2ubuntu2
  Candidate: 1.0.0-2ubuntu2
  Version table:
 *** 1.0.0-2ubuntu2 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
libegl1:
  Installed: 1.0.0-2ubuntu2
  Candidate: 1.0.0-2ubuntu2
  Version table:
 *** 1.0.0-2ubuntu2 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

[Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton)]

wrong package, sorry:

apt-cache policy libegl-mesa0 libglx-mesa0

[shankao (shankao)]

$ apt-cache policy libegl-mesa0 libglx-mesa0
libegl-mesa0:
  Installed: 18.0.0~rc4-1ubuntu3
  Candidate: 18.0.0~rc4-1ubuntu3
  Version table:
 *** 18.0.0~rc4-1ubuntu3 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
libglx-mesa0:
  Installed: 18.0.0~rc4-1ubuntu3
  Candidate: 18.0.0~rc4-1ubuntu3
  Version table:
 *** 18.0.0~rc4-1ubuntu3 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

[shankao (shankao)]

Shouldn't this info be included in the original report that ubuntu-bug creates? It would remove the step of asking it later in the bug report

[Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton)]

it should but isn't yet

I don't see anything being wrong in the logs, X loads glamoregl just fine

[shankao (shankao)]

Ok. Is there any other command to run or logs that I can add to spot the problem of it using llvmpipe?

[Maxime DOYEN (mdoyen)]

$ apt-cache policy libegl-mesa0 libglx-mesa0

libegl-mesa0:
  Installed: 18.0.0~rc5-1ubuntu1
  Candidate: 18.0.0~rc5-1ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 18.0.0~rc5-1ubuntu1 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
libglx-mesa0:
  Installed: 18.0.0~rc5-1ubuntu1
  Candidate: 18.0.0~rc5-1ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 18.0.0~rc5-1ubuntu1 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

[shankao (shankao)]

So, after investigating this problem, I finally saw the cause: under X.org, the environment variable LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE is set to 1 *always*. Without it, it uses the intel driver as usual:

$ LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=0 glxinfo | grep -i opengl
OpenGL vendor string: Intel Open Source Technology Center
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI Intel(R) UHD Graphics 620 (Kabylake GT2)
OpenGL core profile version string: 4.5 (Core Profile) Mesa 18.0.0-rc5
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 4.50
OpenGL core profile context flags: (none)
OpenGL core profile profile mask: core profile
OpenGL core profile extensions:
OpenGL version string: 3.0 Mesa 18.0.0-rc5
OpenGL shading language version string: 1.30
OpenGL context flags: (none)
OpenGL extensions:
OpenGL ES profile version string: OpenGL ES 3.2 Mesa 18.0.0-rc5
OpenGL ES profile shading language version string: OpenGL ES GLSL ES 3.20
OpenGL ES profile extensions:

This is probably because I have an old unity file that's running when my session starts (/etc/X11/Xsession.d/50_check_unity_support) with these contents:

# This file is sourced by Xsession(5), not executed.
# If the hardware does not pass unity_support_test, fall back to LLVMpipe
# which does.

if [ "x$DESKTOP_SESSION" = "xubuntu" ]; then
    /usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test || export LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=1
fi

And given that the file /usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test doesn't exist anymore, it always exports the variable.

I think that there is still a bug here, and some possible fixes:

a) Remove the offending file when unity is removed
b) Fix the condition to check if unity_support_test exists
c) Be sure that ubuntu-bug reports the status of the flag for mesa bugs
d) Make that glxinfo prominently warns that the current env forces it to run in software mode

[shankao (shankao)]

For the record:

$ dpkg -S /etc/X11/Xsession.d/50_check_unity_support
nux-tools: /etc/X11/Xsession.d/50_check_unity_support

$ apt rdepends --installed unity
unity
Reverse Depends:
  Breaks: ubuntu-session (<< 7.5.0+17.10.20170619)

[shankao (shankao)]

I solved the problem for my with "apt purge nux-tools"

[Emiliano (retorquere)]

I've purged nux-tools, and /etc/X11/Xsession.d/50_check_unity_support is gone, but after a reboot, I still get

$ glxinfo | grep renderer
    GLX_MESA_multithread_makecurrent, GLX_MESA_query_renderer,
    GLX_MESA_multithread_makecurrent, GLX_MESA_query_renderer,
Extended renderer info (GLX_MESA_query_renderer):
OpenGL renderer string: llvmpipe (LLVM 6.0, 256 bits)

$ LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=0 glxinfo | grep -i opengl
OpenGL vendor string: VMware, Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: llvmpipe (LLVM 6.0, 256 bits)
OpenGL core profile version string: 3.3 (Core Profile) Mesa 18.0.0-rc5
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 3.30
OpenGL core profile context flags: (none)
OpenGL core profile profile mask: core profile
OpenGL core profile extensions:
OpenGL version string: 3.0 Mesa 18.0.0-rc5
OpenGL shading language version string: 1.30
OpenGL context flags: (none)
OpenGL extensions:
OpenGL ES profile version string: OpenGL ES 3.0 Mesa 18.0.0-rc5
OpenGL ES profile shading language version string: OpenGL ES GLSL ES 3.00
OpenGL ES profile extensions:

[Emiliano (retorquere)]

(on wayland I do get the intel drivers, but wayland has other problems)