Intel Tries Again To Auto Enable GuC/HuC Functionality For Their Linux Graphics Driver

Intel previously tried auto-enabling GuC and HuC functionality within their Linux kernel graphics driver but ended up reverting the support since the driver didn't gracefully handle the scenarios of missing/corrupt firmware files. The driver should now be more robust in such situations so they will try again for turning on the automatic behavior, possibly for the upcoming Linux 5.4 cycle.

Intel GuC and HuC have been around since Skylake and used for graphics workload scheduling, some power management bits, and for select media capabilities. For newer hardware is also being used as part of HEVC/H.265 handling.

GuC/HuC hasn't been enabled by default due to problems on some earlier platforms and also some users not wanting to have these binary-only firmware blobs on their system. But now Intel will try again to auto-enable the functionality by default when the firmware successfully loads.

Per this patch, they are aiming to enable the auto mode again for GuC/HuC now that the i915 DRM driver is more robust against missing/corrupt firmware.