Status of the Linux Client

Hi folks!
For those who don't know - I'm the main Second Life Linux Client developer here at Linden Lab, and I thought it'd be a good idea to give a status report on the Linux Client. I hope that it is of interest - apologies if I am over-wordy!

First, thanks to everyone who has submitted good bug reports here on the forum. I read everything, and many reports have been critical in identifying and eliminating our biggest holes in compatibility and functionality. Keep them coming.

Second, I'd like to re-state what I've said to some folks in the past: everything will be fixed and implemented in due course - we're aiming for nothing less than 100% of the functionality of the other platform clients, 101% of the stability (Linux video/audio drivers permitting!) and as much compatibility as we can reasonably squeeze out of our one-size-fits-all Linux download.

Hopefully, those residents who have been alpha-testing the Linux Client for several months can confirm that we've come a long way on Linux. I think we're at the point where the dozens upon dozens of little annoyances are pretty much ironed-out, and the vast majority of day-to-day features are now implemented. I wouldn't feel bad about moving the Linux Client from Alpha to Beta designation before long.

So what's happening at the moment for the Linux Client?

You may have noticed that exciting new Linux features aren't appearing in the release announcements as often as they were a couple of months ago - this is a good thing, as the simple explanation is that there aren't many user-visible features left unimplemented now! Additionally, we get to implement the Linux version of new features at the same time as for the other platforms, so we're no longer always playing catch-up on Linux.

As we start to move from Alpha to Beta, Linux development focus is shifting more towards improving compatibility and polish rather than raw features, hence the new automated crash-logger and other work similarly too unglamorous for residents to really get excited about, but utterly essential to the long-term quality of the Linux Client. One such wonderful recent behind-the-scenes change to the Linux Client is that we're now integrated into the mainstream build process, so we get synchronised releases, tighter feedback from the Quality Assurance team, and I get to utterly intimidate any developer who accidentally breaks the Linux build.

Feature work is still ongoing, however! Most of our remaining unimplemented features are fairly big jobs, so the work to implement them rolls along in the background over several releases, which is why it looks like we sometimes have a few releases with no clear Linux-specific changes - rest assured that Linux development is constant. Right now I'm mainly working on two things, one of which gives us Linux users the cool HTML Login, embedded Web Profiles, and the essential F1 Help. The other one is the Linux portion of something even more exciting, and that's all I can say about that.

Thanks for your commitment and testing, and we hope that you'll find 2007 to be a particularly exciting and enjoyable year to be part of Second Life!

- Tofu Linden

Ooh, you little tease, you!

Thanks for all the great work you've put / are putting into the Linux client, and also for keeping us all so frequently updated.

Not exciting??? This is all WOW! news

I particularly value the GL Debug switches that allowed me to get the last missing Graphic Feature, "Bump Mapped & Cloth", working stably.

Thank you SO MUCH, Tofu!

Especially nice is the VERY comprehensive README. This almost (but not quite) makes a Tips and Tricks thread obsolete.

Great post, Tofu! The changes behind the scenes are as important as the flashy user interface things or shiny graphics, we all know that. But it's a good thing to tell people about this stuff every once in a while. And being integrated in the regular build process makes us feel more like "regular residents" than "alpha testers" now I appreciate the movement towards "Beta" status, the client is in good shape and ready for it!

You have done a hell of a good job and I think I speak for all of us when I say "THANK YOU!" with all my heart

*cat gets nosy and sniffs through Tofu's encrypted folders, trying to find a hint on the new feature he's working on'

Alright! As far as the HTML Login is concerned, I think I can patiently wait for that. But I'm dying to put my blog page up in my profile! And I can't wait until that "Linux portion of something even more exciting" comes out

P.S. - My sympathies to any developer who breaks our favorite client and incurs the wrath of Tofu!

Thank you! I have been using the SL linux client for a long time now and have seen it progress. It looks like the SL client code is now solid enough to show that ATI simply has poorly implemented drivers... congrats on reaching this stage. Let's hope that hardware vendors such as ATI get their act together and fix these bugs.

I think all the amazing work you have done has really transformed the Linux client. I feel I am really missing out on all that speed and stability when I have to use the Mac client these days. The fact I no longer have to use that horrible hacky workaround script that I wrote to listen to streaming music was a real highlight for me, but recent developments have been really impressive.

Keep up the good work!

I can only second that!

The Linux ALPHA (note - it is actually still an ALPHA) Client is REALLY good!

I am really looking forward to whatever else you (Tofu) manage to put into our baby!

Fantastic work!

Nothing to add. Just something to repeat that was said already: "Thank you!"

I'm afraid I'm not seeing improvements. A month ago I was able to build a complicated house, wander the world and choose when to exit.

Now I loose control within a minute or two, and I'm seldom able to even exit cleanly. As I run from a terminal session, I see huge numbers of errors, timeouts and warnings scrolling there.

I was under the impression that all linux users were having problems, but apparently I'm the only one.

I'm running Slackwre 11.0 with applicable updates.

If It's me, then I'm afraid I've got to quit paying to run the alpha.

BTW, I've always selected to send post-crash data whenever I am given a chance. (Perhaps 1 in 3 times the client sees that the previous session had become unstable and gives me the opportunity)

Addendum: I turned all options/enhancements off in the launch script - I was stable for perhaps 15 minutes, then my avatar wandered off into the bowels of the earth and never came back.

If you are having problems I would suggest starting a new thread and posting some output.

Current version is very stable on my system (Debian sid).

Well, apparently I've found the problem - I'll say that tentatively....

I recently started using xfce, a light-weight desktop environment. SL alpha client doesn't like xfce apparently.

Switching over to a KDE session, I was able to spend 15 minutes in-world with nothing more than a few lags from which it recovered. I moved around, did some building, used the camera controls... nothing seemed to cause problems.

This is one run session - I'll continue running from KDE and see what happens, but as of now I would suggest xfce be put on the 'perhaps not stable platform' list. Too bad, 'cause xfce is a fast clean desktop. I had thought that with lower overhead SL would like it better - apparently it short-cuts some things.

Try fvwm, it is also fairly slim - SL seems to work OK with that

Just tried fvwm2 - worked fine. Wonder what it is about xfce that the sl client doesn't like....

You should be aware that under moderate CPU loads, the linux client will start dropping packets right away and takes forever to recover.

Second issue, under moderate to heavy cpu load the linux client will transparantly fail at something with initializing the OpenGL setup. When this happens, redraws are painfully slow. We're talking about 5 to 10 seconds to do one frame. The cpu time shoots through the roof.

Third issue, Sometimes when resizing past 800x600 the client will hit what appears to be the same OpenGL issue as issue #2. Redraws suddenly go to taking 5 to 10 (and sometimes even MINUTES) to redraw the screen.

Issues 2 and 3 will happen before the login is even typed in. Any ideas? I tried disabling all GLX extensions with no change in behavior.

Overall, it has been VERY useable for an alpha client. *grin* Thank you SO much for not forcing me to use windows.

----------------------------

client: SecondLife_i686_1_13_1_6

--------------/proc/cpuinfo--------------
processor : 0
vendor_id : AuthenticAMD
cpu family : 15
model : 79
model name : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3500+
stepping : 2
cpu MHz : 2210.189
cache size : 512 KB
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 1
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt lm 3dnowext 3dnow up pni cx16 lahf_lm svm cr8legacy ts fid vid ttp tm stc
bogomips : 4424.17

----/proc/meminfo------------
MemTotal: 2075980 kB
MemFree: 71068 kB
Buffers: 74476 kB
Cached: 314252 kB
SwapCached: 115540 kB
Active: 1695640 kB
Inactive: 184568 kB
HighTotal: 1178560 kB
HighFree: 1896 kB
LowTotal: 897420 kB
LowFree: 69172 kB
SwapTotal: 3903784 kB
SwapFree: 3489796 kB
Dirty: 276 kB
Writeback: 0 kB
AnonPages: 1490232 kB
Mapped: 180800 kB
Slab: 67788 kB
PageTables: 4968 kB
NFS_Unstable: 0 kB
Bounce: 0 kB
CommitLimit: 4941772 kB
Committed_AS: 1931456 kB
VmallocTotal: 114680 kB
VmallocUsed: 53244 kB
VmallocChunk: 57328 kB

----------dmesg------------
Linux agpgart interface v0.101 (c) Dave Jones
nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [APC5] enabled at IRQ 16
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:03:00.0[A] -> Link [APC5] -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 66
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:03:00.0 to 64
NVRM: loading NVIDIA Linux x86 Kernel Module 1.0-8776 Mon Oct 16 21:56:04 PDT 2006

----- debian packages---------------
ii nvidia-glx 1.0.8776-3 NVIDIA binary XFree86 4.x driver
ii nvidia-kernel-2.6.18-3-k7 1.0.8776+4 NVIDIA binary kernel module for Linux 2.6.18


----trimmed XF86.0.log from x.org video drivers.----------------

(**) NVIDIA(0): Option "TwinView"
(**) NVIDIA(0): Option "TwinViewOrientation" "LeftOf"
(**) NVIDIA(0): Option "SecondMonitorHorizSync" "28-80"
(**) NVIDIA(0): Option "SecondMonitorVertRefresh" "43-75"
(**) NVIDIA(0): Option "MetaModes" "1280x1024, 1280x1024; 1280x1024, NULL; NULL,1280x1024; 1024x768, NULL; 800x600, NULL; 640x480, NULL"
(**) NVIDIA(0): Enabling RENDER acceleration
(**) NVIDIA(0): TwinView enabled
(WW) NVIDIA(0): Unable to read EDID for display device CRT-0
(II) NVIDIA(0): NVIDIA GPU GeForce 7300 GS at PCI:3:0:0
(--) NVIDIA(0): VideoRAM: 524288 kBytes
(--) NVIDIA(0): VideoBIOS: 05.72.22.43.51
(II) NVIDIA(0): Detected PCI Express Link width: 16X
(--) NVIDIA(0): Interlaced video modes are supported on this GPU
(--) NVIDIA(0): Connected display device(s) on GeForce 7300 GS at PCI:3:0:0:
(--) NVIDIA(0): CRT-0
(--) NVIDIA(0): ViewSonic E771-4 (CRT-1)
(--) NVIDIA(0): CRT-0: 400.0 MHz maximum pixel clock
(--) NVIDIA(0): ViewSonic E771-4 (CRT-1): 400.0 MHz maximum pixel clock
(II) NVIDIA(0): Assigned Display Devices: CRT-0, CRT-1
(II) NVIDIA(0): Validated modes:
(II) NVIDIA(0): "1280x1024,1280x1024"
(II) NVIDIA(0): "1280x1024,NULL"
(II) NVIDIA(0): "NULL,1280x1024"
(II) NVIDIA(0): "1024x768,NULL"
(II) NVIDIA(0): "800x600,NULL"
(II) NVIDIA(0): "640x480,NULL"
(II) NVIDIA(0): Virtual screen size determined to be 2560 x 1024
(++) NVIDIA(0): DPI set to (96, 96); computed from -dpi X commandline option
(II) NVIDIA(0): Setting mode "1280x1024,1280x1024"
(II) Loading extension NV-GLX
(II) NVIDIA(0): NVIDIA 3D Acceleration Architecture Initialized
(II) NVIDIA(0): Using the NVIDIA 2D acceleration architecture
(==) NVIDIA(0): Backing store disabled
(==) NVIDIA(0): Silken mouse enabled
(**) Option "dpms"
(**) NVIDIA(0): DPMS enabled
(II) Loading extension NV-CONTROL
(==) RandR enabled
(II) Initializing built-in extension MIT-SHM
(II) Initializing built-in extension XInputExtension
(II) Initializing built-in extension XTEST
(II) Initializing built-in extension XKEYBOARD
(II) Initializing built-in extension XC-APPGROUP
(II) Initializing built-in extension SECURITY
(II) Initializing built-in extension XINERAMA
(II) Initializing built-in extension XFIXES
(II) Initializing built-in extension XFree86-Bigfont
(II) Initializing built-in extension RENDER
(II) Initializing built-in extension RANDR
(II) Initializing built-in extension COMPOSITE
(II) Initializing built-in extension DAMAGE
(II) Initializing built-in extension XEVIE
(II) Initializing extension GLX

On the topic "Status of the Linux Client", but not a reply to anything specific:

I have the following set in my "secondlife" script:

export LL_GL_BLACKLIST=c
### WORKS, all options available and working ### export LL_GL_BLACKLIST=c
### WORKS, AGP greyed out, advanced features working ### export LL_GL_BLACKLIST=g
### WORKS, advanced options greyed out and not active ### export LL_GL_BLACKLIST=n
### WORKS, all advanced options greyed out and not active ### export LL_GL_BLACKLIST=o

I notice, when the SL Linux client starts, the following message comes up (among DOZENS of others )

2007-01-03T13:57:48Z WARNING: GL extension support partially disabled via LL_GL_BLACKLIST: c
2007-01-03T13:57:48Z INFO: Couldn't initialize GL_EXT_paletted_texture

Since this option ("c" allows me to use "Bump Mapped & Cloth", I am happy about this.

What I also get (which is puzzling in a way) is:

2007-01-03T13:57:48Z INFO: GPU is NVIDIA GeForce 6800
2007-01-03T13:57:48Z INFO: Setting GPU Class to Class2
2007-01-03T13:57:48Z INFO: Applying Feature Mask: Class2
2007-01-03T13:57:48Z WARNING: Unknown feature mask NVIDIA
2007-01-03T13:57:48Z INFO: Warning! Couldn't allocate AGP memory!
2007-01-03T13:57:48Z INFO: Disabling AGP!
2007-01-03T13:57:48Z WARNING: Attempting to allocate AGP memory when AGP disabled!
2007-01-03T13:57:48Z WARNING: Attempting to allocate AGP memory when AGP disabled!
2007-01-03T13:57:48Z WARNING: Attempting to allocate AGP memory when AGP disabled!
2007-01-03T13:57:48Z WARNING: Attempting to allocate AGP memory when AGP disabled!

What is funny about this, is that the "Enable AGP" button is still active in the client, and disabling AGP in the client via the button seems to drop my FPS.

On the other had, disabling Bump Mapped and Cloth as a pre-requisite, it seems to make little difference to my Frame Rate, with or without the option "c" set, which leads to the above messages regarding AGP. AGP is recognised, and memory allocated, if I don't use the option "c", but FPS stays roughly the same. Disabling Bump Mapped and Cloth, and only using Bump Mapped, does of course increase my FPS

Is this AGP message in the log file different from the AGP ability addressed in the client? It certainly seems so!

Ahhhhhh, so that's what that was all about...

You win!

I'm using the current linux version and it's works pretty well even if some features lacks (html login as I see). My question is how is the use compred to current osx client on a powerpc.


Another question is could we do all things like creation or building on linux ? Should we prefer for now an osx workstation ?

Btw on which systems works LL developpers ?

Sounds very cool all this stuff whats going on with secondlife on linux .. and as i am a full linux user .. i am happy secondlife is linux now as well .. such cool things happening to linux atm .. and even more features being added soon i understand ... cant wait for kde4 ... fedora 7 .. core is no more .. and lots of more exciting stuff .. for all of us linux dudes ... cheers ..

Hi there, new SLer here. I just installed the SL client on my ArchLinux box and it seems to work great! Now I would like to purchase a premium account but am a little bit afraid... will the Linux client continue to be developed even if it proves not to be as much of a money-maker as the windows version? (like I saw Neverwinter Nights 2 Linux client get dropped even though NWN 1 was great) I use Linux exclusively at home and I want to support any game maker that puts out quality products like this for Linux.

With the Second Life viewer being open source I doubt support for Linux will ever be dropped.

I'm new, so I don't really understand what the difference is between the "viewer" and the "client program". Can somebody explain this or direct me to docs/faq.

Viewer == client program.

It's the same as with VNC. You don't have a client, you have a viewer.

Huh, this must be satire.
Would just told that the linuxviewer working pretty well. I tried yesterday the Windows-one and it crashed after a few minutes, reproducable... so the linuxone was my hope.
(debian)

Edit: And an implemention of the autoupdater would be great. ust yesterday I'd installed version .12, today we are at .15?!