System76 engineer Victoria Brekenfeld and Red Hat engineer Sebastian Wick presented at the recent XDC2025 developer conference with their hopes of finally fixing the multi-GPU experience on Linux. As part of this is getting the necessary Wayland protocols in order as well as a new gpu-daemon service for proper multi-GPU handling for the Linux desktop.
There are many known issues with the multi-GPU experience on Linux that can vary based upon driver and whether using X.Org or Wayland as well as what graphics API you are using. It’s far from a polished experience and there being multiple different avenues for GPU selection/usage.
The gpu-daemon solution being pursued by System76’s Pop!_OS / COSMIC desktop and could be adopted more widely is a small Varlink service that is contaioner-friendly, can handle GPU preferences and configurations, and tries to take an overall comprehensive approach to multi GPU management on Linux.
The gpu-daemon code though is still in its early stages, more work is needed on the Mesa side and for different sandbox integrations, and then also uptake by the different Linux desktop environments. An important piece of the puzzle still to fill is the necessary Wayland protocol stable/linux-dmabuf: allow compositors to advertise multiple devices that has been under discussion for the past two years.
Those wanting to learn more about this multi-GPU Linux effort can find the XDC2025 presentation embedded above along with the presentation material.
