Fedora is among the Linux distributions that package up the Intel Compute Runtime stack to make it easy to run OpenCL and oneAPI Level Zero workloads on Intel graphics hardware via the distribution package manager and without having to jump through any extra hoops. But now with upstream Intel Compute Runtime dropping support for Ice Lake and older leaves the Fedora support in a pickle. Currently they are focusing on the “legacy” branch with older hardware support but for Fedora 42 are looking at upgrading the support to focus on newer Intel graphics hardware support while leaving that older hardware support behind.
With being unable to easily juggle both the new and old hardware support paired with Intel’s older Compute Runtime branch with Ice Lake and prior now being effectively unmaintained, ultimately Fedora will need to follow that path of upgrading the Compute Runtime stack for enjoying the newer hardware support while losing out on the older hardware support. Beyond new hardware support, upgrading the packaged Intel Compute Runtime stack for Fedora will allow for enjoying newer performance optimizations, LLVM compatibility updates, new features, and other changes only found in that newer code with Intel not maintaining that Ice Lake and older legacy code.
A change proposal was filed by Red Hat and Intel engineers to update the stack:
“Intel Compute Runtime parts are currently stuck at a legacy branch that isn’t undergoing an active development. Newer branches did significantly cut hardware support (for GPU Generations prior to the 12th), and the aim of this change is to do the leap of faith, and rebase intel-compute-runtime and intel-igc to the latest upstream releases.
…
The removed architectures are listed at LEGACY_PLATFORMS:– Broadwell
– Skylake
– Kaby Lake
– Coffee Lake
– Apollo Lake
– Gemini Lake
– Ice Lake
– Elkhart LakeThe now supported GPU generations would be:
– DG1
– Alchemist
– Tiger Lake
– Rocket Lake
– Alder Lake
– Meteor Lake
– Raptor Lake
– Lunar Lake
– Arrow Lake
– more to come…Fedora packages thus stayed on the older branches that support older hardware generations up to Broadwell (released around 2015). These snapshots do miss support for newer Hardware generations, most notably Intel Battlemage GPUs, will miss support for upcoming graphics based on Xe3+, and lack fixes and improvements for integrated Xe2 architecture products.
Apart from HW Support plane, it’ll, over time, become problematic to keep the pieces working, as new kernels, headers, and compilers do break the suite on occasion, and older branches aren’t getting fixes in these areas.
This change is to propose a rebase of the entire suite to the latest upstream branches, undergoing an active development and adding support for new products.”
The change proposal can be found in full via the Fedora Wiki. It still needs to be voted upon by the Fedora FESCo but will presumably be approved for Fedora 42 given that there isn’t much of an option with the older Intel legacy code no longer being maintained and simply following what is available upstream.
