> тем не менее я не верю в анонимного заказчика, который _четыре_ года платит и ждет, пока ему напишут драйвер для массово производимого gpu.

Daniel Stone, Graphics Leads at Collabora:

    "… Collabora and the Panfrost community h͟a͟v͟e͟ ͟d͟e͟v͟e͟l͟o͟p͟e͟d͟ ͟a͟ ͟r͟e͟v͟e͟r͟s͟e͟-͟e͟n͟g͟i͟n͟e͟e͟r͟e͟d͟ ͟d͟r͟i͟v͟e͟r͟ supporting the Midgard and Bifrost generation of Mali GPUs,  ͟a͟s͟ ͟a͟n͟ ͟a͟l͟m͟o͟s͟t͟ ͟e͟n͟t͟i͟r͟e͟l͟y͟ ͟i͟n͟d͟e͟p͟e͟n͟d͟e͟n͟t͟_͟s͟e͟l͟f͟-͟f͟u͟n͟d͟e͟d͟ ͟e͟f͟f͟o͟r͟t͟. We are very proud of this work, and the fact it has high performance, good levels of functionality, and a high level of conformance with the specifications.

    However reverse-engineering necessarily brings an overhead as we need to spend time discovering how the hardware really works, including the most optimal way to perform various operations, and particular quirks of the hardware.

     ͟A͟r͟m͟ are now working together with Collabora to  ͟p͟r͟o͟v͟i͟d͟e͟ ͟u͟s͟ ͟w͟i͟t͟h͟ ͟i͟n͟f͟o͟r͟m͟a͟t͟i͟o͟n͟ ͟a͟n͟d͟ ͟d͟o͟c͟u͟m͟e͟n͟t͟a͟t͟i͟o͟n͟ ͟w͟h͟i͟c͟h͟ ͟a͟l͟l͟o͟w͟s͟ ͟u͟s͟ ͟a͟n͟d͟ ͟t͟h͟e͟ ͟c͟o͟m͟m͟u͟n͟i͟t͟y͟ ͟t͟o͟ ͟u͟n͟d͟e͟r͟s͟t͟a͟n͟d͟ ͟t͟h͟e͟ ͟h͟a͟r͟d͟w͟a͟r͟e͟. This information allows us to focus on the best possible driver without the time and guesswork involved in reverse engineering. Collabora are continuing our effort to have Panfrost working on all the devices from these generations, towards maximum performance, full conformance with the specifications, and the largest possible feature set. Whilst we have already been doing this, Arm’s support enables us to accelerate this work, and deliver the best possible driver with a commitment of long-term support."