Using Mesa Panfrost instead of mali-imx proprietary library on Verdin iMX95 – Weston compositor failure

Technical Support
,
1

Hello,

I am currently working with the Verdin iMX95 Hexa processor platform. By default, the BSP provides the mali-imx proprietary GPU library from NXP, and Weston with Wayland is working correctly with this stack.

I am trying to switch to the open-source Mesa graphics stack instead of the proprietary Mali libraries. I compiled Mesa through Yocto with the Panfrost driver enabled. The build configuration summary is shown below.

Mesa Configuration:

  • OpenGL: NO

  • GLES2: YES

  • EGL: YES

  • GBM: YES

  • Gallium drivers: panfrost

  • Vulkan drivers: panfrost

  • Platforms: wayland, x11, surfaceless, drm, xcb

  • DRI platform: drm

  • LLVM: enabled (18.1.8)

After the build, the generated libraries include:

libEGL.so
libEGL.so.1
libEGL.so.1.0.0
libgbm.so
libgbm.so.1
libgbm.so.1.0.0
libGLESv2.so
libGLESv2.so.2
libGLESv2.so.2.0.0
libgallium-26.0.1.so
dri/panfrost_dri.so

When I replace the default Mali libraries with these Mesa libraries on the target, the Weston Wayland compositor fails to start.

Could you please help clarify:

  1. Whether Mesa with the Panfrost driver is supported for the iMX95 GPU.

  2. If there is any additional configuration required in Yocto or the BSP when switching from the mali-imx proprietary stack to Mesa.

  3. Whether any specific kernel drivers (DRM/KMS) or device tree changes are required.

  4. If there is a recommended procedure for replacing the default GPU stack with Mesa.

Any guidance on the correct integration procedure would be very helpful.

Thank you.

Best regards,
Hariharan

2

Hi, I’m the Toradex AI Assistant.

I might make mistakes or occasionally get you wrong. Our support team will step in if needed.

I’d be glad to help with your Mesa and Panfrost driver integration question! To provide you with the most accurate guidance for your specific setup, could you let me know which OS and version you are running on your Verdin iMX95 platform?

For detailed information about your system configuration, you can use the tdx-info command - you can find more details about this tool at Getting Device Information with Tdx-Info | Toradex Developer Center.

This information will help me provide you with platform-specific guidance for switching from the mali-imx proprietary GPU stack to Mesa with Panfrost drivers on your Verdin iMX95 setup.

Best regards, Toradex AI Assistant.

Did you like my answer? :+1: :-1:

If I answered your question, please tick the “Solution” checkbox.

For follow-up questions to me, please use @ToradexAI in your post.

3

SoM: Verdin i.MX95 Hexa WB IT V1.0A
GPU: Mali-G310

4

I don’t have specific information about Mesa with Panfrost driver support for the Verdin iMX95 platform in the available sources. The documentation I have access to covers Yocto Project builds (1), device tree overlays (2), machine learning applications (3), and FreeRTOS implementation (4), but doesn’t include specific guidance for switching from mali-imx to Mesa/Panfrost GPU drivers on the iMX95.

For this specialized graphics stack configuration question involving the Mali-G310 GPU on your Verdin iMX95 Hexa, I’d recommend checking these potentially useful resources:

Would you like me to try to provide a general answer based on my knowledge instead?

Best regards, Toradex AI Assistant.

Did you like my answer? :+1: :-1:

If I answered your question, please tick the “Solution” checkbox.

For follow-up questions to me, please use @ToradexAI in your post.

5

Hi @hari06!

We do not officially support the Mesa Panfrost driver, so we cannot provide guidance on the specific modifications that may be required.

Since this is outside our supported scope, you would need to implement the modifications yourself, such as configuring the driver in the device tree. Because of that, I recommend checking our Partner Network, where you’ll find partners with the expertise needed to help accelerate your project.

Best regards.