cix-gpu-kmd

Out-of-tree Mali kernel driver (mali_kbase) for the CIX Sky1 / CD8180 SoC with Mali-G720-Immortalis MC10 GPU (Valhall/Titan architecture).

Based on ARM Mali DDK r54p1 sources from the CIX cix-go-2025q4 SDK, with patches to build against mainline kernels 6.15 through 7.0.

Part of the Sky1 Linux project.

Modules

The build produces three kernel modules:

Module	Description
mali_kbase	Main GPU kernel driver
memory_group_manager	Memory group manager
protected_memory_allocator	Protected memory allocator

Kernel Compatibility

Kernel	Status	Notes
6.12 LTS	Builds	Vendor baseline
6.15+	Builds	hrtimer_setup, MALI_CFLAGS rename
6.16+	Builds	fence_value_str removal
6.17+	Builds	Requires PGTY_mali_gpu kernel patch (see below)
6.18-6.19	Builds	mm_get_unmapped_area signature change
7.0	Builds	Tested with linux-next

PGTY_mali_gpu kernel patch (6.17+)

Kernel 6.17 changed the page migration movable_ops API to a page-type-based scheme. The driver requires a PGTY_mali_gpu page type to be defined in the kernel. Sky1 Linux kernels carry this patch; if you are building against a different kernel tree, you must apply it. The patch adds a single page type constant to include/linux/page-flags.h.

Building with DKMS

Install the source tree into the DKMS directory and build:

sudo cp -r . /usr/src/cix-gpu-kmd-1.0.0
sudo dkms add cix-gpu-kmd/1.0.0
sudo dkms build cix-gpu-kmd/1.0.0
sudo dkms install cix-gpu-kmd/1.0.0

Or install the pre-built DKMS deb package:

sudo apt install cix-gpu-kmd-dkms

After installation, load the driver:

sudo modprobe mali_kbase

Manual Build

make KDIR=/lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build all
sudo make KDIR=/lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build modules_install

Porting Patches

The following patches (on top of the vendor import) adapt the driver for mainline kernels:

1. Fix DKMS build: pass KDIR to make invocations
2. Replace EXTRA_CFLAGS with MALI_CFLAGS (removed in kernel 6.15)
3. Fix Kbuild conditionals for out-of-tree module builds
4. Port to kernel 6.15+: hrtimer_setup and timer_delete_sync
5. Port to kernel 6.16+: remove fence_value_str callback
6. Port to kernel 6.17+: page migration movable_ops API
7. Port to kernel 6.19+: mm_get_unmapped_area signature change
8. Make IPA thermal initialization failure non-fatal (ACPI boot)
9. Fix Sky1 platform: remove vendor SCMI ifdefs, fix dev_pm_domain_detach args

License

GPLv2. See license.txt.