The benefit of installing Intel drivers from 01.org

driversgraphicsintel

Up to this point I assumed the graphics stack for Intel was open source and included in the standard repositories. However, I just became aware that Intel hosts their own special repositories of graphics drivers and software for each of the popular distribution on 01.org. Many of the packages, like xorg-x11-drv-intel and cairo, duplicate what's available in my distribution's repository. Are the Intel-hosted packages any different? What is the benefit of the Intel-hosted ones?

Best Answer

From the about page on 01.org:

01.org is the online presence of OTC, where we pull together all the open source work that Intel engineers are involved in. Here’s where you can find all the projects we maintain and contribute to in one location, from the most widely known, the Linux kernel, to very focused projects, like oFono and SyncEvolution, to the ones we started here at Intel and provide full hosting for, like PowerTop and the Web Simulator. Each project has its own micro-site, where it’s easy to learn about the project and engage in the community. And Intel open source maintainers and developers will find all the tools needed to host a project.

The packages provided by 01.org would appear to just be the latest that Intel has to offer for packages in which they either develop or participate in the development of said packages.

Example - official Fedora repo

I'm using Fedora 19, if I download the package cairo.

$ yumdownloader cairo
(1/2): cairo-1.12.14-2.fc19.x86_64.rpm               | 689 kB  00:00:01     
(2/2): cairo-1.12.14-2.fc19.i686.rpm                 | 713 kB  00:00:01

Taking a peak at one of these packages meta info:

$ rpm -qpi cairo-1.12.14-2.fc19.x86_64.rpm | head -17
Name        : cairo
Version     : 1.12.14
Release     : 2.fc19
Architecture: x86_64
Install Date: (not installed)
Group       : System Environment/Libraries
Size        : 1747849
License     : LGPLv2 or MPLv1.1
Signature   : RSA/SHA256, Sun 26 May 2013 11:02:52 AM EDT, Key ID 07477e65fb4b18e6
Source RPM  : cairo-1.12.14-2.fc19.src.rpm
Build Date  : Sat 25 May 2013 06:00:13 PM EDT
Build Host  : buildvm-09.phx2.fedoraproject.org
Relocations : (not relocatable)
Packager    : Fedora Project
Vendor      : Fedora Project
URL         : http://cairographics.org
Summary     : A 2D graphics library

Example - Intel's repo

We can then download the same corresponding .rpm from 01.org, download.01.org, cairo-1.12.16-1.4.x86_64.rpm .

$ wget https://download.01.org/gfx/fedora/19/x86_64/cairo-1.12.16-1.4.x86_64.rpm

Taking a peak at this package's meta info:

$ rpm -qpi cairo-1.12.16-1.4.x86_64.rpm | head -16
warning: cairo-1.12.16-1.4.x86_64.rpm: Header V3 RSA/SHA256 Signature, key ID 75e52366: NOKEY
Name        : cairo
Version     : 1.12.16
Release     : 1.4
Architecture: x86_64
Install Date: (not installed)
Group       : System Environment/Libraries
Size        : 1749845
License     : LGPLv2 or MPLv1.1
Signature   : RSA/SHA256, Mon 06 Jan 2014 11:40:34 PM EST, Key ID a902dda375e52366
Source RPM  : cairo-1.12.16-1.4.src.rpm
Build Date  : Mon 06 Jan 2014 11:36:27 PM EST
Build Host  : intel-appliance-0.obs.intel.com
Relocations : (not relocatable)
Vendor      : obs://intel-appliance-0.obs.intel.com/Intel:Linux-Graphics:Fedora:19
URL         : http://cairographics.org
Summary     : A 2D graphics library

So if you notice, the version of the software from Intel is slightly newer.

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