Wayland graphics glitches

[zhovner]

Wayland + KDE visual artifacts on RK3576 (Panfrost, mainline kernel)

When running Wayland with KDE on the mainline kernel we observe visual artifacts on the display. The artifacts appear as colored lines that look like "ghosted" fragments from moving parts of application windows.

The issue only appears with the Wayland + KDE + mainline stack.

Video demonstrating the issue

f1_wayland_glitch.mp4

Environment

• SoC: RK3576
• GPU driver: Panfrost (mainline)
• Desktop: KDE Plasma (Wayland session)
• Display connection: HDMI
• Kernel: mainline

Reproduction

The issue is reproducible on all RK3576-based SBCs we tested using our images.

Test image used in the video:
https://dl-linux-images.flipp.dev/full-img/849/

Observations

• Artifacts appear as colored lines following moving window content
• The effect looks like a ghosted trail of window elements
• Happens when moving windows or animating UI elements

What we already know

• ❌ Does not reproduce with BSP kernel
• ❌ Does not reproduce when using Xorg
• ✔ Reproduces with Wayland + KDE + mainline kernel
• ✔ Reproduces on multiple monitors
• ✔ Reproduces on all RK3576 SBCs we tested
• ✔ No related errors appear in dmesg

This suggests the issue is likely somewhere in:

• Wayland compositor path
• Panfrost driver
• DRM/KMS pipeline

Help wanted

At the moment we don't even know where to start debugging this.
Any suggestions on what to inspect next would be greatly appreciated.

[zhovner]

https://x.com/mecoscorner/status/2030822017272856915?s=46

[zhovner]

KWIN_COMPOSE=O2ES help a little, less glitches, not lags when dim screen #33

I think we can close it for now.