While the Linux 7.2 kernel merge window is only ending later today to cap off the feature work on this next version of the Linux kernel, already for the Linux 7.3 kernel cycle later in the year there is one notable feature on the way: the DRM color format property is being introduced and being first supported by the AMDGPU kernel graphics driver.

The new Direct Rendering Manager "color format" property for display connectors allows user-space to request the display driver to output to a particular color format. Initial values for the color format property include AUTO, RGB, YUV 4:4:4, YUV 4:2:2, and YUV 4:2:0.

This DRM color format work has gone through 15 revisions to now being queued into drm-misc-next as material targeting the Linux 7.3 merge window. This color management work has been years in the making with some early efforts toward this color format work happening back in 2021.

Wayland's Weston compositor has patches available for making use of the DRM color format property. With the drm-misc-next pull request adding the color format property to the DRM uAPI and core changes for this property, the pull initially includes the work for enabling the color format support in the AMDGPU kernel graphics driver. The patches on the mailing list also floated patches for color format support for the Intel and Rockchip DRM drivers, so it's quite possible those will be queued up too in time for the Linux 7.3 merge window at the end of summer.

This DRM color format property format support is the main highlight of the first drm-misc-next pull toward Linux 7.3.