drm-display 0.1.0

Python bindings for Linux DRM/KMS display output via /dev/dri/cardN

drm-display

Python bindings for Linux DRM/KMS display output — send NumPy image arrays directly to /dev/dri/cardN without a compositor or X server.

System requirements

• Linux with a KMS-capable GPU (most modern hardware)
• libdrm development headers: apt install libdrm-dev / dnf install libdrm-devel
• gcc
• Access to /dev/dri/cardN (add your user to the video group or run as root)

Install

pip install drm-display

pip install compiles the small C helper (drm_display.c) against your system's libdrm automatically. pkg-config libdrm is used when available; otherwise /usr/include/libdrm and -ldrm are assumed.

Usage

import numpy as np
from drm_display import DRMDisplay

display = DRMDisplay(device="/dev/dri/card0", width=1920, height=1080)

# BGRA uint8 NumPy array, shape (height, width, 4)
frame = np.zeros((1080, 1920, 4), dtype=np.uint8)
frame[:, :, 2] = 255   # red screen (B=0, G=0, R=255, A=0)

display.send_full_image(frame)

# Partial update (blit a region at pixel offset x, y)
patch = np.zeros((100, 200, 4), dtype=np.uint8)
patch[:, :, 1] = 255   # green patch
display.send_partial_image(patch, x=50, y=50)

DRMDisplay.__del__ frees DRM resources automatically; call display.cleanup() explicitly if you need deterministic teardown.

Build from source / editable install

git clone https://github.com/carstenbund/drm_display.git
cd drm_display
pip install -e .        # compiles libdrm_display.so in-place

Or compile the shared library manually:

gcc -shared -fPIC -o drm_display/libdrm_display.so \
    $(pkg-config --cflags libdrm) \
    drm_display/drm_display.c \
    $(pkg-config --libs libdrm)

Publishing (maintainer notes)

python -m build
twine upload --repository testpypi dist/*   # test first
twine upload dist/*                          # publish to PyPI

License

MIT