Linux 7.2 Begins Making Preparations For NVIDIA "Blackwell-Next"

When going through the VFIO subsystem patches for the ongoing Linux 7.2 merge window, there isn't too much to get excited about for end users with these changes. But there is the first time mentioning "Blackwell-Next" enablement by NVIDIA for the Linux kernel.

NVIDIA Blackwell-Next is mentioned in reference to the NVGrace-GPU VFIO driver in updating the Compute Express Link (CXL) handling for changes to be found with Blackwell-Next. The patch makes preparations for "Blackwell-Next GPUs" for the CXL path around the Designated Vendor Specific Extended Capability (DVSEC) due to differences compared to existing NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs.

Rather curious though seeing the patch, which was authored just earlier in June, noting it's for "Blackwell-Next". NVIDIA already announced that their Rubin GPU will succeed Blackwell B100/B200 and the Blackwell Ultra B300. So whether "Blackwell-Next" is referring to Blackwell Ultra, Rubin, or something else isn't confirmed at this point and the actual code in the patch doesn't reveal any indicators either in the code fragments. In the past for hardware enablement, NVIDIA Linux software engineers haven't been shy around using publicly-known, next-gen product codenames. In any event, great seeing NVIDIA continuing with ensuring good Linux hardware support ahead of launch.

Whatever Blackwell-Next is referring to, as seen by the VFIO pull request, NVIDIA is working on it beginning with Linux 7.2.