#1153051 linux: please enable CONFIG_VIDEO_HWS (AVMatrix HWS PCIe HDMI capture, mainline since 7.2)

#1153051#5
Date:
2026-11-04 20:41:37 UTC
From:
To:
Dear Maintainer,

Please enable CONFIG_VIDEO_HWS=m (module name: hws) for amd64.

The driver is in mainline Linux since v7.2: drivers/media/pci/hws,
commit ba07fd2f5742 "media: pci: add AVMatrix HWS capture driver",
GPL-2.0, V4L2, passes v4l2-compliance. It supports the AVMatrix VC42
4-port HDMI capture card (PCI 8888:8504, listed in pci.ids).

It is not built today: there is no CONFIG_VIDEO_HWS line in debian/config
(checked on the debian/latest branch, 2026-11-04), and no hws.ko.xz in the
linux-modules packages for trixie-backports, unstable 7.2.15-1 or
experimental 7.3.1-1~exp1.

We build the same mainline driver out of tree against Debian's own
7.2.11-1~bpo13+1 headers today, and it builds and loads cleanly; we would much rather use Debian's signed build so it works with Secure Boot on.

Suggested change to debian/config/config, new section between dt3155 and ivtv:

##
## file: drivers/media/pci/hws/Kconfig
##
CONFIG_VIDEO_HWS=m

A backport to trixie-backports would be very welcome. I can send
lspci -nnk and v4l2-compliance output from a real VC42 on request.


Thanks-

Faraz Ahmed | Amitrace
www.amitrace.com<http://www.amitrace.com>
(O) 770-263-9190 | (D) 770-263-0255
8000 Miller CT E. Norcross, GA 30071
Book time with Faraz Ahmed<https://outlook.office.com/bookwithme/user/85363899441946f4af473cff76127acf@amitrace.com/meetingtype/IL6XriXNH0qnOG-L8alAOQ2?anonymous&ep=mcard>