Linux Kernel 6.12 Expected to Support Displaying QR Codes After Crashes for Error Troubleshooting

In July, a Red Hat engineer developed an option to display QR codes after crashes for the Linux Kernel, based on the full-screen error message functionality of systemd 255 and above. This feature bears a resemblance to Microsoft's approach of displaying QR codes after a Windows 10/11 blue screen of death, yet there's a fundamental difference in the content displayed by the QR codes between Linux and Windows. While the Windows BSOD shows a QR code that links to a Microsoft help document—a fixed content QR code—, the Linux Kernel's crash-display QR code generates from the crash log itself, ensuring that the crash log is not truncated. Users can then photograph the QR code for subsequent decoding and analysis to pinpoint the exact cause of the crash.

After two months of discussion, the code prepared by Red Hat engineers has been submitted to DRM-Misc-Next for DRM-Next, aiming to make it into the merge window for Linux Kernel 6.12. If everything goes as planned, Linux Kernel 6.12 will be the first kernel version to support displaying QR codes after a crash.

It's noteworthy that the QR code display functionality is written in Rust, meaning it requires Rust kernel builds to be enabled for use. This feature can be configured via the DRM_PANIC_SCREEN_QR_CODE Kconfig as a feature switch during the build.