The latest Mesa 3D graphics library 18.1.1 now can be easily installed in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS via PPA.

For those sticking to the open-source drivers and need graphics performance improvements (e.g. for playing games), Canonical’s Timo Aaltonen has pushed Mesa 18.1.1 in the x-updates PPA.

1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching for ‘Terminal’ from software launcher. When it opens, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/updates

Type your password (no asterisks while typing due to security reason) when it prompts and hit Enter to continue.

2. After adding the PPA, do system update via command:

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

apt-get update is not required any more in Ubuntu 18.04 since adding PPA automatically refreshes system repositories.

3. Finally check your driver version via command:

glxinfo | grep "OpenGL version"

Uninstall:

To restore changes and downgrade to the default drives shipped in Ubuntu 18.04, run command:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/updates

For those who want to install the latest Mesa 3D graphics driver 18.0.4, Canonical’s Timo Aaltonen has made it into Ubuntu-X Team PPA for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.

Mesa 18.0.4 is so far the latest stable release that was announced a few weeks ago:

“r600 driver gets a fix for constant buffer boounds, which fixes rendering bugs in Trine and Witcher 1.

Several fixes for RADV driver: fixes around alpha channel in Pre-Vega, fix in multisample image copies, and fixes around multilayer images in compute path.

For the case of ANV/i965 drivers, also a couple of fixes, all of them around ISP. On top, there are a couple of fixes relative to code emission around 16-bit integers, and a a fix for a leak in blorp for Gen4 and Gen5.

Speaking of leaks, there are also fixes for winsys/radeon/amdgpu and pipe-loader.gets a couple of patches to fix a couple of leaks.

SPIR-V part gets a patch to apply OriginUpperLeft to FragCoord.

Mesa core gets a couple of patches to fix error handling in get_framebuffer_parameteriv, and to add missing support for glFogiv(GL_FOG_DISTANCE_MODE_NV).”

1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching for ‘Terminal’ from software launcher. When it opens, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/updates

Type your password (no asterisks while typing due to security reason) when it prompts and hit Enter to continue.

2. After adding the PPA, do system update via command:

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

apt-get update is not required any more in Ubuntu 18.04 since adding PPA automatically refreshes system repositories.

3. Finally check your driver version via command:

glxinfo | grep "OpenGL version"

Uninstall:

To restore changes and downgrade to the default drives shipped in Ubuntu 18.04, run command:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/updates

The latest release of Mesa 3D graphics library 17.2.4 now is available to install easily via Ubuntu-X Team PPA in Ubuntu 16.04 and Ubuntu 17.10.

Mesa 17.2.4 was released more than a week ago with several Intel OpenGL/Vulkan fixes, memory leak fixes for the Mesa state tracker, a Vulkan windowing system integration memory leak fix for X11, and some other small fixes.

How to Install Mesa 17.2.4 in Ubuntu 16.04, 17.10 via PPA:

1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcuts or by searching for “terminal” from application launcher. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/updates

Input your password (no visual feedback while typing) when it prompts and hit Enter.

2. Then refresh your system and install upgrades via commands:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install dist-upgrade

3. To check result, run command:

glxinfo | grep "OpenGL version"

How to Restore:

To revert back to the original Mesa 3D graphics library in Ubuntu, get into command console and run command:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/updates