DaVinci Resolve 20 on Zorin 18 with AMD GPU

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DaVinci Resolve 20 on Zorin 18 with AMD GPU – what actually works (and what doesn’t)

I want to document what finally worked for me with DaVinci Resolve 20 on Zorin (Ubuntu 24.04 base) using an AMD discrete GPU, and just as importantly, what was not necessary and caused problems.

This is not a “magic script” post — it’s about keeping the system clean and reproducible.

My hardware: 9950X3D & 9070 XT

TL;DR

  • You do NOT need AMDGPU-PRO
  • You do NOT need ROCm for Resolve to detect the GPU
  • Mesa OpenCL works and is far less fragile
  • Resolve’s bundled libraries do break modern Ubuntu/Zorin
  • SKIP_PACKAGE_CHECK is normal on 24.04
  • You can keep full gaming performance (Mesa + kernel amdgpu)

System context

  • Zorin OS 18
  • AMD 9950X3D and AMD 9070 XT
  • Stock kernel amdgpu + Mesa
  • DaVinci Resolve 20 (Free/Studio behave the same re OpenCL)

The key insight

Most guides online insist on ROCm OpenCL.
That used to be true. On modern Ubuntu/Zorin + newer AMD GPUs, it is often unnecessary and brittle.

I went down the ROCm path:

  • dependency conflicts
  • mismatched ROCm versions
  • rocminfo failing
  • Resolve sometimes seeing a “platform” but no usable device

Meanwhile, Mesa OpenCL already exposes the GPU correctly.

What actually matters for Resolve

Resolve only needs:

  • a working OpenCL ICD
  • a visible GPU device via clinfo
  • modern system libraries (not Resolve’s bundled ones)

If this works:

clinfo | grep -i "Device Name"

and you see something like:

AMD Radeon Graphics (radeonsi, gfxXXXX, LLVM XX)

Resolve can use the GPU.

What I installed (minimal and sufficient)

sudo apt install \
  ocl-icd-libopencl1 \
  mesa-opencl-icd

That’s it for OpenCL.

(/etc/OpenCL/vendors should show mesa.icd, optionally rusticl.icd)

Fixing Resolve on Zorin

1. Ignore the installer’s outdated dependency warning

Zorin/Ubuntu 24.04 uses *t64 packages. Resolve doesn’t know this.

Install Resolve with:

sudo SKIP_PACKAGE_CHECK=1 ./DaVinci_Resolve_*.run

This is normal and expected.

2. Disable Resolve’s bundled GLib libraries

This part is critical.

Resolve ships ancient libraries that break modern desktops.

Run:

sudo mv /opt/resolve/libs/libglib-2.0.so.0{,.disabled}
sudo mv /opt/resolve/libs/libgio-2.0.so.0{,.disabled}
sudo mv /opt/resolve/libs/libgmodule-2.0.so.0{,.disabled}

After this, Resolve uses the system libraries instead — stability improves dramatically.

3. Launch Resolve (first run)

Go ahead and open the software and go through the first-time setup.

GPU verification

In Resolve:

  • Preferences → Memory and GPU
  • Processing mode: OpenCL
  • GPU should be listed correctly with VRAM

To confirm real usage:

sudo apt install radeontop
radeontop

Apply a grade or blur and watch GPU load.

About ROCm

ROCm can work for some people, especially older RDNA3 cards.
On Zorin/Ubuntu 24.04 with newer AMD GPUs, it is often:

  • unnecessary
  • fragile
  • disruptive to a clean system

Unless you prove Mesa OpenCL is a bottleneck for your workflow, ROCm is not worth the maintenance cost.

Summary

  • Zorin + AMD + Resolve does work
  • Mesa OpenCL is enough for GPU acceleration
  • Avoid mixing driver stacks
  • Disable Resolve’s bundled libraries
  • Don’t panic about the installer warnings on 24.04
  • AI wrote and troubleshot all of this

Hopefully this saves someone else a few hours (or days).

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Thanks for posting this. It's always refreshing to find a well-written, detailed, factual, and useful specific post, when most of the "solutions" anywhere else were wrong or imcomplete.

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Handle with care