Emre Cecanpunar

Systems programmer. Compilers, kernels, and making things go fast on silicon.

I care about performance and understanding what the hardware actually does. If something can be faster, it should be faster.

These days I work on GPU compilers and graphics drivers. Previously did embedded systems at Baykar on the T3 Gemstone project — board bring-up, RTOS porting.

Current work

Working on ACO, the shader compiler backend for AMD GPUs in Mesa. Also reading RADV and NIR code when relevant.

Blog posts

aco_dump: compiling shaders without a GPUMar 20, 2026

A CLI tool I wrote that runs SPIR-V through RADV/ACO on a fake GPU. PipelineBuilder, drm-shim, and the upstream discussion.

Minimal Linux: 900KB kernel, no glibcMar 20, 2026

tinyconfig kernel, a shell in x86-64 assembly, direct syscalls. Boots in under a second on under 9MB RAM.

Getting started with MesaJan 13, 2026

What I learned getting started with Mesa — the codebase, debugging tools, and making my first patches.

Understanding the Linux graphics stackJan 6, 2026

The map I built when I started working on Mesa — kernel driver, Mesa, firmware, ACO, how they fit together.

How do graphics drivers work?Dec 29, 2025

The mental model I built when I started reading Mesa — kernel driver, userspace driver, shader compiler, and where ACO fits.

You can find me on OFTC IRC server as emomaxd(also everywhere), or by email at emreleno (at) gmail (dot) com.