second take, hopefully this time it doesn't break one of the builds: "SurfaceFlinger will now allocate buffers based on the usage specified by the clients. This allows to allocate the right kind of buffer automatically, without having the user to specify anything."
diff --git a/libs/ui/Surface.cpp b/libs/ui/Surface.cpp
index 4abb7f6..2b6905f 100644
--- a/libs/ui/Surface.cpp
+++ b/libs/ui/Surface.cpp
@@ -414,6 +414,7 @@
     android_native_window_t::lockBuffer       = lockBuffer;
     android_native_window_t::queueBuffer      = queueBuffer;
     android_native_window_t::query            = query;
+    android_native_window_t::perform          = perform;
     mSwapRectangle.makeInvalid();
     DisplayInfo dinfo;
     SurfaceComposerClient::getDisplayInfo(0, &dinfo);
@@ -423,6 +424,8 @@
     const_cast<int&>(android_native_window_t::minSwapInterval) = 1;
     const_cast<int&>(android_native_window_t::maxSwapInterval) = 1;
     const_cast<uint32_t&>(android_native_window_t::flags) = 0;
+    // be default we request a hardware surface
+    mUsage = GRALLOC_USAGE_HW_RENDER;
 }
 
 
@@ -512,6 +515,17 @@
     return self->query(what, value);
 }
 
+int Surface::perform(android_native_window_t* window, 
+        int operation, ...)
+{
+    va_list args;
+    va_start(args, operation);
+    Surface* self = getSelf(window);
+    int res = self->perform(operation, args);
+    va_end(args);
+    return res;
+}
+
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 status_t Surface::dequeueBuffer(sp<SurfaceBuffer>* buffer)
@@ -561,7 +575,7 @@
 
     volatile const surface_info_t* const back = lcblk->surface + backIdx;
     if (back->flags & surface_info_t::eNeedNewBuffer) {
-        err = getBufferLocked(backIdx);
+        err = getBufferLocked(backIdx, mUsage);
     }
 
     if (err == NO_ERROR) {
@@ -627,6 +641,20 @@
     return BAD_VALUE;
 }
 
+int Surface::perform(int operation, va_list args)
+{
+    int res = NO_ERROR;
+    switch (operation) {
+        case NATIVE_WINDOW_SET_USAGE:
+            mUsage = va_arg(args, int);
+            break;
+        default:
+            res = NAME_NOT_FOUND;
+            break;
+    }
+    return res;
+}
+
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 status_t Surface::lock(SurfaceInfo* info, bool blocking) {
@@ -636,6 +664,9 @@
 status_t Surface::lock(SurfaceInfo* other, Region* dirtyIn, bool blocking) 
 {
     // FIXME: needs some locking here
+
+    // we're intending to do software rendering from this point
+    mUsage = GRALLOC_USAGE_SW_READ_OFTEN | GRALLOC_USAGE_SW_WRITE_OFTEN;
     
     sp<SurfaceBuffer> backBuffer;
     status_t err = dequeueBuffer(&backBuffer);
@@ -725,10 +756,10 @@
     mSwapRectangle = r;
 }
 
-status_t Surface::getBufferLocked(int index)
+status_t Surface::getBufferLocked(int index, int usage)
 {
     status_t err = NO_MEMORY;
-    sp<SurfaceBuffer> buffer = mSurface->getBuffer();
+    sp<SurfaceBuffer> buffer = mSurface->getBuffer(usage);
     LOGE_IF(buffer==0, "ISurface::getBuffer() returned NULL");
     if (buffer != 0) {
         sp<SurfaceBuffer>& currentBuffer(mBuffers[index]);