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173 lines
6.2 KiB
ReStructuredText
173 lines
6.2 KiB
ReStructuredText
Xlib Software Driver
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====================
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Mesa's Xlib driver provides an emulation of the GLX interface so that
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OpenGL programs which use the GLX API can render to any X display, even
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those that don't support the GLX extension. Effectively, the Xlib driver
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converts all OpenGL rendering into Xlib calls.
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The Xlib driver is the oldest Mesa driver and the most mature of Mesa's
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software-only drivers.
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Since the Xlib driver *emulates* the GLX extension, it's not totally
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conformant with a true GLX implementation. The differences are fairly
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obscure, however.
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The unique features of the Xlib driver follows.
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X Visual Selection
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------------------
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Mesa supports RGB(A) rendering into TrueColor and DirectColor visuals, for
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any depth with a corresponding renderable OpenGL texture format.
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The glXChooseVisual function tries to choose the best X visual for the
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given attribute list. However, if this doesn't suit your needs you can
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force Mesa to use any X visual you want (any supported by your X server
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that is) by setting the **MESA_RGB_VISUAL** environment variable. When
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a visual is requested, glXChooseVisual will first look if the
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MESA_RGB_VISUAL variable is defined. If so, it will try to use the
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specified visual.
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The format of accepted values is: ``visual-class depth``
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Here are some examples:
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::
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using csh:
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% setenv MESA_RGB_VISUAL "TrueColor 8" // 8-bit TrueColor
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% setenv MESA_RGB_VISUAL "DirectColor 30" // 30-bit DirectColor
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using bash:
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$ export MESA_RGB_VISUAL="TrueColor 8"
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$ export MESA_RGB_VISUAL="DirectColor 30"
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Double Buffering
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----------------
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Mesa can use either an X Pixmap or XImage as the back color buffer when
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in double-buffer mode. The default is to use an XImage. The
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**MESA_BACK_BUFFER** environment variable can override this. The valid
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values for **MESA_BACK_BUFFER** are: **Pixmap** and **XImage** (only the
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first letter is checked, case doesn't matter).
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Using XImage is almost always faster than a Pixmap since it resides in
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the application's address space. When glXSwapBuffers() is called,
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XPutImage() or XShmPutImage() is used to transfer the XImage to the
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on-screen window.
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A Pixmap may be faster when doing remote rendering of a simple scene.
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Some OpenGL features will be very slow with a Pixmap (for example,
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blending will require a round-trip message for pixel readback.)
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Experiment with the MESA_BACK_BUFFER variable to see which is faster for
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your application.
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Colormaps
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---------
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When using Mesa directly or with GLX, it's up to the application writer
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to create a window with an appropriate colormap. The GLUT toolkit tries
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to minimize colormap *flashing* by sharing colormaps when possible.
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Specifically, if the visual and depth of the window matches that of the
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root window, the root window's colormap will be shared by the Mesa
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window. Otherwise, a new, private colormap will be allocated.
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When sharing the root colormap, Mesa may be unable to allocate the
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colors it needs, resulting in poor color quality. This can happen when a
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large number of colorcells in the root colormap are already allocated.
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Overlay Planes
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--------------
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Hardware overlay planes are supported by the Xlib driver. To determine
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if your X server has overlay support you can test for the
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SERVER_OVERLAY_VISUALS property:
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.. code-block:: sh
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xprop -root | grep SERVER_OVERLAY_VISUALS
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Extensions
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----------
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The following Mesa-specific extensions are implemented in the Xlib
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driver.
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GLX_MESA_pixmap_colormap
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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This extension adds the GLX function:
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.. code-block:: c
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GLXPixmap glXCreateGLXPixmapMESA( Display *dpy, XVisualInfo *visual,
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Pixmap pixmap, Colormap cmap )
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It is an alternative to the standard glXCreateGLXPixmap() function.
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Since Mesa supports RGB rendering into any X visual, not just True-
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Color or DirectColor, Mesa needs colormap information to convert RGB
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values into pixel values. An X window carries this information but a
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pixmap does not. This function associates a colormap to a GLX pixmap.
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See the xdemos/glxpixmap.c file for an example of how to use this
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extension.
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`GLX_MESA_pixmap_colormap
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specification <specs/MESA_pixmap_colormap.spec>`__
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GLX_MESA_release_buffers
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Mesa associates a set of ancillary (depth, accumulation, stencil and
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alpha) buffers with each X window it draws into. These ancillary buffers
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are allocated for each X window the first time the X window is passed to
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glXMakeCurrent(). Mesa, however, can't detect when an X window has been
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destroyed in order to free the ancillary buffers.
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The best it can do is to check for recently destroyed windows whenever
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the client calls the glXCreateContext() or glXDestroyContext()
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functions. This may not be sufficient in all situations though.
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The GLX_MESA_release_buffers extension allows a client to explicitly
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deallocate the ancillary buffers by calling glxReleaseBuffersMESA() just
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before an X window is destroyed. For example:
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.. code-block:: c
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#ifdef GLX_MESA_release_buffers
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glXReleaseBuffersMESA( dpy, window );
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#endif
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XDestroyWindow( dpy, window );
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`GLX_MESA_release_buffers
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specification <specs/MESA_release_buffers.spec>`__
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This extension was added in Mesa 2.0.
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GLX_MESA_copy_sub_buffer
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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This extension adds the glXCopySubBufferMESA() function. It works like
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glXSwapBuffers() but only copies a sub-region of the window instead of
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the whole window.
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`GLX_MESA_copy_sub_buffer
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specification <specs/MESA_copy_sub_buffer.spec>`__
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This extension was added in Mesa 2.6
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Summary of X-related environment variables
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------------------------------------------
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+-----------------------------+--------------------------------------+
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| Environment variable | Description |
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+=============================+======================================+
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| :envvar:`MESA_RGB_VISUAL` | specifies the X visual and depth for |
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| | RGB mode (X only) |
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+-----------------------------+--------------------------------------+
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| :envvar:`MESA_BACK_BUFFER` | specifies how to implement the back |
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| | color buffer (X only) |
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+-----------------------------+--------------------------------------+
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