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gerrit-public.fairphone.software / platform / external / mesa3d / 0c14bbbc8634f516d75a06e2a52d11d674e41170 / . / docs / intro.html
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3<TITLE>Mesa Introduction</TITLE>
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7<BODY>
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]8
9<H1>Introduction</H1>
10
11<p>
Brian4d864b02007-04-04 09:33:12 -0600[diff] [blame]12Mesa is an open-source implementation of the
13<a href="http://www.opengl.org/" target="_parent">OpenGL</a> specification -
14a system for rendering interactive 3D graphics.
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]15</p>
16
17<p>
Brian4d864b02007-04-04 09:33:12 -0600[diff] [blame]18A variety of device drivers allows Mesa to be used in many different
19environments ranging from software emulation to complete hardware acceleration
20for modern GPUs.
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]21</p>
22
23<p>
Brian4d864b02007-04-04 09:33:12 -0600[diff] [blame]24Mesa ties into several other open-source projects: the
Timo Jyrinki385d6b22008-08-26 12:36:39 -0600[diff] [blame]25<a href="http://dri.freedesktop.org/" target="_parent">Direct Rendering
26Infrastructure</a> and <a href="http://x.org" target="_parent">X.org</a> to
27provide OpenGL support to users of X on Linux, FreeBSD and other operating
28systems.
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]29</p>
30
31
Brian4d864b02007-04-04 09:33:12 -0600[diff] [blame]32
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]33<H1>Project History</H1>
34
35<p>
Brian4d864b02007-04-04 09:33:12 -0600[diff] [blame]36The Mesa project was originally started by Brian Paul.
37Here's a short history of the project.
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]38</p>
39
40<p>
41August, 1993: I begin working on Mesa in my spare time. The project
42has no name at that point. I was simply interested in writing a simple
433D graphics library that used the then-new OpenGL API. I was partially
44inspired by the <em>VOGL</em> library which emulated a subset of IRIS GL.
45I had been programming with IRIS GL since 1991.
46</p>
47
48<p>
49November 1994: I contact SGI to ask permission to distribute my OpenGL-like
50graphics library on the internet. SGI was generally receptive to the
51idea and after negotiations with SGI's legal department, I get permission
52to release it.
53</p>
54
55<p>
56February 1995: Mesa 1.0 is released on the internet. I expected that
57a few people would be interested in it, but not thousands.
58I was soon receiving patches, new features and thank-you notes on a
59daily basis. That encouraged me to continue working on Mesa. The
60name Mesa just popped into my head one day. SGI had asked me not to use
61the terms <em>"Open"</em> or <em>"GL"</em> in the project name and I didn't
62want to make up a new acronym. Later, I heard of the Mesa programming
63language and the Mesa spreadsheet for NeXTStep.
64</p>
65
66<p>
67In the early days, OpenGL wasn't available on too many systems.
68It even took a while for SGI to support it across their product line.
69Mesa filled a big hole during that time.
70For a lot of people, Mesa was their first introduction to OpenGL.
71I think SGI recognized that Mesa actually helped to promote
72the OpenGL API, so they didn't feel threatened by the project.
73</p>
74
75
76<p>
771995-1996: I continue working on Mesa both during my spare time and during
78my work hours at the Space Science and Engineering Center at the University
79of Wisconsin in Madison. My supervisor, Bill Hibbard, lets me do this because
80Mesa is now being using for the <a href="http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/%7Ebillh/vis.html" target="_parent">Vis5D</a> project.
81</p><p>
Brian Paul30aea492005-07-01 01:04:31 +0000[diff] [blame]82October 1996: Mesa 2.0 is released. It implements the OpenGL 1.1 specification.
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]83</p>
84
85<p>
86March 1997: Mesa 2.2 is released. It supports the new 3dfx Voodoo graphics
87card via the Glide library. It's the first really popular hardware OpenGL
88implementation for Linux.
89</p>
90
91<p>
92September 1998: Mesa 3.0 is released. It's the first publicly-available
93implementation of the OpenGL 1.2 API.
94</p>
95
96<p>
97March 1999: I attend my first OpenGL ARB meeting. I contribute to the
98development of several official OpenGL extensions over the years.
99</p>
100
101<p>
102September 1999: I'm hired by Precision Insight, Inc. Mesa is a key
103component of 3D hardware acceleration in the new DRI project for XFree86.
104Drivers for 3dfx, 3dLabs, Intel, Matrox and ATI hardware soon follow.
105</p>
106
107<p>
108October 2001: Mesa 4.0 is released.
109It implements the OpenGL 1.3 specification.
110</p>
111
112
113<p>
Brian Paul30cd76e2010-08-26 11:20:31 -0600[diff] [blame]114November 2001: I cofounded Tungsten Graphics, Inc. with Keith Whitwell,
115Jens Owen, David Dawes and Frank LaMonica.
116Tungsten Graphics was acquired by VMware in December 2008.
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]117</p>
118
119<p>
120November 2002: Mesa 5.0 is released.
121It implements the OpenGL 1.4 specification.
122</p>
123
124<p>
Brian Pauld7af11a2004-01-07 14:51:30 +0000[diff] [blame]125January 2003: Mesa 6.0 is released. It implements the OpenGL 1.5
126specification as well as the GL_ARB_vertex_program and
127GL_ARB_fragment_program extensions.
128</p>
129
Brianaf846712007-04-27 17:00:13 -0600[diff] [blame]130<p>
Brian02dd2222007-06-28 16:44:24 -0600[diff] [blame]131June 2007: Mesa 7.0 is released, implementing the OpenGL 2.1 specification
Brianaf846712007-04-27 17:00:13 -0600[diff] [blame]132and OpenGL Shading Language.
133</p>
134
Brian Paul0c14bbb2012-01-13 08:31:26 -0700[diff] [blame^]135<p>
1362008: Keith Whitwell and other Tungsten Graphics employees develop
137<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallium3D" target="_parent">Gallium</a>
138- a new GPU abstraction layer. The latest Mesa drivers are based on
139Gallium and other APIs such as OpenVG are implemented on top of Gallium.
140</p>
Brian Pauld7af11a2004-01-07 14:51:30 +0000[diff] [blame]141
142<p>
Brian Paul0c14bbb2012-01-13 08:31:26 -0700[diff] [blame^]143February 2012: Mesa 8.0 is released, implementing the OpenGL 3.0 specification
144and version 1.30 of the OpenGL Shading Language.
145</p>
146
147<p>
148Ongoing: Mesa is the OpenGL implementation for several types of hardware
149made by Intel, AMD and NVIDIA, plus the VMware virtual GPU.
150There's also several software-based renderers: swrast (the legacy
151Mesa rasterizer), softpipe (a gallium reference driver) and llvmpipe
152(LLVM/JIT-based high-speed rasterizer).
153Work continues on the drivers and core Mesa to implement newer versions
154of the OpenGL specification.
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]155</p>
156
157
158
159<H1>Major Versions</H1>
160
161<p>
Brianaf846712007-04-27 17:00:13 -0600[diff] [blame]162This is a summary of the major versions of Mesa.
163Mesa's major version number has been incremented whenever a new version
164of the OpenGL specification is implemented.
165</p>
166
167
Brian Paul0c14bbb2012-01-13 08:31:26 -0700[diff] [blame^]168<H2>Version 8.x features</H2>
169<p>
170Version 8.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 3.0 API.
171The developers at Intel deserve a lot of credit for implementing most
172of the OpenGL 3.0 features in core Mesa, the GLSL compiler as well as
173the i965 driver.
174</p>
175
176
Brianaf846712007-04-27 17:00:13 -0600[diff] [blame]177<H2>Version 7.x features</H2>
178<p>
179Version 7.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 2.1 API. The main feature
180of OpenGL 2.x is the OpenGL Shading Language.
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]181</p>
182
183
Brian Pauld7af11a2004-01-07 14:51:30 +0000[diff] [blame]184<H2>Version 6.x features</H2>
185<p>
186Version 6.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.5 API with the following
187extensions incorporated as standard features:
188</p>
189<ul>
190<li>GL_ARB_occlusion_query
191<li>GL_ARB_vertex_buffer_object
Brian Pauld7af11a2004-01-07 14:51:30 +0000[diff] [blame]192<li>GL_EXT_shadow_funcs
193</ul>
194<p>
195Also note that several OpenGL tokens were renamed in OpenGL 1.5
Brian Paulb7c727e2005-08-19 16:57:50 +0000[diff] [blame]196for the sake of consistency.
197The old tokens are still available.
Brian Pauld7af11a2004-01-07 14:51:30 +0000[diff] [blame]198</p>
199<pre>
Brian Paulb7c727e2005-08-19 16:57:50 +0000[diff] [blame]200New Token Old Token
Brian Pauld7af11a2004-01-07 14:51:30 +0000[diff] [blame]201------------------------------------------------------------
202GL_FOG_COORD_SRC GL_FOG_COORDINATE_SOURCE
203GL_FOG_COORD GL_FOG_COORDINATE
204GL_CURRENT_FOG_COORD GL_CURRENT_FOG_COORDINATE
205GL_FOG_COORD_ARRAY_TYPE GL_FOG_COORDINATE_ARRAY_TYPE
206GL_FOG_COORD_ARRAY_STRIDE GL_FOG_COORDINATE_ARRAY_STRIDE
207GL_FOG_COORD_ARRAY_POINTER GL_FOG_COORDINATE_ARRAY_POINTER
208GL_FOG_COORD_ARRAY GL_FOG_COORDINATE_ARRAY
209GL_SRC0_RGB GL_SOURCE0_RGB
210GL_SRC1_RGB GL_SOURCE1_RGB
211GL_SRC2_RGB GL_SOURCE2_RGB
212GL_SRC0_ALPHA GL_SOURCE0_ALPHA
213GL_SRC1_ALPHA GL_SOURCE1_ALPHA
214GL_SRC2_ALPHA GL_SOURCE2_ALPHA
215</pre>
216<p>
217See the
218<a href="http://www.opengl.org/documentation/spec.html" target="_parent">
219OpenGL specification</a> for more details.
220</p>
221
222
223
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]224<H2>Version 5.x features</H2>
225<p>
226Version 5.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.4 API with the following
227extensions incorporated as standard features:
228</p>
229<ul>
230<li>GL_ARB_depth_texture
231<li>GL_ARB_shadow
232<li>GL_ARB_texture_env_crossbar
233<li>GL_ARB_texture_mirror_repeat
234<li>GL_ARB_window_pos
235<li>GL_EXT_blend_color
236<li>GL_EXT_blend_func_separate
237<li>GL_EXT_blend_logic_op
238<li>GL_EXT_blend_minmax
239<li>GL_EXT_blend_subtract
240<li>GL_EXT_fog_coord
241<li>GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays
242<li>GL_EXT_point_parameters
243<li>GL_EXT_secondary_color
244<li>GL_EXT_stencil_wrap
Brian Paul3a604da2003-08-28 03:10:00 +0000[diff] [blame]245<li>GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias (plus, a per-texture LOD bias parameter)
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]246<li>GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap
247</ul>
248
249
250<H2>Version 4.x features</H2>
251
252<p>
253Version 4.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.3 API with the following
254extensions incorporated as standard features:
255</p>
256
257<ul>
258<li>GL_ARB_multisample
259<li>GL_ARB_multitexture
260<li>GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp
261<li>GL_ARB_texture_compression
262<li>GL_ARB_texture_cube_map
263<li>GL_ARB_texture_env_add
264<li>GL_ARB_texture_env_combine
265<li>GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3
266<li>GL_ARB_transpose_matrix
267</ul>
268
269<H2>Version 3.x features</H2>
270
271<p>
272Version 3.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.2 API with the following
273features:
274</p>
275<ul>
276<li>BGR, BGRA and packed pixel formats
277<li>New texture border clamp mode
278<li>glDrawRangeElements()
279<li>standard 3-D texturing
280<li>advanced MIPMAP control
281<li>separate specular color interpolation
282</ul>
283
284
285<H2>Version 2.x features</H2>
286<p>
287Version 2.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.1 API with the following
288features.
289</p>
290<ul>
291<li>Texture mapping:
292 <ul>
293 <li>glAreTexturesResident
294 <li>glBindTexture
295 <li>glCopyTexImage1D
296 <li>glCopyTexImage2D
297 <li>glCopyTexSubImage1D
298 <li>glCopyTexSubImage2D
299 <li>glDeleteTextures
300 <li>glGenTextures
301 <li>glIsTexture
302 <li>glPrioritizeTextures
303 <li>glTexSubImage1D
304 <li>glTexSubImage2D
305 </ul>
306<li>Vertex Arrays:
307 <ul>
308 <li>glArrayElement
309 <li>glColorPointer
310 <li>glDrawElements
311 <li>glEdgeFlagPointer
312 <li>glIndexPointer
313 <li>glInterleavedArrays
314 <li>glNormalPointer
315 <li>glTexCoordPointer
316 <li>glVertexPointer
317 </ul>
318<li>Client state management:
319 <ul>
320 <li>glDisableClientState
321 <li>glEnableClientState
322 <li>glPopClientAttrib
323 <li>glPushClientAttrib
324 </ul>
325<li>Misc:
326 <ul>
327 <li>glGetPointer
328 <li>glIndexub
329 <li>glIndexubv
330 <li>glPolygonOffset
331 </ul>
332</ul>
333
334
335</body>
336</html>