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gerrit-public.fairphone.software / platform / external / mesa3d / 36da0459e4d0b12ab46f0e2090d107a22f68844a / . / docs / intro.html
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3<TITLE>Mesa Introduction</TITLE>
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Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]8
9<H1>Introduction</H1>
10
11<p>
12Mesa is a 3-D graphics library with an API which is very similar to
13that of <a href="http://www.opengl.org/" target="_parent">OpenGL</a>.*
14To the extent that Mesa utilizes the OpenGL command syntax or state
15machine, it is being used with authorization from <a
16href="http://www.sgi.com/" target="_parent">Silicon Graphics,
17Inc.</a>(SGI). However, the author does not possess an OpenGL license
18from SGI, and makes no claim that Mesa is in any way a compatible
19replacement for OpenGL or associated with SGI. Those who want a
20licensed implementation of OpenGL should contact a licensed
21vendor.
22</p>
23
24<p>
25Please do not refer to the library as <em>MesaGL</em> (for legal
26reasons). It's just <em>Mesa</em> or <em>The Mesa 3-D graphics
27library</em>. <br>
28</p>
29
30<p>
31* OpenGL is a trademark of <a href="http://www.sgi.com/"
32target="_parent">Silicon Graphics Incorporated</a>.
33</p>
34
35
36<H1>Project History</H1>
37
38<p>
39The Mesa project was founded by me, Brian Paul. Here's a short history
40of the project.
41</p>
42
43<p>
44August, 1993: I begin working on Mesa in my spare time. The project
45has no name at that point. I was simply interested in writing a simple
463D graphics library that used the then-new OpenGL API. I was partially
47inspired by the <em>VOGL</em> library which emulated a subset of IRIS GL.
48I had been programming with IRIS GL since 1991.
49</p>
50
51<p>
52November 1994: I contact SGI to ask permission to distribute my OpenGL-like
53graphics library on the internet. SGI was generally receptive to the
54idea and after negotiations with SGI's legal department, I get permission
55to release it.
56</p>
57
58<p>
59February 1995: Mesa 1.0 is released on the internet. I expected that
60a few people would be interested in it, but not thousands.
61I was soon receiving patches, new features and thank-you notes on a
62daily basis. That encouraged me to continue working on Mesa. The
63name Mesa just popped into my head one day. SGI had asked me not to use
64the terms <em>"Open"</em> or <em>"GL"</em> in the project name and I didn't
65want to make up a new acronym. Later, I heard of the Mesa programming
66language and the Mesa spreadsheet for NeXTStep.
67</p>
68
69<p>
70In the early days, OpenGL wasn't available on too many systems.
71It even took a while for SGI to support it across their product line.
72Mesa filled a big hole during that time.
73For a lot of people, Mesa was their first introduction to OpenGL.
74I think SGI recognized that Mesa actually helped to promote
75the OpenGL API, so they didn't feel threatened by the project.
76</p>
77
78
79<p>
801995-1996: I continue working on Mesa both during my spare time and during
81my work hours at the Space Science and Engineering Center at the University
82of Wisconsin in Madison. My supervisor, Bill Hibbard, lets me do this because
83Mesa is now being using for the <a href="http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/%7Ebillh/vis.html" target="_parent">Vis5D</a> project.
84</p><p>
85October 1996: Mesa 2.0 is released. It implementes the OpenGL 1.1 specification.
86</p>
87
88<p>
89March 1997: Mesa 2.2 is released. It supports the new 3dfx Voodoo graphics
90card via the Glide library. It's the first really popular hardware OpenGL
91implementation for Linux.
92</p>
93
94<p>
95September 1998: Mesa 3.0 is released. It's the first publicly-available
96implementation of the OpenGL 1.2 API.
97</p>
98
99<p>
100March 1999: I attend my first OpenGL ARB meeting. I contribute to the
101development of several official OpenGL extensions over the years.
102</p>
103
104<p>
105September 1999: I'm hired by Precision Insight, Inc. Mesa is a key
106component of 3D hardware acceleration in the new DRI project for XFree86.
107Drivers for 3dfx, 3dLabs, Intel, Matrox and ATI hardware soon follow.
108</p>
109
110<p>
111October 2001: Mesa 4.0 is released.
112It implements the OpenGL 1.3 specification.
113</p>
114
115
116<p>
117November 2001: I cofound <a href="http://www.tungstengraphics.com" target="_parent">
118Tungsten Graphics, Inc.</a> with Keith Whitwell, Jens Owen, David Dawes and
119Frank LaMonica.
120I continue to develop Mesa as part of my resposibilities with Tungsten
121Graphics and as a spare-time project.
122</p>
123
124<p>
125November 2002: Mesa 5.0 is released.
126It implements the OpenGL 1.4 specification.
127</p>
128
129<p>
Brian Pauld7af11a2004-01-07 14:51:30 +0000[diff] [blame]130January 2003: Mesa 6.0 is released. It implements the OpenGL 1.5
131specification as well as the GL_ARB_vertex_program and
132GL_ARB_fragment_program extensions.
133</p>
134
135
136<p>
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]137Ongoing: Mesa is used as the core of many hardware OpenGL drivers for XFree86
138within the
139<A href="http://dri.sourceforge.net/" target="_parent">DRI project</A>.
140I continue to enhance Mesa with new extensions and features.
141</p>
142
143
144
145<H1>Major Versions</H1>
146
147<p>
148This is a summary of the major versions of Mesa. Note that Mesa's major
149version number tracks OpenGL's minor version number.
150</p>
151
152
Brian Pauld7af11a2004-01-07 14:51:30 +0000[diff] [blame]153<H2>Version 6.x features</H2>
154<p>
155Version 6.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.5 API with the following
156extensions incorporated as standard features:
157</p>
158<ul>
159<li>GL_ARB_occlusion_query
160<li>GL_ARB_vertex_buffer_object
Brian Pauld7af11a2004-01-07 14:51:30 +0000[diff] [blame]161<li>GL_EXT_shadow_funcs
162</ul>
163<p>
164Also note that several OpenGL tokens were renamed in OpenGL 1.5
165for the sake of consistency. The old names will still be valid.
166</p>
167<pre>
168New Name Old Name
169------------------------------------------------------------
170GL_FOG_COORD_SRC GL_FOG_COORDINATE_SOURCE
171GL_FOG_COORD GL_FOG_COORDINATE
172GL_CURRENT_FOG_COORD GL_CURRENT_FOG_COORDINATE
173GL_FOG_COORD_ARRAY_TYPE GL_FOG_COORDINATE_ARRAY_TYPE
174GL_FOG_COORD_ARRAY_STRIDE GL_FOG_COORDINATE_ARRAY_STRIDE
175GL_FOG_COORD_ARRAY_POINTER GL_FOG_COORDINATE_ARRAY_POINTER
176GL_FOG_COORD_ARRAY GL_FOG_COORDINATE_ARRAY
177GL_SRC0_RGB GL_SOURCE0_RGB
178GL_SRC1_RGB GL_SOURCE1_RGB
179GL_SRC2_RGB GL_SOURCE2_RGB
180GL_SRC0_ALPHA GL_SOURCE0_ALPHA
181GL_SRC1_ALPHA GL_SOURCE1_ALPHA
182GL_SRC2_ALPHA GL_SOURCE2_ALPHA
183</pre>
184<p>
185See the
186<a href="http://www.opengl.org/documentation/spec.html" target="_parent">
187OpenGL specification</a> for more details.
188</p>
189
190
191
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]192<H2>Version 5.x features</H2>
193<p>
194Version 5.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.4 API with the following
195extensions incorporated as standard features:
196</p>
197<ul>
198<li>GL_ARB_depth_texture
199<li>GL_ARB_shadow
200<li>GL_ARB_texture_env_crossbar
201<li>GL_ARB_texture_mirror_repeat
202<li>GL_ARB_window_pos
203<li>GL_EXT_blend_color
204<li>GL_EXT_blend_func_separate
205<li>GL_EXT_blend_logic_op
206<li>GL_EXT_blend_minmax
207<li>GL_EXT_blend_subtract
208<li>GL_EXT_fog_coord
209<li>GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays
210<li>GL_EXT_point_parameters
211<li>GL_EXT_secondary_color
212<li>GL_EXT_stencil_wrap
Brian Paul3a604da2003-08-28 03:10:00 +0000[diff] [blame]213<li>GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias (plus, a per-texture LOD bias parameter)
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]214<li>GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap
215</ul>
216
217
218<H2>Version 4.x features</H2>
219
220<p>
221Version 4.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.3 API with the following
222extensions incorporated as standard features:
223</p>
224
225<ul>
226<li>GL_ARB_multisample
227<li>GL_ARB_multitexture
228<li>GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp
229<li>GL_ARB_texture_compression
230<li>GL_ARB_texture_cube_map
231<li>GL_ARB_texture_env_add
232<li>GL_ARB_texture_env_combine
233<li>GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3
234<li>GL_ARB_transpose_matrix
235</ul>
236
237<H2>Version 3.x features</H2>
238
239<p>
240Version 3.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.2 API with the following
241features:
242</p>
243<ul>
244<li>BGR, BGRA and packed pixel formats
245<li>New texture border clamp mode
246<li>glDrawRangeElements()
247<li>standard 3-D texturing
248<li>advanced MIPMAP control
249<li>separate specular color interpolation
250</ul>
251
252
253<H2>Version 2.x features</H2>
254<p>
255Version 2.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.1 API with the following
256features.
257</p>
258<ul>
259<li>Texture mapping:
260 <ul>
261 <li>glAreTexturesResident
262 <li>glBindTexture
263 <li>glCopyTexImage1D
264 <li>glCopyTexImage2D
265 <li>glCopyTexSubImage1D
266 <li>glCopyTexSubImage2D
267 <li>glDeleteTextures
268 <li>glGenTextures
269 <li>glIsTexture
270 <li>glPrioritizeTextures
271 <li>glTexSubImage1D
272 <li>glTexSubImage2D
273 </ul>
274<li>Vertex Arrays:
275 <ul>
276 <li>glArrayElement
277 <li>glColorPointer
278 <li>glDrawElements
279 <li>glEdgeFlagPointer
280 <li>glIndexPointer
281 <li>glInterleavedArrays
282 <li>glNormalPointer
283 <li>glTexCoordPointer
284 <li>glVertexPointer
285 </ul>
286<li>Client state management:
287 <ul>
288 <li>glDisableClientState
289 <li>glEnableClientState
290 <li>glPopClientAttrib
291 <li>glPushClientAttrib
292 </ul>
293<li>Misc:
294 <ul>
295 <li>glGetPointer
296 <li>glIndexub
297 <li>glIndexubv
298 <li>glPolygonOffset
299 </ul>
300</ul>
301
302
303</body>
304</html>