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gerrit-public.fairphone.software / platform / external / mesa3d / ca90cde81eb48a50286193c6bbef9ef47c70a0c6 / . / docs / intro.html
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Andreas Bollecd5c7c2012-06-12 09:05:03 +0200[diff] [blame]1<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
2<html lang="en">
3<head>
4 <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
5 <title>Mesa Introduction</title>
6 <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="mesa.css">
7</head>
8<body>
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]9
Andreas Bollb5da52a2012-09-18 18:57:02 +0200[diff] [blame]10<div class="header">
11 <h1>The Mesa 3D Graphics Library</h1>
12</div>
13
14<iframe src="contents.html"></iframe>
15<div class="content">
16
Andreas Bollecd5c7c2012-06-12 09:05:03 +0200[diff] [blame]17<h1>Introduction</h1>
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]18
19<p>
Brian4d864b02007-04-04 09:33:12 -0600[diff] [blame]20Mesa is an open-source implementation of the
Andreas Bolla73c59b2012-09-18 19:31:28 +0200[diff] [blame]21<a href="http://www.opengl.org/">OpenGL</a> specification -
Brian4d864b02007-04-04 09:33:12 -0600[diff] [blame]22a system for rendering interactive 3D graphics.
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]23</p>
24
25<p>
Brian4d864b02007-04-04 09:33:12 -0600[diff] [blame]26A variety of device drivers allows Mesa to be used in many different
27environments ranging from software emulation to complete hardware acceleration
28for modern GPUs.
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]29</p>
30
31<p>
Brian4d864b02007-04-04 09:33:12 -0600[diff] [blame]32Mesa ties into several other open-source projects: the
Andreas Bolla73c59b2012-09-18 19:31:28 +0200[diff] [blame]33<a href="http://dri.freedesktop.org/">Direct Rendering
34Infrastructure</a> and <a href="http://x.org">X.org</a> to
Timo Jyrinki385d6b22008-08-26 12:36:39 -0600[diff] [blame]35provide OpenGL support to users of X on Linux, FreeBSD and other operating
36systems.
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]37</p>
38
39
Brian4d864b02007-04-04 09:33:12 -0600[diff] [blame]40
Andreas Boll210a27d2012-06-12 09:05:36 +0200[diff] [blame]41<h1>Project History</h1>
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]42
43<p>
Brian4d864b02007-04-04 09:33:12 -0600[diff] [blame]44The Mesa project was originally started by Brian Paul.
45Here's a short history of the project.
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]46</p>
47
48<p>
49August, 1993: I begin working on Mesa in my spare time. The project
50has no name at that point. I was simply interested in writing a simple
513D graphics library that used the then-new OpenGL API. I was partially
52inspired by the <em>VOGL</em> library which emulated a subset of IRIS GL.
53I had been programming with IRIS GL since 1991.
54</p>
55
56<p>
57November 1994: I contact SGI to ask permission to distribute my OpenGL-like
58graphics library on the internet. SGI was generally receptive to the
59idea and after negotiations with SGI's legal department, I get permission
60to release it.
61</p>
62
63<p>
64February 1995: Mesa 1.0 is released on the internet. I expected that
65a few people would be interested in it, but not thousands.
66I was soon receiving patches, new features and thank-you notes on a
67daily basis. That encouraged me to continue working on Mesa. The
68name Mesa just popped into my head one day. SGI had asked me not to use
69the terms <em>"Open"</em> or <em>"GL"</em> in the project name and I didn't
70want to make up a new acronym. Later, I heard of the Mesa programming
71language and the Mesa spreadsheet for NeXTStep.
72</p>
73
74<p>
75In the early days, OpenGL wasn't available on too many systems.
76It even took a while for SGI to support it across their product line.
77Mesa filled a big hole during that time.
78For a lot of people, Mesa was their first introduction to OpenGL.
79I think SGI recognized that Mesa actually helped to promote
80the OpenGL API, so they didn't feel threatened by the project.
81</p>
82
83
84<p>
851995-1996: I continue working on Mesa both during my spare time and during
86my work hours at the Space Science and Engineering Center at the University
87of Wisconsin in Madison. My supervisor, Bill Hibbard, lets me do this because
Andreas Bolla73c59b2012-09-18 19:31:28 +0200[diff] [blame]88Mesa is now being using for the <a href="http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/%7Ebillh/vis.html">Vis5D</a> project.
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]89</p><p>
Brian Paul30aea492005-07-01 01:04:31 +0000[diff] [blame]90October 1996: Mesa 2.0 is released. It implements the OpenGL 1.1 specification.
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]91</p>
92
93<p>
94March 1997: Mesa 2.2 is released. It supports the new 3dfx Voodoo graphics
95card via the Glide library. It's the first really popular hardware OpenGL
96implementation for Linux.
97</p>
98
99<p>
100September 1998: Mesa 3.0 is released. It's the first publicly-available
101implementation of the OpenGL 1.2 API.
102</p>
103
104<p>
105March 1999: I attend my first OpenGL ARB meeting. I contribute to the
106development of several official OpenGL extensions over the years.
107</p>
108
109<p>
110September 1999: I'm hired by Precision Insight, Inc. Mesa is a key
111component of 3D hardware acceleration in the new DRI project for XFree86.
112Drivers for 3dfx, 3dLabs, Intel, Matrox and ATI hardware soon follow.
113</p>
114
115<p>
116October 2001: Mesa 4.0 is released.
117It implements the OpenGL 1.3 specification.
118</p>
119
120
121<p>
Brian Paul30cd76e2010-08-26 11:20:31 -0600[diff] [blame]122November 2001: I cofounded Tungsten Graphics, Inc. with Keith Whitwell,
123Jens Owen, David Dawes and Frank LaMonica.
124Tungsten Graphics was acquired by VMware in December 2008.
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]125</p>
126
127<p>
128November 2002: Mesa 5.0 is released.
129It implements the OpenGL 1.4 specification.
130</p>
131
132<p>
Brian Pauld7af11a2004-01-07 14:51:30 +0000[diff] [blame]133January 2003: Mesa 6.0 is released. It implements the OpenGL 1.5
134specification as well as the GL_ARB_vertex_program and
135GL_ARB_fragment_program extensions.
136</p>
137
Brianaf846712007-04-27 17:00:13 -0600[diff] [blame]138<p>
Brian02dd2222007-06-28 16:44:24 -0600[diff] [blame]139June 2007: Mesa 7.0 is released, implementing the OpenGL 2.1 specification
Brianaf846712007-04-27 17:00:13 -0600[diff] [blame]140and OpenGL Shading Language.
141</p>
142
Brian Paul0c14bbb2012-01-13 08:31:26 -0700[diff] [blame]143<p>
1442008: Keith Whitwell and other Tungsten Graphics employees develop
Andreas Bolla73c59b2012-09-18 19:31:28 +0200[diff] [blame]145<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallium3D">Gallium</a>
Brian Paul0c14bbb2012-01-13 08:31:26 -0700[diff] [blame]146- a new GPU abstraction layer. The latest Mesa drivers are based on
147Gallium and other APIs such as OpenVG are implemented on top of Gallium.
148</p>
Brian Pauld7af11a2004-01-07 14:51:30 +0000[diff] [blame]149
150<p>
Brian Paul0c14bbb2012-01-13 08:31:26 -0700[diff] [blame]151February 2012: Mesa 8.0 is released, implementing the OpenGL 3.0 specification
152and version 1.30 of the OpenGL Shading Language.
153</p>
154
155<p>
156Ongoing: Mesa is the OpenGL implementation for several types of hardware
157made by Intel, AMD and NVIDIA, plus the VMware virtual GPU.
158There's also several software-based renderers: swrast (the legacy
159Mesa rasterizer), softpipe (a gallium reference driver) and llvmpipe
160(LLVM/JIT-based high-speed rasterizer).
161Work continues on the drivers and core Mesa to implement newer versions
162of the OpenGL specification.
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]163</p>
164
165
166
Andreas Boll210a27d2012-06-12 09:05:36 +0200[diff] [blame]167<h1>Major Versions</h1>
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]168
169<p>
Brianaf846712007-04-27 17:00:13 -0600[diff] [blame]170This is a summary of the major versions of Mesa.
171Mesa's major version number has been incremented whenever a new version
172of the OpenGL specification is implemented.
173</p>
174
175
Ian Romanick07914842012-08-30 13:55:02 -0700[diff] [blame]176<h2>Version 9.x features</h2>
177<p>
178Version 9.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 3.1 API.
179While the driver for Intel Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge is the only
180driver to support OpenGL 3.1, many developers across the open-source
181community contributed features required for OpenGL 3.1. The primary
182features added since the Mesa 8.0 release are
183GL_ARB_texture_buffer_object and GL_ARB_uniform_buffer_object.
184</p>
185
186
Andreas Boll210a27d2012-06-12 09:05:36 +0200[diff] [blame]187<h2>Version 8.x features</h2>
Brian Paul0c14bbb2012-01-13 08:31:26 -0700[diff] [blame]188<p>
189Version 8.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 3.0 API.
190The developers at Intel deserve a lot of credit for implementing most
191of the OpenGL 3.0 features in core Mesa, the GLSL compiler as well as
192the i965 driver.
193</p>
194
195
Andreas Boll210a27d2012-06-12 09:05:36 +0200[diff] [blame]196<h2>Version 7.x features</h2>
Brianaf846712007-04-27 17:00:13 -0600[diff] [blame]197<p>
198Version 7.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 2.1 API. The main feature
199of OpenGL 2.x is the OpenGL Shading Language.
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]200</p>
201
202
Andreas Boll210a27d2012-06-12 09:05:36 +0200[diff] [blame]203<h2>Version 6.x features</h2>
Brian Pauld7af11a2004-01-07 14:51:30 +0000[diff] [blame]204<p>
205Version 6.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.5 API with the following
206extensions incorporated as standard features:
207</p>
208<ul>
209<li>GL_ARB_occlusion_query
210<li>GL_ARB_vertex_buffer_object
Brian Pauld7af11a2004-01-07 14:51:30 +0000[diff] [blame]211<li>GL_EXT_shadow_funcs
212</ul>
213<p>
214Also note that several OpenGL tokens were renamed in OpenGL 1.5
Brian Paulb7c727e2005-08-19 16:57:50 +0000[diff] [blame]215for the sake of consistency.
216The old tokens are still available.
Brian Pauld7af11a2004-01-07 14:51:30 +0000[diff] [blame]217</p>
218<pre>
Brian Paulb7c727e2005-08-19 16:57:50 +0000[diff] [blame]219New Token Old Token
Brian Pauld7af11a2004-01-07 14:51:30 +0000[diff] [blame]220------------------------------------------------------------
221GL_FOG_COORD_SRC GL_FOG_COORDINATE_SOURCE
222GL_FOG_COORD GL_FOG_COORDINATE
223GL_CURRENT_FOG_COORD GL_CURRENT_FOG_COORDINATE
224GL_FOG_COORD_ARRAY_TYPE GL_FOG_COORDINATE_ARRAY_TYPE
225GL_FOG_COORD_ARRAY_STRIDE GL_FOG_COORDINATE_ARRAY_STRIDE
226GL_FOG_COORD_ARRAY_POINTER GL_FOG_COORDINATE_ARRAY_POINTER
227GL_FOG_COORD_ARRAY GL_FOG_COORDINATE_ARRAY
228GL_SRC0_RGB GL_SOURCE0_RGB
229GL_SRC1_RGB GL_SOURCE1_RGB
230GL_SRC2_RGB GL_SOURCE2_RGB
231GL_SRC0_ALPHA GL_SOURCE0_ALPHA
232GL_SRC1_ALPHA GL_SOURCE1_ALPHA
233GL_SRC2_ALPHA GL_SOURCE2_ALPHA
234</pre>
235<p>
236See the
Andreas Bolla73c59b2012-09-18 19:31:28 +0200[diff] [blame]237<a href="http://www.opengl.org/documentation/spec.html">
Brian Pauld7af11a2004-01-07 14:51:30 +0000[diff] [blame]238OpenGL specification</a> for more details.
239</p>
240
241
242
Andreas Boll210a27d2012-06-12 09:05:36 +0200[diff] [blame]243<h2>Version 5.x features</h2>
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]244<p>
245Version 5.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.4 API with the following
246extensions incorporated as standard features:
247</p>
248<ul>
249<li>GL_ARB_depth_texture
250<li>GL_ARB_shadow
251<li>GL_ARB_texture_env_crossbar
252<li>GL_ARB_texture_mirror_repeat
253<li>GL_ARB_window_pos
254<li>GL_EXT_blend_color
255<li>GL_EXT_blend_func_separate
256<li>GL_EXT_blend_logic_op
257<li>GL_EXT_blend_minmax
258<li>GL_EXT_blend_subtract
259<li>GL_EXT_fog_coord
260<li>GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays
261<li>GL_EXT_point_parameters
262<li>GL_EXT_secondary_color
263<li>GL_EXT_stencil_wrap
Brian Paul3a604da2003-08-28 03:10:00 +0000[diff] [blame]264<li>GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias (plus, a per-texture LOD bias parameter)
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]265<li>GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap
266</ul>
267
268
Andreas Boll210a27d2012-06-12 09:05:36 +0200[diff] [blame]269<h2>Version 4.x features</h2>
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]270
271<p>
272Version 4.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.3 API with the following
273extensions incorporated as standard features:
274</p>
275
276<ul>
277<li>GL_ARB_multisample
278<li>GL_ARB_multitexture
279<li>GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp
280<li>GL_ARB_texture_compression
281<li>GL_ARB_texture_cube_map
282<li>GL_ARB_texture_env_add
283<li>GL_ARB_texture_env_combine
284<li>GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3
285<li>GL_ARB_transpose_matrix
286</ul>
287
Andreas Boll210a27d2012-06-12 09:05:36 +0200[diff] [blame]288<h2>Version 3.x features</h2>
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]289
290<p>
291Version 3.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.2 API with the following
292features:
293</p>
294<ul>
295<li>BGR, BGRA and packed pixel formats
296<li>New texture border clamp mode
297<li>glDrawRangeElements()
298<li>standard 3-D texturing
299<li>advanced MIPMAP control
300<li>separate specular color interpolation
301</ul>
302
303
Andreas Boll210a27d2012-06-12 09:05:36 +0200[diff] [blame]304<h2>Version 2.x features</h2>
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]305<p>
306Version 2.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.1 API with the following
307features.
308</p>
309<ul>
310<li>Texture mapping:
311 <ul>
312 <li>glAreTexturesResident
313 <li>glBindTexture
314 <li>glCopyTexImage1D
315 <li>glCopyTexImage2D
316 <li>glCopyTexSubImage1D
317 <li>glCopyTexSubImage2D
318 <li>glDeleteTextures
319 <li>glGenTextures
320 <li>glIsTexture
321 <li>glPrioritizeTextures
322 <li>glTexSubImage1D
323 <li>glTexSubImage2D
324 </ul>
325<li>Vertex Arrays:
326 <ul>
327 <li>glArrayElement
328 <li>glColorPointer
329 <li>glDrawElements
330 <li>glEdgeFlagPointer
331 <li>glIndexPointer
332 <li>glInterleavedArrays
333 <li>glNormalPointer
334 <li>glTexCoordPointer
335 <li>glVertexPointer
336 </ul>
337<li>Client state management:
338 <ul>
339 <li>glDisableClientState
340 <li>glEnableClientState
341 <li>glPopClientAttrib
342 <li>glPushClientAttrib
343 </ul>
344<li>Misc:
345 <ul>
346 <li>glGetPointer
347 <li>glIndexub
348 <li>glIndexubv
349 <li>glPolygonOffset
350 </ul>
351</ul>
352
Andreas Bollb5da52a2012-09-18 18:57:02 +0200[diff] [blame]353</div>
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]354</body>
355</html>