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gerrit-public.fairphone.software / platform / external / mesa3d / ecd5c7ceb8e4c8841b2708e5ab7efa145583f8c2 / . / docs / intro.html
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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 Bollecd5c7c2012-06-12 09:05:03 +0200[diff] [blame^]10<h1>Introduction</h1>
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]11
12<p>
Brian4d864b02007-04-04 09:33:12 -0600[diff] [blame]13Mesa is an open-source implementation of the
14<a href="http://www.opengl.org/" target="_parent">OpenGL</a> specification -
15a system for rendering interactive 3D graphics.
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]16</p>
17
18<p>
Brian4d864b02007-04-04 09:33:12 -0600[diff] [blame]19A variety of device drivers allows Mesa to be used in many different
20environments ranging from software emulation to complete hardware acceleration
21for modern GPUs.
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]22</p>
23
24<p>
Brian4d864b02007-04-04 09:33:12 -0600[diff] [blame]25Mesa ties into several other open-source projects: the
Timo Jyrinki385d6b22008-08-26 12:36:39 -0600[diff] [blame]26<a href="http://dri.freedesktop.org/" target="_parent">Direct Rendering
27Infrastructure</a> and <a href="http://x.org" target="_parent">X.org</a> to
28provide OpenGL support to users of X on Linux, FreeBSD and other operating
29systems.
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]30</p>
31
32
Brian4d864b02007-04-04 09:33:12 -0600[diff] [blame]33
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]34<H1>Project History</H1>
35
36<p>
Brian4d864b02007-04-04 09:33:12 -0600[diff] [blame]37The Mesa project was originally started by Brian Paul.
38Here's a short history of the project.
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]39</p>
40
41<p>
42August, 1993: I begin working on Mesa in my spare time. The project
43has no name at that point. I was simply interested in writing a simple
443D graphics library that used the then-new OpenGL API. I was partially
45inspired by the <em>VOGL</em> library which emulated a subset of IRIS GL.
46I had been programming with IRIS GL since 1991.
47</p>
48
49<p>
50November 1994: I contact SGI to ask permission to distribute my OpenGL-like
51graphics library on the internet. SGI was generally receptive to the
52idea and after negotiations with SGI's legal department, I get permission
53to release it.
54</p>
55
56<p>
57February 1995: Mesa 1.0 is released on the internet. I expected that
58a few people would be interested in it, but not thousands.
59I was soon receiving patches, new features and thank-you notes on a
60daily basis. That encouraged me to continue working on Mesa. The
61name Mesa just popped into my head one day. SGI had asked me not to use
62the terms <em>"Open"</em> or <em>"GL"</em> in the project name and I didn't
63want to make up a new acronym. Later, I heard of the Mesa programming
64language and the Mesa spreadsheet for NeXTStep.
65</p>
66
67<p>
68In the early days, OpenGL wasn't available on too many systems.
69It even took a while for SGI to support it across their product line.
70Mesa filled a big hole during that time.
71For a lot of people, Mesa was their first introduction to OpenGL.
72I think SGI recognized that Mesa actually helped to promote
73the OpenGL API, so they didn't feel threatened by the project.
74</p>
75
76
77<p>
781995-1996: I continue working on Mesa both during my spare time and during
79my work hours at the Space Science and Engineering Center at the University
80of Wisconsin in Madison. My supervisor, Bill Hibbard, lets me do this because
81Mesa is now being using for the <a href="http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/%7Ebillh/vis.html" target="_parent">Vis5D</a> project.
82</p><p>
Brian Paul30aea492005-07-01 01:04:31 +0000[diff] [blame]83October 1996: Mesa 2.0 is released. It implements the OpenGL 1.1 specification.
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]84</p>
85
86<p>
87March 1997: Mesa 2.2 is released. It supports the new 3dfx Voodoo graphics
88card via the Glide library. It's the first really popular hardware OpenGL
89implementation for Linux.
90</p>
91
92<p>
93September 1998: Mesa 3.0 is released. It's the first publicly-available
94implementation of the OpenGL 1.2 API.
95</p>
96
97<p>
98March 1999: I attend my first OpenGL ARB meeting. I contribute to the
99development of several official OpenGL extensions over the years.
100</p>
101
102<p>
103September 1999: I'm hired by Precision Insight, Inc. Mesa is a key
104component of 3D hardware acceleration in the new DRI project for XFree86.
105Drivers for 3dfx, 3dLabs, Intel, Matrox and ATI hardware soon follow.
106</p>
107
108<p>
109October 2001: Mesa 4.0 is released.
110It implements the OpenGL 1.3 specification.
111</p>
112
113
114<p>
Brian Paul30cd76e2010-08-26 11:20:31 -0600[diff] [blame]115November 2001: I cofounded Tungsten Graphics, Inc. with Keith Whitwell,
116Jens Owen, David Dawes and Frank LaMonica.
117Tungsten Graphics was acquired by VMware in December 2008.
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]118</p>
119
120<p>
121November 2002: Mesa 5.0 is released.
122It implements the OpenGL 1.4 specification.
123</p>
124
125<p>
Brian Pauld7af11a2004-01-07 14:51:30 +0000[diff] [blame]126January 2003: Mesa 6.0 is released. It implements the OpenGL 1.5
127specification as well as the GL_ARB_vertex_program and
128GL_ARB_fragment_program extensions.
129</p>
130
Brianaf846712007-04-27 17:00:13 -0600[diff] [blame]131<p>
Brian02dd2222007-06-28 16:44:24 -0600[diff] [blame]132June 2007: Mesa 7.0 is released, implementing the OpenGL 2.1 specification
Brianaf846712007-04-27 17:00:13 -0600[diff] [blame]133and OpenGL Shading Language.
134</p>
135
Brian Paul0c14bbb2012-01-13 08:31:26 -0700[diff] [blame]136<p>
1372008: Keith Whitwell and other Tungsten Graphics employees develop
138<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallium3D" target="_parent">Gallium</a>
139- a new GPU abstraction layer. The latest Mesa drivers are based on
140Gallium and other APIs such as OpenVG are implemented on top of Gallium.
141</p>
Brian Pauld7af11a2004-01-07 14:51:30 +0000[diff] [blame]142
143<p>
Brian Paul0c14bbb2012-01-13 08:31:26 -0700[diff] [blame]144February 2012: Mesa 8.0 is released, implementing the OpenGL 3.0 specification
145and version 1.30 of the OpenGL Shading Language.
146</p>
147
148<p>
149Ongoing: Mesa is the OpenGL implementation for several types of hardware
150made by Intel, AMD and NVIDIA, plus the VMware virtual GPU.
151There's also several software-based renderers: swrast (the legacy
152Mesa rasterizer), softpipe (a gallium reference driver) and llvmpipe
153(LLVM/JIT-based high-speed rasterizer).
154Work continues on the drivers and core Mesa to implement newer versions
155of the OpenGL specification.
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]156</p>
157
158
159
160<H1>Major Versions</H1>
161
162<p>
Brianaf846712007-04-27 17:00:13 -0600[diff] [blame]163This is a summary of the major versions of Mesa.
164Mesa's major version number has been incremented whenever a new version
165of the OpenGL specification is implemented.
166</p>
167
168
Brian Paul0c14bbb2012-01-13 08:31:26 -0700[diff] [blame]169<H2>Version 8.x features</H2>
170<p>
171Version 8.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 3.0 API.
172The developers at Intel deserve a lot of credit for implementing most
173of the OpenGL 3.0 features in core Mesa, the GLSL compiler as well as
174the i965 driver.
175</p>
176
177
Brianaf846712007-04-27 17:00:13 -0600[diff] [blame]178<H2>Version 7.x features</H2>
179<p>
180Version 7.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 2.1 API. The main feature
181of OpenGL 2.x is the OpenGL Shading Language.
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]182</p>
183
184
Brian Pauld7af11a2004-01-07 14:51:30 +0000[diff] [blame]185<H2>Version 6.x features</H2>
186<p>
187Version 6.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.5 API with the following
188extensions incorporated as standard features:
189</p>
190<ul>
191<li>GL_ARB_occlusion_query
192<li>GL_ARB_vertex_buffer_object
Brian Pauld7af11a2004-01-07 14:51:30 +0000[diff] [blame]193<li>GL_EXT_shadow_funcs
194</ul>
195<p>
196Also note that several OpenGL tokens were renamed in OpenGL 1.5
Brian Paulb7c727e2005-08-19 16:57:50 +0000[diff] [blame]197for the sake of consistency.
198The old tokens are still available.
Brian Pauld7af11a2004-01-07 14:51:30 +0000[diff] [blame]199</p>
200<pre>
Brian Paulb7c727e2005-08-19 16:57:50 +0000[diff] [blame]201New Token Old Token
Brian Pauld7af11a2004-01-07 14:51:30 +0000[diff] [blame]202------------------------------------------------------------
203GL_FOG_COORD_SRC GL_FOG_COORDINATE_SOURCE
204GL_FOG_COORD GL_FOG_COORDINATE
205GL_CURRENT_FOG_COORD GL_CURRENT_FOG_COORDINATE
206GL_FOG_COORD_ARRAY_TYPE GL_FOG_COORDINATE_ARRAY_TYPE
207GL_FOG_COORD_ARRAY_STRIDE GL_FOG_COORDINATE_ARRAY_STRIDE
208GL_FOG_COORD_ARRAY_POINTER GL_FOG_COORDINATE_ARRAY_POINTER
209GL_FOG_COORD_ARRAY GL_FOG_COORDINATE_ARRAY
210GL_SRC0_RGB GL_SOURCE0_RGB
211GL_SRC1_RGB GL_SOURCE1_RGB
212GL_SRC2_RGB GL_SOURCE2_RGB
213GL_SRC0_ALPHA GL_SOURCE0_ALPHA
214GL_SRC1_ALPHA GL_SOURCE1_ALPHA
215GL_SRC2_ALPHA GL_SOURCE2_ALPHA
216</pre>
217<p>
218See the
219<a href="http://www.opengl.org/documentation/spec.html" target="_parent">
220OpenGL specification</a> for more details.
221</p>
222
223
224
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]225<H2>Version 5.x features</H2>
226<p>
227Version 5.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.4 API with the following
228extensions incorporated as standard features:
229</p>
230<ul>
231<li>GL_ARB_depth_texture
232<li>GL_ARB_shadow
233<li>GL_ARB_texture_env_crossbar
234<li>GL_ARB_texture_mirror_repeat
235<li>GL_ARB_window_pos
236<li>GL_EXT_blend_color
237<li>GL_EXT_blend_func_separate
238<li>GL_EXT_blend_logic_op
239<li>GL_EXT_blend_minmax
240<li>GL_EXT_blend_subtract
241<li>GL_EXT_fog_coord
242<li>GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays
243<li>GL_EXT_point_parameters
244<li>GL_EXT_secondary_color
245<li>GL_EXT_stencil_wrap
Brian Paul3a604da2003-08-28 03:10:00 +0000[diff] [blame]246<li>GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias (plus, a per-texture LOD bias parameter)
Brian Paul0b27ace2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000[diff] [blame]247<li>GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap
248</ul>
249
250
251<H2>Version 4.x features</H2>
252
253<p>
254Version 4.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.3 API with the following
255extensions incorporated as standard features:
256</p>
257
258<ul>
259<li>GL_ARB_multisample
260<li>GL_ARB_multitexture
261<li>GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp
262<li>GL_ARB_texture_compression
263<li>GL_ARB_texture_cube_map
264<li>GL_ARB_texture_env_add
265<li>GL_ARB_texture_env_combine
266<li>GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3
267<li>GL_ARB_transpose_matrix
268</ul>
269
270<H2>Version 3.x features</H2>
271
272<p>
273Version 3.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.2 API with the following
274features:
275</p>
276<ul>
277<li>BGR, BGRA and packed pixel formats
278<li>New texture border clamp mode
279<li>glDrawRangeElements()
280<li>standard 3-D texturing
281<li>advanced MIPMAP control
282<li>separate specular color interpolation
283</ul>
284
285
286<H2>Version 2.x features</H2>
287<p>
288Version 2.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.1 API with the following
289features.
290</p>
291<ul>
292<li>Texture mapping:
293 <ul>
294 <li>glAreTexturesResident
295 <li>glBindTexture
296 <li>glCopyTexImage1D
297 <li>glCopyTexImage2D
298 <li>glCopyTexSubImage1D
299 <li>glCopyTexSubImage2D
300 <li>glDeleteTextures
301 <li>glGenTextures
302 <li>glIsTexture
303 <li>glPrioritizeTextures
304 <li>glTexSubImage1D
305 <li>glTexSubImage2D
306 </ul>
307<li>Vertex Arrays:
308 <ul>
309 <li>glArrayElement
310 <li>glColorPointer
311 <li>glDrawElements
312 <li>glEdgeFlagPointer
313 <li>glIndexPointer
314 <li>glInterleavedArrays
315 <li>glNormalPointer
316 <li>glTexCoordPointer
317 <li>glVertexPointer
318 </ul>
319<li>Client state management:
320 <ul>
321 <li>glDisableClientState
322 <li>glEnableClientState
323 <li>glPopClientAttrib
324 <li>glPushClientAttrib
325 </ul>
326<li>Misc:
327 <ul>
328 <li>glGetPointer
329 <li>glIndexub
330 <li>glIndexubv
331 <li>glPolygonOffset
332 </ul>
333</ul>
334
335
336</body>
337</html>