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authorBrian Nguyen <brnguyen@nvidia.com>2013-08-12 13:12:10 -0700
committerbrnguyen <brnguyen@nvidia.com>2013-08-26 11:03:43 -0700
commitbb44b4b18bf594df930b58fdce145757485f0ba0 (patch)
tree10b4cdfb16976019aa23ed6a94eb9671cd418796 /README.md
parentc8f664587d884b22a84bb912d14119b11f3fc408 (diff)
Add README
This gives a brief overview of the code and instructions on building the prototype and running unit tests. This is based off of Andy Ritger's README in the original libGLX prototype library.
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+libglvnd: the GL Vendor-Neutral Dispatch library
+================================================
+
+Introduction
+------------
+
+This is a work-in-progress implementation of the vendor-neutral dispatch layer
+for arbitrating OpenGL API calls between multiple vendors on a per-screen basis,
+as described by Andy Ritger's OpenGL ABI proposal [1].
+
+Currently, only the GLX window-system API and OpenGL are supported, but in the
+future this library may support EGL and OpenGL ES as well.
+
+
+Building the library
+----------------------
+
+Run `./autogen.sh`. Run `./dbg_configure.sh` to build the library in debug
+mode, or `./configure` to build it in release mode. Finally, run `make`.
+
+
+Code overview
+-------------
+
+The code in the src/ directory is organized as follows:
+
+- GLX/ contains code for libGLX, the GLX window-system API library.
+- GLdispatch/ contains code for libGLdispatch, which is really just a thin
+ wrapper around Mesa's glapi that tries to hide most of the complexity of
+ managing dispatch tables. Its interface is defined in GLdispatch.h. This
+ implements the guts of the core GL API libraries.
+- EGL/ and GLESv{1,2}/ are placeholders for now. GLESv{1,2}/ will be filter
+ libraries on libGLdispatch, while EGL/ will contain libEGL, which may be
+ implemented similarly to libGLX.
+- GL/ and OpenGL/ respectively contain code to generate libGL and libOpenGL,
+ which are both merely filter libraries for libGLX and libGLdispatch.
+- util/ contains generic utility code, and arch/ contains architecture-specific
+ defines.
+
+There are a few good starting points for familiarizing oneself with the code:
+
+- Look at the vendor-library to GLX ABI defined in `libglxabi.h`.
+- Follow the flow of `glXGetProcAddress() -> __glDispatchGetProcAddress() ->
+ __glapi_get_proc_address()` to see how the dispatch table is updated as new GL
+ stubs are generated, and how GLX looks for vendor-library-implemented
+ dispatchers for GLX extension functions.
+- Follow the flow of `glXMakeContextCurrent() -> __glDispatchMakeCurrent() ->
+ _glapi_set_current()` to see how the current dispatch table and state is
+ updated by the API library.
+- Look at `libglxmapping.c:__glXLookupVendorBy{Name,Screen}()` to see how
+ vendor library names are queried. At the same time, look at
+ x11glvnd{client,server}.c to see how the "GLVendor" extension which
+ retrieves the appropriate mappings is implemented.
+
+The tests/ directory contains several unit tests which verify that dispatching
+to different vendors actually works. Run `make check` to run these unit tests.
+Note some of the unit tests require a special environment that can only be set
+up if X is not currently running. To skip these tests (and environment
+initialization/teardown), run `make check SKIP_ENV_INIT=1`.
+
+Architecture
+------------
+
+The library organization differs slightly from that of Andy's original proposal.
+See the diagram below:
+
+<pre>
+ ┌──────────────────────────────────┐
+ │ │
+ ┌─────┤ Application │
+ │ │ │
+ │ └─────┬───────────────────┬────────┘
+ │ │ │
+ │ ┌─────▾─────┐ │ ┌──────────────┐
+ │ │ │ │ │ │
+ │ │ libOpenGL │ │ │ │
+ │ │ │ │ │ X server │
+ │ └─────┬─────┘ │ │ │
+ │ DT_FILTER │ │ │
+ │ ┌─────▾──────────┐ ┌──────▾────────┐ │ ┌──────────┐ │
+ │ │ │ │ │ └─│GLVendor │─┘
+ │ │ [mapi/glapi] ◂─▸ │ │extension │
+ │ │ libGLdispatch │ │ libGLX ├─────────────▸──────────┘
+ │ │ │ │ ◂──────────┬─────────────────┐
+ │ └───────▴────────┘ └──────▴────────┘ │ │
+ │ DT_FILTER DT_FILTER ┌─▾─────────┐ ┌───▾────────┐
+ │ ┌───────┴─────────────────┴────────┐ │ │ │ │
+ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
+ └─────▸ libGL │ │ GLX_vendor│ │ GLX_vendor2│
+ └──────────────────────────────────┘ │ │ │ │
+ └───────────┘ └────────────┘
+</pre>
+
+In this diagram,
+
+* `A ───▸ B` indicates that module A calls into module B.
+* `A ── DT_FILTER ──▸ B` indicates that DSO A is a filter library on DSO B, and
+ symbols exported by A are resolved via ELF symbol filtering to entrypoints in
+ B.
+
+libGLX manages loading GLX vendor libraries and dispatching GLX core and
+extension functions to the right vendor.
+
+GLVendor is a simple X extension which allows libGLX to determine the number of
+the screen belonging to an arbitrary drawable XID, and also the GL vendor to use
+for a given screen.
+
+libGLdispatch implements core GL dispatching and TLS. It acts as a thin wrapper
+around glapi which provides some higher-level functionality for managing
+dispatch tables, requesting vendor proc addresses, and making current to a given
+context + dispatch table. This is a separate library rather than statically
+linked into libGLX, since current dispatch tables will eventually be shared
+between GLX and EGL, similarly to how glapi operates when Mesa is compiled with
+the --shared-glapi option.
+
+libOpenGL is a filter library on libGLdispatch which exposes OpenGL 4.x core and
+compatibility entry points. Eventually, there will be a libGLESv{1,2} which will
+also be filter libraries on libGLdispatch that expose GLES entry points.
+
+libGL is a filter library on libGLdispatch and libGLX which is provided for
+backwards-compatibility with applications which link against the old ABI.
+
+NOTE: Logically, libGL should be a filter library on libOpenGL rather than
+libGLdispatch, as libGLdispatch is an implementation detail. The current
+arrangement is in place to work around a loader bug (present on at least ld.so
+v.2.12) where symbols in libGL don't properly resolve to libGLdispatch symbols
+if it filters libOpenGL instead of libGLdispatch.
+
+### GLX dispatching ###
+
+Unlike core OpenGL functions, whose vendor can be determined from the current
+context, many GLX functions are context-independent. In order to successfully
+map GLX API calls to the right vendor, we use the following strategy:
+
+* Most GLX entry points specify (either explicitly, or implicitly) an
+ X screen.
+
+* On a per-entry point basis, dispatch the call to the
+ `libGLX_VENDOR.so` for that screen.
+
+* The first time `libGLX.so` gets called with a unique combination of X
+ Display + screen, do the following:
+
+ * Use the Display connection to query the X server for the GLX
+ vendor of that X screen.
+
+ * Load the correspending `libGLX_VENDOR.so`.
+
+ * Read the vendor's GLX dispatch table from the `libGLX_VENDOR.so`.
+
+ * Cache that Display + screen <=> vendor dispatch table mapping, for
+ use in subsequent dispatching.
+
+* Some GLX entry points imply an X screen by a GLX object they
+ specify. Such GLX objects are:
+
+ GLXContext (an opaque pointer)
+ GLXFBConfig (an opaque pointer)
+ GLXPixmap (an XID)
+ GLXDrawable (an XID)
+ GLXWindow (an XID)
+ GLXPbuffer (an XID)
+
+ To map from object to screen, record the corresponding screen when
+ the object is created. This means the current process needs to see
+ a GLX call to create the object. In the case of the opaque
+ pointers, this is reasonable, since the pointer is only meaningful
+ within the current process. But XIDs could be created by another
+ process. See the Issues section below.
+
+* To minimize code complexity from error checking, define a noop GLX
+ dispatch table. This is returned by `__glXGet{,Current}Dispatch()` in
+ case no other dispatch table can be found.
+
+* Similarly, `__glXScreenFrom{Context,FBConfig,Drawable}()` may fail to
+ find a screen matching the specified GLX object. In this case, the
+ returned screen number is -1, but the caller should just pass the
+ screen number through to `__glXGetDispatch()` or
+ `__glX{Add,Remove}Screen{Context,FBConfig,Drawable}Mapping()`. Those
+ functions are expected to deal gracefully with the invalid screen
+ number.
+
+Issues
+------
+
+* The library currently indirectly associates a drawable with a vendor,
+ by first mapping a drawable to its screen, then mapping the screen to its
+ vendor. However, it may make sense in render offload scenarios to allow direct
+ mapping from drawables to vendors, so multiple vendors could potentially
+ operate on drawables in the same screen. The problem with this is that several
+ GLX functions, such as glXChooseFBConfig(), explicitly refer to screens, and
+ so it becomes a gray area which vendor the call should be dispatched to. Given
+ this issue, does it still make more sense to use a direct drawable to vendor
+ mapping? How would this be implemented? Should we add new API calls to "GLX
+ Next"?
+
+* Along the same lines, would it be useful to include a
+ "glXGetProcAddressFromVendor()" or "glXGetProcAddressFromScreen()" entrypoint
+ in a new GLX version to obviate the need for this library in future
+ applications?
+
+* Global state is required by both libGLX.so and libGLdispatch.so for various
+ purposes, and needs to be protected by locks in multithreaded environments.
+ Is it reasonable for the vendor-neutral library to depend on pthreads for
+ implementing these locks?
+
+ While there is no harm in having the API libraries link against pthreads even
+ if the application does not, we would like to avoid pthread locking overhead
+ if the application is single-threaded. Hence, this library uses a
+ `glvnd_pthread` wrapper library which provides single-threaded fallbacks for
+ applications which are not linked against pthreads. It is expected that
+ multi-threaded applications will either statically link against pthreads, or
+ load pthreads prior to loading libGL.
+
+* Is using a hash table to store GLX extension entrypoints performant enough for
+ dispatching? Should we be using a flat array instead?
+
+* How should malloc(3) failures be handled?
+
+* How should forking be handled?
+
+* Should we map XIDs directly to vendors, rather than to screens?
+
+* The current libGLX implementation stores the mapping between screen and all
+ objects of the same type in one hash table. I.e., all pointer types
+ (GLXContext and GLXFBConfig) in one table, and all XID types (GLXDrawable,
+ GLXPixmap, GLXWindow, and GLXPbuffer) in another table. Should there instead
+ be more finer-grained hash tables? There probably couldn't be finer-grained
+ tables for XIDs, because GLXDrawable is used interchangably with the other
+ XID-based types.
+
+* The issue above applies to XIDs in the x11glvnd extension as well: we
+ currently don't make any distinction between window, GLX pixmap, GLX window, or
+ GLX pbuffer XIDs.
+
+* Querying an XID <=> screen mapping without somehow "locking" the XID is
+ inherently racy, since a different process may destroy the drawable, and X
+ may recycle the XID, after the mapping is saved client-side. Is there a mechanism
+ we could use to notify the API library when a mapping is no longer valid?
+
+* Currently the library does not attempt to clean up allocations and
+ unload vendor libraries if the application unloads it. This will need to be
+ implemented eventually for the library to be usable in a production
+ environment. What will the sequencing of this look like? Should we also hook
+ into XCloseDisplay()?
+
+* Should x11glvnd be an extension on top of GLX 1.4, or a "GLX Next" feature?
+
+TODO
+----
+
+* Refactor so the core OpenGL dispatch table, and the vendor-library ABI exposed
+ to manipulate this table, is independent of the libGLX ABI.
+
+* Fix glXGetClientString() to take a real "union" of strings, rather than just
+ concatenating them.
+
+* Implement libEGL, and libGLESv{1,2}.
+
+* Root-cause and fix the loader bug that prevents libGL from filtering libOpenGL
+ rather than libGLdispatch to pick up core GL symbols.
+
+* Currently, running "ldd libGL.so" fails with the following assertion (for ldd
+ v.2.15 on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS):
+
+ Inconsistency detected by ld.so: dl-deps.c: 592: _dl_map_object_deps:
+ Assertion `map->l_searchlist.r_list[0] == map' failed!
+
+ Root-cause and fix this bug.
+
+References
+----------
+
+[1] https://github.com/aritger/linux-opengl-abi-proposal/blob/master/linux-opengl-abi-proposal.txt
+
+Acknowledgements
+-------
+
+Thanks to Andy Ritger for the original libGLX implementation and README
+documentation.
+
+### X.Org ###
+
+libglvnd contains list.h, a linked list implementation from the X.Org project.
+Source code from the X.Org project is available from:
+
+ http://cgit.freedesktop.org/xorg/xserver
+
+list.h carries the following license:
+
+ Copyright © 2010 Intel Corporation
+ Copyright © 2010 Francisco Jerez <currojerez@riseup.net>
+
+ Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
+ copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"),
+ to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation
+ the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense,
+ and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
+ Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+
+ The above copyright notice and this permission notice (including the next
+ paragraph) shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the
+ Software.
+
+ THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+ IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+ FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL
+ THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+ LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING
+ FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS
+ IN THE SOFTWARE.
+
+### Mesa ###
+
+libglvnd contains code from the Mesa project. Source code from the Mesa project
+is available from:
+
+ http://cgit.freedesktop.org/mesa/mesa
+
+The default Mesa license is as follows:
+
+ Copyright (C) 1999-2007 Brian Paul All Rights Reserved.
+
+ Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
+ copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"),
+ to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation
+ the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense,
+ and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
+ Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+
+ The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included
+ in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+ THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS
+ OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+ FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL
+ BRIAN PAUL BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN
+ AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN
+ CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
+
+### uthash ###
+
+libglvnd uses the hash table implementation 'uthash':
+
+ http://troydhanson.github.io/uthash/
+
+This library carries the following copyright notice:
+
+ Copyright (c) 2005-2013, Troy D. Hanson
+ http://troydhanson.github.com/uthash/
+ All rights reserved.
+
+ Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
+ modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
+
+ * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
+ notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
+
+ THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS
+ IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED
+ TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A
+ PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER
+ OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL,
+ EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
+ PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR
+ PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF
+ LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING
+ NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS
+ SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
+
+### buildconf ###
+
+libglvnd uses the buildconf autotools bootstrapping script 'autogen.sh':
+
+ http://freecode.com/projects/buildconf
+
+This script carries the following copyright notice:
+
+ Copyright (c) 2005-2009 United States Government as represented by
+ the U.S. Army Research Laboratory.
+
+ Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
+ modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
+ are met:
+
+ 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
+ notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
+
+ 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above
+ copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following
+ disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided
+ with the distribution.
+
+ 3. The name of the author may not be used to endorse or promote
+ products derived from this software without specific prior written
+ permission.
+
+ THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS
+ OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
+ WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
+ ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY
+ DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
+ DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE
+ GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS
+ INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY,
+ WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING
+ NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS
+ SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
+
+### ax-pthread ###
+
+libglvnd uses the `AX_PTHREAD` autoconf macro for detecting pthreads.
+The implementation of this macro carries the following license:
+
+ Copyright (c) 2008 Steven G. Johnson <stevenj@alum.mit.edu>
+ Copyright (c) 2011 Daniel Richard G. <skunk@iSKUNK.ORG>
+
+ This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+ under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
+ Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your
+ option) any later version.
+
+ This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+ WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General
+ Public License for more details.
+
+ You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
+ with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+ As a special exception, the respective Autoconf Macro's copyright owner
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+
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