1848b8605Smrg<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> 2848b8605Smrg<html lang="en"> 3848b8605Smrg<head> 4848b8605Smrg <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> 5848b8605Smrg <title>Mesa Introduction</title> 6848b8605Smrg <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="mesa.css"> 7848b8605Smrg</head> 8848b8605Smrg<body> 9848b8605Smrg 10848b8605Smrg<div class="header"> 11848b8605Smrg <h1>The Mesa 3D Graphics Library</h1> 12848b8605Smrg</div> 13848b8605Smrg 14848b8605Smrg<iframe src="contents.html"></iframe> 15848b8605Smrg<div class="content"> 16848b8605Smrg 17848b8605Smrg<h1>Introduction</h1> 18848b8605Smrg 19848b8605Smrg<p> 20b8e80941SmrgThe Mesa project began as an open-source implementation of the 21b8e80941Smrg<a href="https://www.opengl.org/">OpenGL</a> specification - 22848b8605Smrga system for rendering interactive 3D graphics. 23848b8605Smrg</p> 24848b8605Smrg 25848b8605Smrg<p> 26b8e80941SmrgOver the years the project has grown to implement more graphics APIs, 27b8e80941Smrgincluding 28b8e80941Smrg<a href="https://www.khronos.org/opengles/">OpenGL ES</a> (versions 1, 2, 3), 29b8e80941Smrg<a href="https://www.khronos.org/opencl/">OpenCL</a>, 30b8e80941Smrg<a href="https://www.khronos.org/openmax/">OpenMAX</a>, 31b8e80941Smrg<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VDPAU">VDPAU</a>, 32b8e80941Smrg<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Acceleration_API">VA API</a>, 33b8e80941Smrg<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Video_Motion_Compensation">XvMC</a> and 34b8e80941Smrg<a href="https://www.khronos.org/vulkan/">Vulkan</a>. 35848b8605Smrg</p> 36848b8605Smrg 37848b8605Smrg<p> 38b8e80941SmrgA variety of device drivers allows the Mesa libraries to be used in many 39b8e80941Smrgdifferent environments ranging from software emulation to complete hardware 40b8e80941Smrgacceleration for modern GPUs. 41b8e80941Smrg</p> 42b8e80941Smrg 43b8e80941Smrg<p> 44b8e80941SmrgMesa ties into several other open-source projects: the 45b8e80941Smrg<a href="https://dri.freedesktop.org/">Direct Rendering 46b8e80941SmrgInfrastructure</a> and <a href="https://x.org">X.org</a> to 47b8e80941Smrgprovide OpenGL support on Linux, FreeBSD and other operating 48848b8605Smrgsystems. 49848b8605Smrg</p> 50848b8605Smrg 51848b8605Smrg 52848b8605Smrg 53848b8605Smrg<h1>Project History</h1> 54848b8605Smrg 55848b8605Smrg<p> 56848b8605SmrgThe Mesa project was originally started by Brian Paul. 57848b8605SmrgHere's a short history of the project. 58848b8605Smrg</p> 59848b8605Smrg 60848b8605Smrg<p> 61848b8605SmrgAugust, 1993: I begin working on Mesa in my spare time. The project 62848b8605Smrghas no name at that point. I was simply interested in writing a simple 63848b8605Smrg3D graphics library that used the then-new OpenGL API. I was partially 64848b8605Smrginspired by the <em>VOGL</em> library which emulated a subset of IRIS GL. 65848b8605SmrgI had been programming with IRIS GL since 1991. 66848b8605Smrg</p> 67848b8605Smrg 68848b8605Smrg<p> 69848b8605SmrgNovember 1994: I contact SGI to ask permission to distribute my OpenGL-like 70848b8605Smrggraphics library on the internet. SGI was generally receptive to the 71848b8605Smrgidea and after negotiations with SGI's legal department, I get permission 72848b8605Smrgto release it. 73848b8605Smrg</p> 74848b8605Smrg 75848b8605Smrg<p> 76848b8605SmrgFebruary 1995: Mesa 1.0 is released on the internet. I expected that 77848b8605Smrga few people would be interested in it, but not thousands. 78848b8605SmrgI was soon receiving patches, new features and thank-you notes on a 79848b8605Smrgdaily basis. That encouraged me to continue working on Mesa. The 80848b8605Smrgname Mesa just popped into my head one day. SGI had asked me not to use 81848b8605Smrgthe terms <em>"Open"</em> or <em>"GL"</em> in the project name and I didn't 82848b8605Smrgwant to make up a new acronym. Later, I heard of the Mesa programming 83848b8605Smrglanguage and the Mesa spreadsheet for NeXTStep. 84848b8605Smrg</p> 85848b8605Smrg 86848b8605Smrg<p> 87848b8605SmrgIn the early days, OpenGL wasn't available on too many systems. 88848b8605SmrgIt even took a while for SGI to support it across their product line. 89848b8605SmrgMesa filled a big hole during that time. 90848b8605SmrgFor a lot of people, Mesa was their first introduction to OpenGL. 91848b8605SmrgI think SGI recognized that Mesa actually helped to promote 92848b8605Smrgthe OpenGL API, so they didn't feel threatened by the project. 93848b8605Smrg</p> 94848b8605Smrg 95848b8605Smrg 96848b8605Smrg<p> 97848b8605Smrg1995-1996: I continue working on Mesa both during my spare time and during 98848b8605Smrgmy work hours at the Space Science and Engineering Center at the University 99848b8605Smrgof Wisconsin in Madison. My supervisor, Bill Hibbard, lets me do this because 100b8e80941SmrgMesa is now being using for the <a href="https://www.ssec.wisc.edu/%7Ebillh/vis.html">Vis5D</a> project. 101848b8605Smrg</p><p> 102848b8605SmrgOctober 1996: Mesa 2.0 is released. It implements the OpenGL 1.1 specification. 103848b8605Smrg</p> 104848b8605Smrg 105848b8605Smrg<p> 106848b8605SmrgMarch 1997: Mesa 2.2 is released. It supports the new 3dfx Voodoo graphics 107848b8605Smrgcard via the Glide library. It's the first really popular hardware OpenGL 108848b8605Smrgimplementation for Linux. 109848b8605Smrg</p> 110848b8605Smrg 111848b8605Smrg<p> 112848b8605SmrgSeptember 1998: Mesa 3.0 is released. It's the first publicly-available 113848b8605Smrgimplementation of the OpenGL 1.2 API. 114848b8605Smrg</p> 115848b8605Smrg 116848b8605Smrg<p> 117848b8605SmrgMarch 1999: I attend my first OpenGL ARB meeting. I contribute to the 118848b8605Smrgdevelopment of several official OpenGL extensions over the years. 119848b8605Smrg</p> 120848b8605Smrg 121848b8605Smrg<p> 122848b8605SmrgSeptember 1999: I'm hired by Precision Insight, Inc. Mesa is a key 123848b8605Smrgcomponent of 3D hardware acceleration in the new DRI project for XFree86. 124848b8605SmrgDrivers for 3dfx, 3dLabs, Intel, Matrox and ATI hardware soon follow. 125848b8605Smrg</p> 126848b8605Smrg 127848b8605Smrg<p> 128848b8605SmrgOctober 2001: Mesa 4.0 is released. 129848b8605SmrgIt implements the OpenGL 1.3 specification. 130848b8605Smrg</p> 131848b8605Smrg 132848b8605Smrg 133848b8605Smrg<p> 134848b8605SmrgNovember 2001: I cofounded Tungsten Graphics, Inc. with Keith Whitwell, 135848b8605SmrgJens Owen, David Dawes and Frank LaMonica. 136848b8605SmrgTungsten Graphics was acquired by VMware in December 2008. 137848b8605Smrg</p> 138848b8605Smrg 139848b8605Smrg<p> 140848b8605SmrgNovember 2002: Mesa 5.0 is released. 141848b8605SmrgIt implements the OpenGL 1.4 specification. 142848b8605Smrg</p> 143848b8605Smrg 144848b8605Smrg<p> 145848b8605SmrgJanuary 2003: Mesa 6.0 is released. It implements the OpenGL 1.5 146848b8605Smrgspecification as well as the GL_ARB_vertex_program and 147848b8605SmrgGL_ARB_fragment_program extensions. 148848b8605Smrg</p> 149848b8605Smrg 150848b8605Smrg<p> 151848b8605SmrgJune 2007: Mesa 7.0 is released, implementing the OpenGL 2.1 specification 152848b8605Smrgand OpenGL Shading Language. 153848b8605Smrg</p> 154848b8605Smrg 155848b8605Smrg<p> 156848b8605Smrg2008: Keith Whitwell and other Tungsten Graphics employees develop 157b8e80941Smrg<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallium3D">Gallium</a> 158848b8605Smrg- a new GPU abstraction layer. The latest Mesa drivers are based on 159848b8605SmrgGallium and other APIs such as OpenVG are implemented on top of Gallium. 160848b8605Smrg</p> 161848b8605Smrg 162848b8605Smrg<p> 163848b8605SmrgFebruary 2012: Mesa 8.0 is released, implementing the OpenGL 3.0 specification 164848b8605Smrgand version 1.30 of the OpenGL Shading Language. 165848b8605Smrg</p> 166848b8605Smrg 167848b8605Smrg<p> 168b8e80941SmrgJuly 2016: Mesa 12.0 is released, including OpenGL 4.3 support and initial 169b8e80941Smrgsupport for Vulkan for Intel GPUs. Plus, there's another gallium software 170b8e80941Smrgdriver ("swr") based on LLVM and developed by Intel. 171b8e80941Smrg</p> 172b8e80941Smrg 173b8e80941Smrg<p> 174b8e80941SmrgOngoing: Mesa is the OpenGL implementation for devices designed by 175b8e80941SmrgIntel, AMD, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, Broadcom, Vivante, plus the VMware and 176b8e80941SmrgVirGL virtual GPUs. 177848b8605SmrgThere's also several software-based renderers: swrast (the legacy 178b8e80941SmrgMesa rasterizer), softpipe (a gallium reference driver), llvmpipe 179b8e80941Smrg(LLVM/JIT-based high-speed rasterizer) and swr (another LLVM-based driver). 180b8e80941Smrg</p> 181b8e80941Smrg<p> 182848b8605SmrgWork continues on the drivers and core Mesa to implement newer versions 183b8e80941Smrgof the OpenGL, OpenGL ES and Vulkan specifications. 184848b8605Smrg</p> 185848b8605Smrg 186848b8605Smrg 187848b8605Smrg 188848b8605Smrg<h1>Major Versions</h1> 189848b8605Smrg 190848b8605Smrg<p> 191848b8605SmrgThis is a summary of the major versions of Mesa. 192848b8605SmrgMesa's major version number has been incremented whenever a new version 193848b8605Smrgof the OpenGL specification is implemented. 194848b8605Smrg</p> 195848b8605Smrg 196848b8605Smrg 197b8e80941Smrg<h2>Version 12.x features</h2> 198b8e80941Smrg<p> 199b8e80941SmrgVersion 12.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 4.3 API, but not all drivers 200b8e80941Smrgsupport OpenGL 4.3. 201b8e80941Smrg</p> 202b8e80941Smrg<p> 203b8e80941SmrgInitial support for Vulkan is also included. 204b8e80941Smrg</p> 205b8e80941Smrg 206b8e80941Smrg 207b8e80941Smrg<h2>Version 11.x features</h2> 208b8e80941Smrg<p> 209b8e80941SmrgVersion 11.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 4.1 API, but not all drivers 210b8e80941Smrgsupport OpenGL 4.1. 211b8e80941Smrg</p> 212b8e80941Smrg 213b8e80941Smrg 214b8e80941Smrg<h2>Version 10.x features</h2> 215b8e80941Smrg<p> 216b8e80941SmrgVersion 10.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 3.3 API, but not all drivers 217b8e80941Smrgsupport OpenGL 3.3. 218b8e80941Smrg</p> 219b8e80941Smrg 220b8e80941Smrg 221848b8605Smrg<h2>Version 9.x features</h2> 222848b8605Smrg<p> 223848b8605SmrgVersion 9.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 3.1 API. 224848b8605SmrgWhile the driver for Intel Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge is the only 225848b8605Smrgdriver to support OpenGL 3.1, many developers across the open-source 226848b8605Smrgcommunity contributed features required for OpenGL 3.1. The primary 227848b8605Smrgfeatures added since the Mesa 8.0 release are 228848b8605SmrgGL_ARB_texture_buffer_object and GL_ARB_uniform_buffer_object. 229848b8605Smrg</p> 230b8e80941Smrg<p> 231b8e80941SmrgVersion 9.0 of Mesa also included the first release of the Clover state 232b8e80941Smrgtracker for OpenCL. 233b8e80941Smrg</p> 234848b8605Smrg 235848b8605Smrg 236848b8605Smrg<h2>Version 8.x features</h2> 237848b8605Smrg<p> 238848b8605SmrgVersion 8.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 3.0 API. 239848b8605SmrgThe developers at Intel deserve a lot of credit for implementing most 240848b8605Smrgof the OpenGL 3.0 features in core Mesa, the GLSL compiler as well as 241848b8605Smrgthe i965 driver. 242848b8605Smrg</p> 243848b8605Smrg 244848b8605Smrg 245848b8605Smrg<h2>Version 7.x features</h2> 246848b8605Smrg<p> 247848b8605SmrgVersion 7.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 2.1 API. The main feature 248848b8605Smrgof OpenGL 2.x is the OpenGL Shading Language. 249848b8605Smrg</p> 250848b8605Smrg 251848b8605Smrg 252848b8605Smrg<h2>Version 6.x features</h2> 253848b8605Smrg<p> 254848b8605SmrgVersion 6.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.5 API with the following 255848b8605Smrgextensions incorporated as standard features: 256848b8605Smrg</p> 257848b8605Smrg<ul> 258848b8605Smrg<li>GL_ARB_occlusion_query 259848b8605Smrg<li>GL_ARB_vertex_buffer_object 260848b8605Smrg<li>GL_EXT_shadow_funcs 261848b8605Smrg</ul> 262848b8605Smrg<p> 263848b8605SmrgAlso note that several OpenGL tokens were renamed in OpenGL 1.5 264848b8605Smrgfor the sake of consistency. 265848b8605SmrgThe old tokens are still available. 266848b8605Smrg</p> 267848b8605Smrg<pre> 268848b8605SmrgNew Token Old Token 269848b8605Smrg------------------------------------------------------------ 270848b8605SmrgGL_FOG_COORD_SRC GL_FOG_COORDINATE_SOURCE 271848b8605SmrgGL_FOG_COORD GL_FOG_COORDINATE 272848b8605SmrgGL_CURRENT_FOG_COORD GL_CURRENT_FOG_COORDINATE 273848b8605SmrgGL_FOG_COORD_ARRAY_TYPE GL_FOG_COORDINATE_ARRAY_TYPE 274848b8605SmrgGL_FOG_COORD_ARRAY_STRIDE GL_FOG_COORDINATE_ARRAY_STRIDE 275848b8605SmrgGL_FOG_COORD_ARRAY_POINTER GL_FOG_COORDINATE_ARRAY_POINTER 276848b8605SmrgGL_FOG_COORD_ARRAY GL_FOG_COORDINATE_ARRAY 277848b8605SmrgGL_SRC0_RGB GL_SOURCE0_RGB 278848b8605SmrgGL_SRC1_RGB GL_SOURCE1_RGB 279848b8605SmrgGL_SRC2_RGB GL_SOURCE2_RGB 280848b8605SmrgGL_SRC0_ALPHA GL_SOURCE0_ALPHA 281848b8605SmrgGL_SRC1_ALPHA GL_SOURCE1_ALPHA 282848b8605SmrgGL_SRC2_ALPHA GL_SOURCE2_ALPHA 283848b8605Smrg</pre> 284848b8605Smrg<p> 285848b8605SmrgSee the 286b8e80941Smrg<a href="https://www.opengl.org/documentation/spec.html"> 287848b8605SmrgOpenGL specification</a> for more details. 288848b8605Smrg</p> 289848b8605Smrg 290848b8605Smrg 291848b8605Smrg 292848b8605Smrg<h2>Version 5.x features</h2> 293848b8605Smrg<p> 294848b8605SmrgVersion 5.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.4 API with the following 295848b8605Smrgextensions incorporated as standard features: 296848b8605Smrg</p> 297848b8605Smrg<ul> 298848b8605Smrg<li>GL_ARB_depth_texture 299848b8605Smrg<li>GL_ARB_shadow 300848b8605Smrg<li>GL_ARB_texture_env_crossbar 301848b8605Smrg<li>GL_ARB_texture_mirror_repeat 302848b8605Smrg<li>GL_ARB_window_pos 303848b8605Smrg<li>GL_EXT_blend_color 304848b8605Smrg<li>GL_EXT_blend_func_separate 305848b8605Smrg<li>GL_EXT_blend_logic_op 306848b8605Smrg<li>GL_EXT_blend_minmax 307848b8605Smrg<li>GL_EXT_blend_subtract 308848b8605Smrg<li>GL_EXT_fog_coord 309848b8605Smrg<li>GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays 310848b8605Smrg<li>GL_EXT_point_parameters 311848b8605Smrg<li>GL_EXT_secondary_color 312848b8605Smrg<li>GL_EXT_stencil_wrap 313848b8605Smrg<li>GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias (plus, a per-texture LOD bias parameter) 314848b8605Smrg<li>GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap 315848b8605Smrg</ul> 316848b8605Smrg 317848b8605Smrg 318848b8605Smrg<h2>Version 4.x features</h2> 319848b8605Smrg 320848b8605Smrg<p> 321848b8605SmrgVersion 4.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.3 API with the following 322848b8605Smrgextensions incorporated as standard features: 323848b8605Smrg</p> 324848b8605Smrg 325848b8605Smrg<ul> 326848b8605Smrg<li>GL_ARB_multisample 327848b8605Smrg<li>GL_ARB_multitexture 328848b8605Smrg<li>GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp 329848b8605Smrg<li>GL_ARB_texture_compression 330848b8605Smrg<li>GL_ARB_texture_cube_map 331848b8605Smrg<li>GL_ARB_texture_env_add 332848b8605Smrg<li>GL_ARB_texture_env_combine 333848b8605Smrg<li>GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3 334848b8605Smrg<li>GL_ARB_transpose_matrix 335848b8605Smrg</ul> 336848b8605Smrg 337848b8605Smrg<h2>Version 3.x features</h2> 338848b8605Smrg 339848b8605Smrg<p> 340848b8605SmrgVersion 3.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.2 API with the following 341848b8605Smrgfeatures: 342848b8605Smrg</p> 343848b8605Smrg<ul> 344848b8605Smrg<li>BGR, BGRA and packed pixel formats 345848b8605Smrg<li>New texture border clamp mode 346848b8605Smrg<li>glDrawRangeElements() 347848b8605Smrg<li>standard 3-D texturing 348848b8605Smrg<li>advanced MIPMAP control 349848b8605Smrg<li>separate specular color interpolation 350848b8605Smrg</ul> 351848b8605Smrg 352848b8605Smrg 353848b8605Smrg<h2>Version 2.x features</h2> 354848b8605Smrg<p> 355848b8605SmrgVersion 2.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.1 API with the following 356848b8605Smrgfeatures. 357848b8605Smrg</p> 358848b8605Smrg<ul> 359848b8605Smrg<li>Texture mapping: 360848b8605Smrg <ul> 361848b8605Smrg <li>glAreTexturesResident 362848b8605Smrg <li>glBindTexture 363848b8605Smrg <li>glCopyTexImage1D 364848b8605Smrg <li>glCopyTexImage2D 365848b8605Smrg <li>glCopyTexSubImage1D 366848b8605Smrg <li>glCopyTexSubImage2D 367848b8605Smrg <li>glDeleteTextures 368848b8605Smrg <li>glGenTextures 369848b8605Smrg <li>glIsTexture 370848b8605Smrg <li>glPrioritizeTextures 371848b8605Smrg <li>glTexSubImage1D 372848b8605Smrg <li>glTexSubImage2D 373848b8605Smrg </ul> 374848b8605Smrg<li>Vertex Arrays: 375848b8605Smrg <ul> 376848b8605Smrg <li>glArrayElement 377848b8605Smrg <li>glColorPointer 378848b8605Smrg <li>glDrawElements 379848b8605Smrg <li>glEdgeFlagPointer 380848b8605Smrg <li>glIndexPointer 381848b8605Smrg <li>glInterleavedArrays 382848b8605Smrg <li>glNormalPointer 383848b8605Smrg <li>glTexCoordPointer 384848b8605Smrg <li>glVertexPointer 385848b8605Smrg </ul> 386848b8605Smrg<li>Client state management: 387848b8605Smrg <ul> 388848b8605Smrg <li>glDisableClientState 389848b8605Smrg <li>glEnableClientState 390848b8605Smrg <li>glPopClientAttrib 391848b8605Smrg <li>glPushClientAttrib 392848b8605Smrg </ul> 393848b8605Smrg<li>Misc: 394848b8605Smrg <ul> 395848b8605Smrg <li>glGetPointer 396848b8605Smrg <li>glIndexub 397848b8605Smrg <li>glIndexubv 398848b8605Smrg <li>glPolygonOffset 399848b8605Smrg </ul> 400848b8605Smrg</ul> 401848b8605Smrg 402848b8605Smrg</div> 403848b8605Smrg</body> 404848b8605Smrg</html> 405