GLX_ARB_create_context Called For Pulling

Written by Michael Larabel in X.Org on 9 June 2012 at 02:30 PM EDT. 7 Comments
X.ORG
The GLX extension for specifying at context-creation time what OpenGL version and context properties will be used may finally enter the X.Org Server, which is important in supporting newer versions of OpenGL under Linux.

The patches for the X.Org Server to handle the GLX_ARB_create_context extension support have been floating around since late last year. The GLX_ARB_create_context support was authored by Ian Romanick at Intel. While the code has been around for over a half-year now, it didn't make it for the X.Org Server 1.12 release that was tagged in March, but it looks like it will finally be merged for X.Org Server 1.13. This next X.Org Server update is due out in early September.

On Friday is when Romanick emailed in the pull request to implement the GLX_ARB_create_context support with the necessary changes to the X.Org Server, but Keith Packard has yet to respond to this pull request. In total this is around 500 new lines of code for GLX. The ARB_create_context extension specification for those interested is available from OpenGL.org. This support is noteworthy since it's part of GL3 enablement.
With the advent of new versions of OpenGL which deprecate features and/or break backward compatibility with older versions, there is a need and desire to indicate at context creation which interface will be used. These extensions add a new context creation routine with attributes specifying the GL version and context properties requested for the context, and additionally add an attribute specifying the GL profile requested for a context of OpenGL 3.2 or later. It also allows making an OpenGL 3.0 or later context current without providing a default framebuffer.
It's too bad though that currently the Intel Linux driver is at OpenGL 3.0 while the Intel Windows driver is at OpenGL 4.0 for Ivy Bridge hardware.
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