The OpenGL Support State For Mesa 8.1

Mesa 8.1 is set to be released in August as a major six-month update to this important open-source user-space graphics driver stack. Here's a look at the OpenGL support level.

On supported hardware/drivers -- like Mesa 8.0 -- the OpenGL support is basically limited to OpenGL 3.0 compliance. There's some new OpenGL extensions now supported by this upcoming Mesa release, but it doesn't meet the specification for GL3.1 or any newer revision. OpenGL 3.1 won't be in Mesa until 2013 and there's no realistic idea yet when OpenGL 3.2/3.3/4.0/4.1/4.2 (or any further OpenGL spec or the soon-to-be-released OpenGL ES 3.0) will be supported for this critical free software project.

Embedded below is the GL3.txt documentation as of this morning in the mainline Mesa Git repository to provide a concise overview about the current OpenGL support state.

GL 3.0:

GLSL 1.30 DONE
glBindFragDataLocation, glGetFragDataLocation DONE
Conditional rendering (GL_NV_conditional_render) DONE (i965, r300, r600, swrast)
Map buffer subranges (GL_ARB_map_buffer_range) DONE (i965, r300, r600, swrast)
Clamping controls (GL_ARB_color_buffer_float) DONE (i965, r300, r600)
Float textures, renderbuffers (GL_ARB_texture_float) DONE (i965, r300, r600)
GL_EXT_packed_float DONE (i965, r600)
GL_EXT_texture_shared_exponent DONE (i965, r600, swrast)
Float depth buffers (GL_ARB_depth_buffer_float) DONE (i965, r600)
Framebuffer objects (GL_ARB_framebuffer_object) DONE (i965, r300, r600, swrast)
Half-float DONE
Non-normalized Integer texture/framebuffer formats DONE (i965)
1D/2D Texture arrays DONE
Per-buffer blend and masks (GL_EXT_draw_buffers2) DONE (i965, r600, swrast)
GL_EXT_texture_compression_rgtc DONE (i965, r300, r600, swrast)
Red and red/green texture formats DONE (i965, swrast, gallium)
Transform feedback (GL_EXT_transform_feedback) DONE (i965)
Vertex array objects (GL_APPLE_vertex_array_object) DONE (i965, r300, r600, swrast)
sRGB framebuffer format (GL_EXT_framebuffer_sRGB) DONE (i965, r600)
glClearBuffer commands DONE
glGetStringi command DONE
glTexParameterI, glGetTexParameterI commands DONE
glVertexAttribI commands ~50% done (converts int
values to floats)
Depth format cube textures DONE
GLX_ARB_create_context (GLX 1.4 is required) DONE


GL 3.1:

GLSL 1.40 needs UBOs (in progress)
Forward compatibile context support/deprecations not started
Instanced drawing (GL_ARB_draw_instanced) DONE (i965, gallium, swrast)
Buffer copying (GL_ARB_copy_buffer) DONE (i965, r300, r600, swrast)
Primitive restart (GL_NV_primitive_restart) DONE (i965, r600)
16 vertex texture image units DONE
Texture buffer objs (GL_ARB_texture_buffer_object) needs GL3.1 enabling (i965)
Rectangular textures (GL_ARB_texture_rectangle) DONE (i965, r300, r600, swrast)
Uniform buffer objs (GL_ARB_uniform_buffer_object) not started
Signed normalized textures (GL_EXT_texture_snorm) DONE (i965, r300, r600)


GL 3.2:

Core/compatibility profiles not started
GLSL 1.50 not started
Geometry shaders (GL_ARB_geometry_shader4) partially done (Zack)
BGRA vertex order (GL_ARB_vertex_array_bgra) DONE (i965, r300, r600, swrast)
Base vertex offset(GL_ARB_draw_elements_base_vertex) DONE (i965, r300, r600, swrast)
Frag shader coord (GL_ARB_fragment_coord_conventions) DONE (i965, r300, r600, swrast)
Provoking vertex (GL_ARB_provoking_vertex) DONE (i965, r300, r600, swrast)
Seamless cubemaps (GL_ARB_seamless_cube_map) DONE (i965, r600)
Multisample textures (GL_ARB_texture_multisample) not started
Frag depth clamp (GL_ARB_depth_clamp) DONE (i965, r600, swrast)
Fence objects (GL_ARB_sync) DONE (i965, r300, r600, swrast)
GLX_ARB_create_context_profile DONE


GL 3.3:

GLSL 3.30 new features in this version pretty much done
GL_ARB_blend_func_extended DONE (i965, r600, softpipe)
GL_ARB_explicit_attrib_location DONE (i915, i965, r300, r600, swrast)
GL_ARB_occlusion_query2 DONE (r300, r600, swrast)
GL_ARB_sampler_objects DONE (i965, r300, r600)
GL_ARB_shader_bit_encoding DONE
GL_ARB_texture_rgb10_a2ui DONE (r600)
GL_ARB_texture_swizzle DONE (same as EXT version) (i965, r300, r600, swrast)
GL_ARB_timer_query DONE
GL_ARB_instanced_arrays DONE (i965, r300, r600)
GL_ARB_vertex_type_2_10_10_10_rev DONE (r600)


GL 4.0:

GLSL 4.0 not started
GL_ARB_texture_query_lod not started
GL_ARB_draw_buffers_blend DONE (i965, r600, softpipe)
GL_ARB_draw_indirect not started
GL_ARB_gpu_shader5 not started
GL_ARB_gpu_shader_fp64 not started
GL_ARB_sample_shading not started
GL_ARB_shader_subroutine not started
GL_ARB_tessellation_shader not started
GL_ARB_texture_buffer_object_rgb32 not started
GL_ARB_texture_cube_map_array not started
GL_ARB_texture_gather not started
GL_ARB_transform_feedback2 DONE
GL_ARB_transform_feedback3 DONE


GL 4.1:

GLSL 4.1 not started
GL_ARB_ES2_compatibility DONE (i965, r300, r600)
GL_ARB_get_program_binary not started
GL_ARB_separate_shader_objects some infrastructure done
GL_ARB_shader_precision not started
GL_ARB_vertex_attrib_64bit not started
GL_ARB_viewport_array not started


GL 4.2:

GLSL 4.2 not started
GL_ARB_texture_compression_bptc not started
GL_ARB_compressed_texture_pixel_storage not started
GL_ARB_shader_atomic_counters not started
GL_ARB_texture_storage DONE (r300, r600, swrast)
GL_ARB_transform_feedback_instanced DONE
GL_ARB_base_instance DONE (nv50, nvc0, r600, radeonsi)
GL_ARB_shader_image_load_store not started
GL_ARB_conservative_depth DONE (softpipe)
GL_ARB_shading_language_420pack not started
GL_ARB_internalformat_query not started
GL_ARB_map_buffer_alignment not started

The main missing code from OpenGL 3.1 compliance is the GL Shading Language 1.40 support plus uniform buffer objects and a few other smaller items. There's also chunks of other GL3/GL4 support already implemented, but a lot to do on the GLSL side plus other advanced features.

Additional information on current missing functionality is also described on this Wiki page.

Other new features of Mesa 8.1 will be talked about in future Phoronix articles over the coming weeks, aside from the many Mesa 8.1-devel Git benchmarks that have been delivered this year.