Compute Shader Example with OpenGL 4.3

Recently, significant updates to the i965 DRI driver were merged into the mainline Mesa codebase. This adds support for Gen7+ hardware and enables a new extension called ARB_framebuffer_no_attachments. In this article, we will explore the benefits of this extension and its potential applications.

The key feature of ARB_framebuffer_no_attachments is that it provides queryable implementation-dependent maximums for framebuffer width, height, layer count, and sample count. These limits may differ from similar restrictions on textures and renderbuffers. For instance, framebuffers with one or more attachments are not affected by these default parameters; the size of the framebuffer will still be derived from the sizes of the attachments.

However, when a framebuffer with no attachments is bound, it will be considered complete as long as the application has specified non-zero default width and height parameters. This provides developers with greater flexibility in their rendering algorithms.

The ARB_framebuffer_no_attachments extension also enables applications to specify default width, height, layer count, and sample count parameters for a framebuffer object. This allows developers to take advantage of the benefits of framebuffers without attachments, as described by the registry.

Intel developer Kevin Rogovin has seen his patches land today, implementing GL_ARB_framebuffer_no_attachments in mainline Mesa. This is part of a larger effort to bring full OpenGL 4 support to users of this open-source OpenGL stack.

In summary, the ARB_framebuffer_no_attachments extension provides developers with more control over framebuffer settings and enables the creation of framebuffers with no attachments. This opens up new possibilities for rendering algorithms and applications that require more flexibility in their graphics processing.

Compute shader example opengl 4.3