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11 <h1>The Mesa
3D Graphics Library
</h1>
14 <iframe src=
"contents.html"></iframe>
17 <h1>Development Notes
</h1>
21 <li><a href=
"#style">Coding Style
</a>
22 <li><a href=
"#submitting">Submitting Patches
</a>
23 <li><a href=
"#release">Making a New Mesa Release
</a>
24 <li><a href=
"#extensions">Adding Extensions
</a>
28 <h2 id=
"style">Coding Style
</h2>
31 Mesa's code style has changed over the years. Here's the latest.
35 Comment your code! It's extremely important that open-source code be
36 well documented. Also, strive to write clean, easily understandable code.
44 If you use tabs, set them to
8 columns
48 Line width: the preferred width to fill comments and code in Mesa is
78
49 columns. Exceptions are sometimes made for clarity (e.g. tabular data is
50 sometimes filled to a much larger width so that extraneous carriage returns
51 don't obscure the table).
82 Here's the GNU indent command which will best approximate my preferred style:
83 (Note that it won't format switch statements in the preferred way)
86 indent -br -i3 -npcs --no-tabs infile.c -o outfile.c
91 Local variable name example: localVarName (no underscores)
95 Constants and macros are ALL_UPPERCASE, with _ between words
99 Global variables are not allowed.
103 Function name examples:
106 glFooBar() - a public GL entry point (in glapi_dispatch.c)
107 _mesa_FooBar() - the internal immediate mode function
108 save_FooBar() - retained mode (display list) function in dlist.c
109 foo_bar() - a static (private) function
110 _mesa_foo_bar() - an internal non-static Mesa function
114 Places that are not directly visible to the GL API should prefer the use
115 of
<tt>bool
</tt>,
<tt>true
</tt>, and
116 <tt>false
</tt> over
<tt>GLboolean
</tt>,
<tt>GL_TRUE
</tt>, and
117 <tt>GL_FALSE
</tt>. In C code, this may mean that
118 <tt>#include
<stdbool.h
></tt> needs to be added. The
119 <tt>try_emit_
</tt>* methods in src/mesa/program/ir_to_mesa.cpp and
120 src/mesa/state_tracker/st_glsl_to_tgsi.cpp can serve as examples.
124 <h2 id=
"submitting">Submitting patches
</h2>
127 You should always run the Mesa Testsuite before submitting patches.
128 The Testsuite can be run using the 'make check' command. All tests
129 must pass before patches will be accepted, this may mean you have
130 to update the tests themselves.
134 Patches should be sent to the Mesa mailing list for review.
135 When submitting a patch make sure to use git send-email rather than attaching
136 patches to emails. Sending patches as attachments prevents people from being
137 able to provide in-line review comments.
141 When submitting follow-up patches you can use --in-reply-to to make v2, v3,
142 etc patches show up as replies to the originals. This usually works well
143 when you're sending out updates to individual patches (as opposed to
144 re-sending the whole series). Using --in-reply-to makes
145 it harder for reviewers to accidentally review old patches.
148 <h3>Marking a commit as a candidate for a stable branch
</h3>
151 If you want a commit to be applied to a stable branch,
152 you should add an appropriate note to the commit message.
156 Here are some examples of such a note:
159 <li>CC:
<mesa-stable@lists.freedesktop.org
></li>
160 <li>CC:
"9.2 10.0" <mesa-stable@lists.freedesktop.org
></li>
161 <li>CC:
"10.0" <mesa-stable@lists.freedesktop.org
></li>
164 Simply adding the CC to the mesa-stable list address is adequate to nominate
165 the commit for the most-recently-created stable branch. It is only necessary
166 to specify a specific branch name, (such as
"9.2 10.0" or
"10.0" in the
167 examples above), if you want to nominate the commit for an older stable
168 branch. And, as in these examples, you can nominate the commit for the older
169 branch in addition to the more recent branch, or nominate the commit
170 exclusively for the older branch.
172 This
"CC" syntax for patch nomination will cause patches to automatically be
173 copied to the mesa-stable@ mailing list when you use
"git send-email" to send
174 patches to the mesa-dev@ mailing list. Also, if you realize that a commit
175 should be nominated for the stable branch after it has already been committed,
176 you can send a note directly to the mesa-stable@lists.freedesktop.org where
177 the Mesa stable-branch maintainers will receive it. Be sure to mention the
178 commit ID of the commit of interest (as it appears in the mesa master branch).
180 The latest set of patches that have been nominated, accepted, or rejected for
181 the upcoming stable release can always be seen on the
182 <a href=
"http://cworth.org/~cworth/mesa-stable-queue/">Mesa Stable Queue
</a>
185 <h3>Criteria for accepting patches to the stable branch
</h3>
187 Mesa has a designated release manager for each stable branch, and the release
188 manager is the only developer that should be pushing changes to these
189 branches. Everyone else should simply nominate patches using the mechanism
192 The stable-release manager will work with the list of nominated patches, and
193 for each patch that meets the crtieria below will cherry-pick the patch with:
194 <code>git cherry-pick -x
<commit
></code>. The
<code>-x
</code> option is
195 important so that the picked patch references the comit ID of the original
198 The stable-release manager may at times need to force-push changes to the
199 stable branches, for example, to drop a previously-picked patch that was later
200 identified as causing a regression). These force-pushes may cause changes to
201 be lost from the stable branch if developers push things directly. Consider
204 The stable-release manager is also given broad discretion in rejecting patches
205 that have been nominated for the stable branch. The most basic rule is that
206 the stable branch is for bug fixes only, (no new features, no
207 regressions). Here is a non-exhaustive list of some reasons that a patch may
211 <li>Patch introduces a regression. Any reported build breakage or other
212 regression caused by a particular patch, (game no longer work, piglit test
213 changes from PASS to FAIL), is justification for rejecting a patch.
</li>
215 <li>Patch is too large, (say, larger than
100 lines)
</li>
217 <li>Patch is not a fix. For example, a commit that moves code around with no
218 functional change should be rejected.
</li>
220 <li>Patch fix is not clearly described. For example, a commit message
221 of only a single line, no description of the bug, no mention of bugzilla,
224 <li>Patch has not obviously been reviewed, For example, the commit message
225 has no Reviewed-by, Signed-off-by, nor Tested-by tags from anyone but the
228 <li>Patch has not already been merged to the master branch. As a rule, bug
229 fixes should never be applied first to a stable branch. Patches should land
230 first on the master branch and then be cherry-picked to a stable
231 branch. (This is to avoid future releases causing regressions if the patch
232 is not also applied to master.) The only things that might look like
233 exceptions would be backports of patches from master that happen to look
234 significantly different.
</li>
236 <li>Patch depends on too many other patches. Ideally, all stable-branch
237 patches should be self-contained. It sometimes occurs that a single, logical
238 bug-fix occurs as two separate patches on master, (such as an original
239 patch, then a subsequent fix-up to that patch). In such a case, these two
240 patches should be squashed into a single, self-contained patch for the
241 stable branch. (Of course, if the squashing makes the patch too large, then
242 that could be a reason to reject the patch.)
</li>
244 <li>Patch includes new feature development, not bug fixes. New OpenGL
245 features, extensions, etc. should be applied to Mesa master and included in
246 the next major release. Stable releases are intended only for bug fixes.
248 Note: As an exception to this rule, the stable-release manager may accept
249 hardware-enabling
"features". For example, backports of new code to support
250 a newly-developed hardware product can be accepted if they can be reasonably
251 determined to not have effects on other hardware.
</li>
253 <li>Patch is a performance optimization. As a rule, performance patches are
254 not candidates for the stable branch. The only exception might be a case
255 where an application's performance was recently severely impacted so as to
256 become unusable. The fix for this performance regression could then be
257 considered for a stable branch. The optimization must also be
258 non-controversial and the patches still need to meet the other criteria of
259 being simple and self-contained
</li>
261 <li>Patch introduces a new failure mode (such as an assert). While the new
262 assert might technically be correct, for example to make Mesa more
263 conformant, this is not the kind of
"bug fix" we want in a stable
264 release. The potential problem here is that an OpenGL program that was
265 previously working, (even if technically non-compliant with the
266 specification), could stop working after this patch. So that would be a
267 regression that is unaacceptable for the stable branch.
</li>
271 <h2 id=
"release">Making a New Mesa Release
</h2>
274 These are the instructions for making a new Mesa release.
277 <h3>Get latest source files
</h3>
279 Use git to get the latest Mesa files from the git repository, from whatever
280 branch is relevant. This document uses the convention X.Y.Z for the release
281 being created, which should be created from a branch named X.Y.
284 <h3>Perform basic testing
</h3>
286 The release manager should, at the very least, test the code by compiling it,
287 installing it, and running the latest piglit to ensure that no piglit tests
288 have regressed since the previous release.
292 The release manager should do this testing with at least one hardware driver,
293 (say, whatever is contained in the local development machine), as well as on
294 both Gallium and non-Gallium software drivers. The software testing can be
295 performed by running piglit with the following environment-variable set:
299 LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=
1
302 And Gallium vs. non-Gallium software drivers can be obtained by using the
303 following configure flags on separate builds:
306 --with-dri-drivers=swrast
307 --with-gallium-drivers=swrast
311 Note: If both options are given in one build, both swrast_dri.so drivers will
312 be compiled, but only one will be installed. The following command can be used
313 to ensure the correct driver is being tested:
317 LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=
1 glxinfo | grep
"renderer string"
320 If any regressions are found in this testing with piglit, stop here, and do
321 not perform a release until regressions are fixed.
323 <h3>Update version in file VERSION
</h3>
326 Increment the version contained in the file VERSION at Mesa's top-level, then
330 <h3>Create release notes for the new release
</h3>
333 Create a new file docs/relnotes/X.Y.Z.html, (follow the style of the previous
334 release notes). Note that the sha256sums section of the release notes should
335 be empty at this point.
339 Two scripts are available to help generate portions of the release notes:
342 ./bin/bugzilla_mesa.sh
343 ./bin/shortlog_mesa.sh
347 The first script identifies commits that reference bugzilla bugs and obtains
348 the descriptions of those bugs from bugzilla. The second script generates a
349 log of all commits. In both cases, HTML-formatted lists are printed to stdout
350 to be included in the release notes.
357 <h3>Make the release archives, signatures, and the release tag
</h3>
359 From inside the Mesa directory:
366 After the tarballs are created, the sha256 checksums for the files will
367 be computed and printed. These will be used in a step below.
371 It's important at this point to also verify that the constructed tar file
376 tar xjf MesaLib-X.Y.Z.tar.bz2
378 ./configure --enable-gallium-llvm
384 Some touch testing should also be performed at this point, (run glxgears or
385 more involved OpenGL programs against the installed Mesa).
389 Create detached GPG signatures for each of the archive files created above:
393 gpg --sign --detach MesaLib-X.Y.Z.tar.gz
394 gpg --sign --detach MesaLib-X.Y.Z.tar.bz2
395 gpg --sign --detach MesaLib-X.Y.Z.zip
399 Tag the commit used for the build:
403 git tag -s mesa-X.Y.X -m
"Mesa X.Y.Z release"
407 Note: It would be nice to investigate and fix the issue that causes the
408 tarballs target to fail with multiple build process, such as with
"-j4". It
409 would also be nice to incorporate all of the above commands into a single
410 makefile target. And instead of a custom
"tarballs" target, we should
411 incorporate things into the standard
"make dist" and
"make distcheck" targets.
414 <h3>Add the sha256sums to the release notes
</h3>
417 Edit docs/relnotes/X.Y.Z.html to add the sha256sums printed as part of
"make
418 tarballs" in the previous step. Commit this change.
421 <h3>Push all commits and the tag creates above
</h3>
424 This is the first step that cannot easily be undone. The release is going
425 forward from this point:
429 git push origin X.Y --tags
432 <h3>Install the release files and signatures on the distribution server
</h3>
435 The following commands can be used to copy the release archive files and
436 signatures to the freedesktop.org server:
440 scp MesaLib-X.Y.Z* people.freedesktop.org:
441 ssh people.freedesktop.org
442 cd /srv/ftp.freedesktop.org/pub/mesa
445 mv ~/MesaLib-X.Y.Z* .
448 <h3>Back on mesa master, andd the new release notes into the tree
</h3>
451 Something like the following steps will do the trick:
455 cp docs/relnotes/X.Y.Z.html /tmp
457 cp /tmp/X.Y.Z.html docs/relnotes
458 git add docs/relnotes/X.Y.Z.html
462 Also, edit docs/relnotes.html to add a link to the new release notes, and edit
463 docs/index.html to add a news entry. Then commit and push:
467 git commit -a -m
"docs: Import X.Y.Z release notes, add news item."
471 <h3>Update the mesa3d.org website
</h3>
474 NOTE: The recent release managers have not been performing this step
475 themselves, but leaving this to Brian Paul, (who has access to the
476 sourceforge.net hosting for mesa3d.org). Brian is more than willing to grant
477 the permission necessary to future release managers to do this step on their
482 Update the web site by copying the docs/ directory's files to
483 /home/users/b/br/brianp/mesa-www/htdocs/ with:
486 sftp USERNAME,mesa3d@web.sourceforge.net
491 <h3>Announce the release
</h3>
493 Make an announcement on the mailing lists:
495 <em>mesa-dev@lists.freedesktop.org
</em>,
497 <em>mesa-announce@lists.freedesktop.org
</em>
499 Follow the template of previously-sent release announcements. The following
500 command can be used to generate the log of changes to be included in the
501 release announcement:
504 git shortlog mesa-X.Y.Z-
1..mesa-X.Y.Z
509 <h2 id=
"extensions">Adding Extensions
</h2>
512 To add a new GL extension to Mesa you have to do at least the following.
516 If glext.h doesn't define the extension, edit include/GL/gl.h and add
519 #ifndef GL_EXT_the_extension_name
520 #define GL_EXT_the_extension_name
1
521 /* declare the new enum tokens */
522 /* prototype the new functions */
523 /* TYPEDEFS for the new functions */
528 In the src/mapi/glapi/gen/ directory, add the new extension functions and
529 enums to the gl_API.xml file.
530 Then, a bunch of source files must be regenerated by executing the
531 corresponding Python scripts.
534 Add a new entry to the
<code>gl_extensions
</code> struct in mtypes.h
537 Update the
<code>extensions.c
</code> file.
540 From this point, the best way to proceed is to find another extension,
541 similar to the new one, that's already implemented in Mesa and use it
545 If the new extension adds new GL state, the functions in get.c, enable.c
546 and attrib.c will most likely require new code.
549 The dispatch tests check_table.cpp and dispatch_sanity.cpp
550 should be updated with details about the new extensions functions. These
551 tests are run using 'make check'