<center>
<h1>Mesa Frequently Asked Questions</h1>
-Last updated: 9 October 2012
+Last updated: 19 September 2018
</center>
<br>
<p>
Mesa is an open-source implementation of the OpenGL specification.
OpenGL is a programming library for writing interactive 3D applications.
-See the <a href="http://www.opengl.org/">OpenGL website</a> for more
+See the <a href="https://www.opengl.org/">OpenGL website</a> for more
information.
</p>
<p>
drivers for X.org.
</p>
<ul>
- <li>See the <a href="http://dri.freedesktop.org/">DRI website</a>
+ <li>See the <a href="https://dri.freedesktop.org/">DRI website</a>
for more information.</li>
- <li>See <a href="http://intellinuxgraphics.org">intellinuxgraphics.org</a>
+ <li>See <a href="https://01.org/linuxgraphics">01.org</a>
for more information about Intel drivers.</li>
- <li>See <a href="http://nouveau.freedesktop.org">nouveau.freedesktop.org</a>
+ <li>See <a href="https://nouveau.freedesktop.org">nouveau.freedesktop.org</a>
for more information about Nouveau drivers.</li>
- <li>See <a href="http://www.x.org/wiki/RadeonFeature">www.x.org/wiki/RadeonFeature</a>
+ <li>See <a href="https://www.x.org/wiki/RadeonFeature">www.x.org/wiki/RadeonFeature</a>
for more information about Radeon drivers.</li>
</ul>
</p>
<p>
-<a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ogl-es/">Vincent</a> is
+<a href="https://sourceforge.net/projects/ogl-es/">Vincent</a> is
an open-source implementation of OpenGL ES for mobile devices.
<p>
</p>
<p>
-<a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/softgl/">SoftGL</a>
+<a href="https://sourceforge.net/projects/softgl/">SoftGL</a>
is an OpenGL subset for mobile devices.
</p>
<h2>2.4 Where is the GLw library?</h2>
<p>
-GLw (OpenGL widget library) is now available from a separate <a href="http://cgit.freedesktop.org/mesa/glw/">git repository</a>. Unless you're using very old Xt/Motif applications with OpenGL, you shouldn't need it.
+GLw (OpenGL widget library) is now available from a separate <a href="https://cgit.freedesktop.org/mesa/glw/">git repository</a>. Unless you're using very old Xt/Motif applications with OpenGL, you shouldn't need it.
</p>
</p>
<p>
If your DRI-based driver isn't working, go to the
-<a href="http://dri.freedesktop.org/">DRI website</a> for trouble-shooting information.
+<a href="https://dri.freedesktop.org/">DRI website</a> for trouble-shooting information.
</p>
<p>
Make sure the ratio of the far to near clipping planes isn't too great.
Look
-<a href="http://www.opengl.org/resources/faq/technical/depthbuffer.htm#0040">here</a>
+<a href="https://www.opengl.org/resources/faq/technical/depthbuffer.htm#0040">here</a>
for details.
</p>
<p>
will fix the problem.
</p>
-<h2>3.6 How can I change the maximum framebuffer size in Mesa's
-<tt>swrast</tt> backend?</h2>
-<p>
-These can be overridden by using the <tt>--with-max-width</tt> and
-<tt>--with-max-height</tt> options. The two need not be equal.
-</p><p>
-Do note that Mesa uses these values to size some internal buffers,
-so increasing these sizes will cause Mesa to require additional
-memory. Furthermore, increasing these limits beyond <tt>4096</tt>
-may introduce rasterization artifacts; see the leading comments in
-<tt>src/mesa/swrast/s_tritemp.h</tt>.
-</p>
-
<br>
<br>
That's where Mesa development is discussed.
</p>
<p>
-The <a href="http://www.opengl.org/documentation">
+The <a href="https://www.opengl.org/documentation">
OpenGL Specification</a> is the bible for OpenGL implementation work.
You should read it.
</p>
<h2>4.3 Why isn't GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc implemented in Mesa?</h2>
<p>
-The <a href="http://oss.sgi.com/projects/ogl-sample/registry/EXT/texture_compression_s3tc.txt">specification for the extension</a>
-indicates that there are intellectual property (IP) and/or patent issues
-to be dealt with.
+Oh but it is! Prior to 2nd October 2017, the Mesa project did not include s3tc
+support due to intellectual property (IP) and/or patent issues around the s3tc
+algorithm.
</p>
-<p>We've been unsuccessful in getting a response from S3 (or whoever owns
-the IP nowadays) to indicate whether or not an open source project can
-implement the extension (specifically the compression/decompression
-algorithms).
+<p>
+As of Mesa 17.3.0, Mesa now officially supports s3tc, as the patent has expired.
</p>
<p>
-In the mean time, a 3rd party <a href="http://dri.freedesktop.org/wiki/S3TC">
-plug-in library</a> is available.
+In versions prior to this, a 3rd party <a href="https://dri.freedesktop.org/wiki/S3TC">
+plug-in library</a> was required.
</p>
</div>