Conformant OpenGL 4.6 on the M1 (rosenzweig.io)

Article summary

The article announces the release of conformant OpenGL 4.6 and OpenGL ES 3.2 drivers for the M1 and M2-series chips, which is a significant improvement over the previous non-conformant 4.1 drivers. The new drivers pass over 100,000 tests to ensure correctness and provide broad compatibility with modern OpenGL workloads. The article also discusses the challenges of implementing robustness features, such as buffer and image robustness, on the M1 GPU. The implementation required creative workarounds to ensure conformance with the OpenGL specification.

Main themes

• OpenGL implementation
• Graphics programming
• Cross-platform APIs
• GPU drivers
• Legacy technology
• Direct3D vs OpenGL
• Vulkan adoption
• macOS support
• 3D graphics history
• API standardization

What commenters say

• Some commenters appreciate the article but feel discouraged by the steep learning curve of graphics programming.
• There is a debate about the relevance of OpenGL, with some arguing it is legacy technology and others seeing it as a necessary cross-platform API.
• The importance of Quake's support for OpenGL in the 1990s is highlighted as a key factor in popularizing the API.
• Some argue that Microsoft's Direct3D was a better API than OpenGL, but others counter that Direct3D's lack of cross-platform support is a major limitation.
• The use of Vulkan as a potential replacement for OpenGL is discussed, with some seeing it as a more modern and efficient alternative.
• There is disagreement about the feasibility of implementing OpenGL or Vulkan on macOS, with some citing Apple's lack of a stable public kernel API as a major obstacle.
• The history of 3D graphics APIs is discussed, with some commenters noting the contributions of various companies and technologies to the development of modern graphics capabilities.