GL4ES - The OpenGL driver for GLES Hardware

GL4ES Port to termux proot users

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Compiling

It’s better to define the CMake Build type, preferably RelWithDebInfo, that define a Release build (so with some optimizations) but with debug info (so gdb Backtrace shows infos).

Pandora

mkdir build; cd build; cmake .. -DPANDORA=1 -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo; make

Raspberry Pi

If your are using legacy driver (non-mesa ones)

mkdir build; cd build; cmake .. -DBCMHOST=1 -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo; make

For Mesa VC4 driver, use the ODROID profile.

ODroid

mkdir build; cd build; cmake .. -DODROID=1 -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo; make

OrangePI

use ODROID profile.

CHIP machines

mkdir build; cd build; cmake .. -DCHIP=1 -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo; make

Emscripten

mkdir build; cd build; emcmake cmake .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo -DNOX11=ON -DNOEGL=ON -DSTATICLIB=ON; make

Android

An Android.mk is provided that should compile with an NDK

Termux(Inside proot)

Requires packages gcc, build-essential, cmake, libx11-dev

just do apt install -y gcc build-essential cmake libx11-dev

mkdir build; cd build; cmake -S ../../gl4es; make install

Then export libGL.so.1 to LD_LIBRARY_PATH

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="/lib/gl4es/libGL.so.1"

iOS

mkdir build
cd build
cmake .. -G Xcode -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE={where ios.toolchain.cmake is located} -DNOX11=ON -DNOEGL=ON -DSTATICLIB=ON -DPLATFORM=OS
cmake --build . --config Release --target GL

Use with ios-cmake

Custom build

Alternatively, you can use the curses-bases ccmake (or any other gui frontend for cmake) to select wich platform to use interactively.

You can avoid the use of X11 with NOX11=1 and EGL with NOEGL=1, but then, you will need to create the EGL Context yourself (or using SDL for example). Be sure to synchronize the context you create with the Backend you use. By default GLES 1.1 backend is used. To used GLES2 by default, use DEFAULT_ES=2

You can use USE_CLOCK to use clock_gettime(...) instead of gettimeofday(...) for LIBGL_FPS. It can be more precise on some platform. Add -DUSE_CLOCK=ON

You can use cmake and mix command line argument to custom build your version of GL4ES. For example, for a generic ARM with NEON platform, not using X11 or EGL, defaulting to GLES2 backend, enabling RPi, and using clock_gettime, you would do:

mkdir build; cd build; cmake .. -DBCMHOST=1 -DNOEGL=1 -DNOX11=1 -DDEFAULT_ES=2 -DUSE_CLOCK=ON -DCMAKE_C_FLAGS="-marm -mcpu=cortex-a9 -mfpu=neon -mfloat-abi=hard" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo; make

Testing

A few tests are included. They can be launched with tests/tests.sh You will need apitrace and imagemagick for them to run. (on debian and friend, it’s sudo apt install apitrace-gl-frontend imagemagick) The tests use a pre-recorded GL trace that is replayed, then a specific frame is captured and compared to a reference picture. Because each renderer may render slightly differently, there are some fuzz in the comparison, so only significant changes will be detected. For now, 2 tests are done, one with glxgears (basic testing, using mostly glBegin / glEnd) and stuntcarracer (with more GL stuff, textures and lighting).

Per-platform

OpenPandora

This is the main developpement platform for now. GL4ES works on all 3 models (CC, Rebirth and Gigahertz), and with all driver version. For the SGX Driver version that doesn’t support X11 Windowed mode (i.e. there is no /usr/lib/libpvrPVR2D_X11WSEGL.so library in the firmware), you need to use one of the framebuffer output: LIBGL_FB=1 is the fastest, but you may need LIBGL_FB=2 if you need 32bits framebuffer, or LIBGL_FB=3 if you need GL in a Window (but it will be slow, as each frame has to be blitted back in the X11 windows). On the Pandora, the special LIBGL_GAMMA can be used also, to boost gamma at load, using firmware command to change LCD gamma.

ODroid

GL4ES works well on ODroid. I can test on XU4 model, but it has been reported to work on all model, including 64bits version. On ODroid, the EGL context can be created with SRGB attribute, by using LIBGL_SRGB=1, for a nice boost in the gamma (supported on most ODroid).

OrangePI

GL4ES works on OrangePI using ODROID profile. GLES Hardware is MALI and is similar to ODroid in many way. I don’t own any OrangePI but I have seen many success in compiling and using the lib.

C.H.I.P.

GL4ES should work on CHIP and PocketCHIP. Framebuffers mode will probably not work, with only LIBGL_FB=3 mode that seems to work fine, and with adequate performances (there is probably no slow blit, as the driver handle directly the GL->X11 blit). Also, on the CHIP, you will probably need to do sudo apt-get install chip-mali-userspace to be sure the GLES driver of the CHIP is present.

RaspberryPI

GL4ES works on RaspberryPI, on both legacy driver and mesa opensourced ones. For Legacy driver, the Framebuffer mode should work on this plateform. It seems LIBGL_FB=3 gives good result and should be used in most cases. LIBGL_FB=1 try to use DispManX for more speed. Be aware that if you use X-less config, many SDL version dedicated to DispManX do not handle GL context creation. So trying to create a GL context with this version of SDL will fail, but GL4ES is never called, so I cannot “fix” that (the fix would be inside SDL/DispManX driver).

Android

On Android build of GL4ES, no X11 function are called. So most glX function are not defined. That means that the GL context (in fact a GLES1.1 context) has to be created by other apps (mainly SDL or SDL2).

On Android version 4.0 and earlier, there is a bug that prevent dlopen to be called inside dlopen (see here). GL4ES use a “library constructor” to initialize itself a load, and that constructor do some dlopen (to load EGL and GLES libraries), so it will trigger that bug. If you are targeting a wide range of device, you should probably activate the workaround:

  1. Modify Android.mk to uncomment #LOCAL_CFLAGS += -DNO_INIT_CONSTRUCTOR near the end of the file, to prevent the use of the library constructor.
  2. In your code, call void initialize_gl4es() as soon as possible after loading GL4ES, and before using any GL function.

To try the GLES2 backend, you can compile gl4es with ES2 by default (so you don’t have to mess with env. variable). Simply uncomment #LOCAL_CFLAGS += -DDEFAULT_ES=2, and create the GL Context as GLES2.

Emscripten

In your code, call void initialize_gl4es() as soon as possible after loading GL4ES, and before using any GL function.

Use -s FULL_ES2=1 -I[directory where GL4ES source code is located]/gl4es/include -lGL when compiling your program for Emscripten.

iOS

In your code, call void initialize_gl4es() as soon as possible after loading GLES context, and before using any GL function. If you use EAGLContext, call it immediately after [EAGLContext setCurrentContext:context].