[Mesa-dev] List of OpenGL features/extensions to avoid?

[Török Edwin]

On 2011-04-12 22:51, Eric Anholt wrote:
> On Tue, 12 Apr 2011 21:19:46 +0300, Török Edwin <edwintorok at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> Is there a list of OpenGL features/extensions that Mesa won't implement,
>> and should thus be avoided when developing a new OpenGL application? [*]
>>
>> I know that S3TC has possible patent issues, and Mesa can't support it
>> in the official release.
>> Is there anything else in OpenGL 3.x (or OpenGL 4.x for that matter)
>> that should be avoided?
>>
>> (I thought some forms of floating point textures are an issue, but
>> docs/GL3.txt lists it as implemented on a branch, so I'm confused).
>>
>> [*] I haven't made up my mind yet if I should develop/test the app with
>> the Mesa (r600g driver), or develop it for GL 3.2 core profile, and hope
>> that, by the time I finish the app, Mesa catches up on the 3.2
>> implementation.
> 
> The plan is to implement everything, as soon as we can get to it all.
> However, patented techniques (S3TC, floating-point framebuffers) will be
> disabled by default, and up to people with the rights to use them to be
> enabled.  Thus, for maximum compatibility with arbitrary open-source
> systems, you'd need to avoid those two.  That's hard, because floating
> point framebuffers are so useful (and obvious).

Thanks, it is good news that it is only 2 techniques that I have to avoid.
So it is only floating point *framebuffers* that are a problem?
Will I still be able to load by default textures with floating point
formats, use them only from shaders, and compute final colors as usual?

Best regards,
--Edwin