[RFC] enable Vulkan plugin only if header and driver are > 1.3.238

[Matthew Waters]

Unfortunately, there are still very many Android devices that only have 
Vulkan 1.0/1.1/1.2 available at runtime so using such a new version is 
definitely out of the question for them.

Same answer for macOS/iOS.

As such, Vulkan 1.3 is way too new to be forcing a restriction on and I 
will NACK such a MR currently and for the forseeable future.

Cheers
-Matt

On 1/9/23 18:54, Victor Jaquez via gstreamer-devel wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Right now Vulkan plugin is enabled at compilation time if any version of the
> headers are present, and it will runs on any version of the driver.
>
> And this is pretty OK since the plugin does color&view conversions, downloading,
> uploading, sink and a generic shader processor, and it runs in multiple SOs
> (linux, windows, macos, android, and perhaps others).
>
> But now, while implementing decoders with vulkan video, this "run on any vulkan
> headers/drivers" turned to be, if not a nightmare, something close to it, since
> using the video extension is easier if certain other extensions are used (such
> as synchronization2 and timeline semaphores) and guarding each API extension
> multiplies the code paths which need to be tested.
>
> I would like to ask who are the current users of Gstreamer Vulkan and what
> platforms are using?
>
> Depending on the answers, I would like the propose then if we could enable the
> plugin if headers/driver version is bigger 1.3.238, because it's when Vulkan
> turns to be really useful for GStreamer elements. But it will mean that many
> platforms, such as android and perhaps macos, won't be able to use the plugin
> currently since their drivers doesn't cover those versions, AFAIK. Furthermore,
> android won't enable the video extension in their driver, because they want to
> force user to use their own multimedia APIs.
>
> What do you think?
>
> vmjl