[Mesa-users] compilation of software only rendering path and s/w only rendering in Virtual Box

[Divick Kishore]

Hi,
    I am trying to compile mesa with software only rendering path.

The configure options passed are:

./configure --enable-gles1 --enable-gles2  --with-gallium-drivers=''
--with-dri-drivers='swrast'

My setup is in a VirtualBox VM running Linux Mint. It does build but
works pathetically slow for a simple gles 2.0 application in
comparison to mesa installed on the Virtual Box VM even without 3D
acceleration disabled.

For example this application gives 4-5 fps with this application that
I have compared to  150-160 fps with mesa installed on system with 3D
acceleration disabled in VirtualBox settings. Could someone please
help me understand why there is huge difference in s/w only rendering
path with self compiled mesa vs mesa installed on system? Moreover the
mesa renderer shown with self compiled mesa vs the one installed on
system show different renderer. Could someone please explain if the
Gallium on LLVM renderer is a s/w only path or does it utilize the GPU
as well?

Running glxinfo I get the following (when run with installed mesa and
without 3D acceleration enabled in VirtualBox settings for VM):

direct rendering: Yes
server glx vendor string: SGI
server glx version string: 1.4
server glx extensions:
    GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_import_context, GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap,
    GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_MESA_copy_sub_buffer,
    GLX_OML_swap_method, GLX_SGIS_multisample, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig,
    GLX_SGIX_pbuffer, GLX_SGI_make_current_read
client glx vendor string: Mesa Project and SGI
client glx version string: 1.4
client glx extensions:
    GLX_ARB_create_context, GLX_ARB_create_context_profile,
    GLX_ARB_create_context_robustness, GLX_ARB_get_proc_address,
    GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_create_context_es2_profile,
    GLX_EXT_framebuffer_sRGB, GLX_EXT_import_context,
    GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap, GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating,
    GLX_INTEL_swap_event, GLX_MESA_copy_sub_buffer,
    GLX_MESA_multithread_makecurrent, GLX_MESA_swap_control,
    GLX_OML_swap_method, GLX_OML_sync_control, GLX_SGIS_multisample,
    GLX_SGIX_fbconfig, GLX_SGIX_pbuffer, GLX_SGIX_visual_select_group,
    GLX_SGI_make_current_read, GLX_SGI_swap_control, GLX_SGI_video_sync
GLX version: 1.4
GLX extensions:
    GLX_ARB_get_proc_address, GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_import_context,
    GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap, GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating,
    GLX_MESA_multithread_makecurrent, GLX_OML_swap_method,
    GLX_SGIS_multisample, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig, GLX_SGIX_pbuffer,
    GLX_SGI_make_current_read
OpenGL vendor string: VMware, Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 0x301)
OpenGL version string: 2.1 Mesa 9.0.3
OpenGL shading language version string: 1.20


The output with 3D Acceleration enabled is:

direct rendering: Yes
server glx vendor string: Chromium
server glx version string: 1.3 Chromium
server glx extensions:
    GLX_ARB_get_proc_address, GLX_ARB_multisample,
    GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig
client glx vendor string: Chromium
client glx version string: 1.3 Chromium
client glx extensions:
    GLX_ARB_get_proc_address, GLX_ARB_multisample,
    GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig
GLX version: 1.3
GLX extensions:
    GLX_ARB_get_proc_address, GLX_ARB_multisample,
    GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig
OpenGL vendor string: Humper
OpenGL renderer string: Chromium
OpenGL version string: 2.1 Chromium 1.9
OpenGL shading language version string: 4.00 - Build 9.17.10.2843
...


And when run with self compiled mesa the output has:

direct rendering: Yes
server glx vendor string: SGI
server glx version string: 1.4
server glx extensions:
    GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_import_context, GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap,
    GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_MESA_copy_sub_buffer,
    GLX_OML_swap_method, GLX_SGIS_multisample, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig,
    GLX_SGIX_pbuffer, GLX_SGI_make_current_read
client glx vendor string: Mesa Project and SGI
client glx version string: 1.4
client glx extensions:
    GLX_ARB_create_context, GLX_ARB_create_context_profile,
    GLX_ARB_create_context_robustness, GLX_ARB_framebuffer_sRGB,
    GLX_ARB_get_proc_address, GLX_ARB_multisample,
    GLX_EXT_create_context_es2_profile, GLX_EXT_framebuffer_sRGB,
    GLX_EXT_import_context, GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap, GLX_EXT_visual_info,
    GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_INTEL_swap_event, GLX_MESA_copy_sub_buffer,
    GLX_MESA_multithread_makecurrent, GLX_MESA_swap_control,
    GLX_OML_swap_method, GLX_OML_sync_control, GLX_SGIS_multisample,
    GLX_SGIX_fbconfig, GLX_SGIX_pbuffer, GLX_SGIX_visual_select_group,
    GLX_SGI_make_current_read, GLX_SGI_swap_control, GLX_SGI_video_sync
GLX version: 1.4
GLX extensions:
    GLX_ARB_get_proc_address, GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_import_context,
    GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap, GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating,
    GLX_MESA_multithread_makecurrent, GLX_OML_swap_method,
    GLX_SGIS_multisample, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig, GLX_SGIX_pbuffer,
    GLX_SGI_make_current_read
OpenGL vendor string: Mesa Project
OpenGL renderer string: Software Rasterizer
OpenGL version string: 2.1 Mesa 9.1.1
OpenGL shading language version string: 1.20
....



Any help is appreciated and I hope it is a right forum to ask this question.
Thanks in advance,
Divick