wl_surface::attach(NULL) release previous buffer?

[Pekka Paalanen]

On Thu, 14 Sep 2023 12:24:42 +0100
John Cox <jc at kynesim.co.uk> wrote:

> Hi
> 
> A, hopefully, simple question - should I expect a wl_buffer::release
> event from the buffer previously committed to a surface after I've
> attached (and invalidated & committed) a NULL buffer to the surface? it
> doesn't seem to happen for me (I have WAYLAND_DEBUG=1 logs showing it
> not happening).

Theoretically yes, because committing a NULL buffer should delete any
content of the surface, so there is no reason for the compositor to
keep the buffer.

It may not be immediate, though, so a simple roundtrip is not
guaranteed to be enough. An unfinished output frame may cause the
compositor to still need the previous buffer for a moment longer, and
the compositor might need to paint one more output refresh to ensure
the buffer is no longer in use.

Then there are also client related considerations like if the
wl_surface is actually a synchronized sub-surface, then committing a
NULL buffer won't take effect until the parent has been committed and
taken effect.

Another thing is that some wl_surface roles might forbid committing a
NULL buffer, but you'd notice that from a protocol error. I don't
remember what roles that might be.

> If I shouldn't expect a release - when is it safe to reuse/free the
> buffer storage?

To re-use the storage, you do need to receive wl_buffer.release, or an
equivalent if you are using an extension like explicit sync.


Thanks,
pq
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