[Xcb] double buffering

[Jamey Sharp]

On Wed, Aug 23, 2006 at 12:20:20PM +0200, Thomas Hunger wrote:
> Does that mean that there is no "preferred" way for double 
> buffering? So far I see two ways if dbe is deprecated:

Bart's concern is that these are all extensions, so you can't count on
any X server having them available. As a result, it would be useful to
have a client-side library that maps general double-buffering operations
onto whatever extension is available, or falls back to pixmaps and
CopyArea.

That said, I don't know which approach is "preferred", or if all the
current mechanisms are considered lame. I'd add GLXSwapBuffers to the
list of mechanisms to evaluate though.

> 1) Rely on the composite extension and a composite client to
>    redirect my drawing to off screen storage. Then send
>    damage reports after redrawing. 

There isn't yet a protocol to ask the composite manager to defer updates
until you're done redrawing, though that's been discussed, so the
composite extension doesn't actually buy you double-buffering right now.
One of the double-buffer extensions may continue to have use in a fully
composited world to help the server manage this.

> 2) Create background pixmap. Problem: When should I free 
>    the pixmap? Is there a way to create "soft-allocated"
>    pixmaps which the server can claim when it needs space?
>    I cannot find anything in the protocoll.

I don't believe you can create "weak-referenced pixmaps" in X, no. I'm
not sure why that's useful though: as long as you continue wanting
double-buffering, you need that pixmap sitting around, right?

> p.s. is this the wrong mailing list for this discussion? I 
> found some related threads which did not really answer the 
> question of double buffering:

Yes, the xorg list is the right place to ask these general X technology
questions; though you came to the right place for questions about XCB's
extension implementations.

--Jamey
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: Digital signature
Url : http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/xcb/attachments/20060823/4e24f858/attachment.pgp