[Mesa3d-dev] pbuffers and superbuffers

[Allen Akin]

On Sun, Dec 07, 2003 at 01:07:59PM -0800, Jon Smirl wrote:
| If we are looking at implement pbuffers, shouldn't we be looking at
| superbuffers too? ...

Yes, I agree that it's extremely important.  Superbuffers could have
significant effects on resource management.

|   ...Does anyone have detailed info on superbuffers? There is an OpenGl ARB
| working group, has it released a proposal yet?

The working group hasn't released the proposal yet.  The ARB rules
discourage early release (mostly because of intellectual property (IP)
issues, but also because some extensions were implemented prematurely in
the past).  However, last I looked the proposal seemed to be in good
shape.  Several hours of the ARB meeting next week will be dedicated to
discussing it.

If you (meaning interested individuals or companies) want to get
involved, you can join the ARB by signing the necessary participation
agreements.  I think the constraints are pretty reasonable.  Basically
you just have to agree to release IP claims on material you contribute
to the standard and notify the ARB if anyone else's contributions
infringe on IP you own.  (That's an oversimplification, but it'll give
you an idea of what's involved.)  The downside is dealing with the long
standards-committee discussions and occasional corporate hypocrisy.  But
if you can handle that, even individuals can make a difference.

Allen