Linux OpenGL ABI Proposal
This is a proposal to update the Linux OpenGL ABI in order to:
-
Redefine what libraries should exist, and what entry points they should each expose, given:
- The emergence of EGL (both within and without the X Window System).
- The interest in GLES on the desktop.
- The optional removal of some GL features in OpenGL 3.1.
-
Allow multiple OpenGL implementations to co-exist on the filesystem without distribution-specific loader or symlink mechanisms. This should resolve the libGL.so installation collisions that people experience today.
-
Allow multiple OpenGL implementations to co-exist within the same process. Different threads could be current to different contexts which get dispatched to potentially different OpenGL implementations.
Backwards compatibility should be preserved: existing Linux OpenGL applications should continue to run after this is implemented.