The Mesa 3-D graphics library

The top-level makefile will execute the makefiles in a number of sub- directories. When finished, there should be executables in the "demos/", "samples/", and "book/" directories for you to try out.

If your system is not listed by 'make', you'll have to modify the top-level Makefile and Make-config files. There are instructions in each file.

If you have compilation problems you should try to fix them and return the patches to the author.

The file src/config.h has many parameters which you can tune before building.

If you want to build the Mesa widgets read the widgets/INSTALL file.

If you want to build the GLUT library read the GLUT/README-MESA file.

Installation for Microsoft Windows

Using the library (with Unix/X11 systems)

Since the OpenGL API is used, OpenGL documentation can serve as the documentation for Mesa's core functions. In addition, there are HTML man pages for the following widgets included in the Mesa source distribution :

• GLwCreateMDrawingArea
• GLwDrawingArea
• GLwDrawingAreaMakeCurrent
• GLwDrawingAreaSwapBuffers
• MesaDrawingArea
• MesaWorkstation

Initially, you may write your own Mesa programs using the aux or tk tool- kits which are used in the OpenGL Programming Guide and in SGI's demos, respectively. However, these toolkits weren't meant for use in real app- lications. You have several alternatives:

1. Go directly to the X/Mesa interface using the functions described in include/GL/xmesa.h. This requires experience with X programming.
2. Use the GLX (simulated since Mesa doesn't implement the GLX extension) functions. These functions look like, and try to act like, the real GLX functions used by OpenGL in conjunction with the X window system.
3. GLUT (OpenGL Utility Toolkit) was written by Mark Kilgard at SGI as a replacement for aux and tk. It provides a simple, portable, window- system independent interface allowing you to write OpenGL applications quickly and easily. GLUT isn't included with Mesa but you'll find instruc- tions on how to get and build GLUT in the file GLUT/README-MESA.
4. Use a Mesa widgets. Look in the widgets/ directory for more info.

1. Turn off smooth shading when you don't need it (glShadeModel)
2. Turn off depth buffering when you don't need it.
3. Use double buffering as it's often faster than single buffering
4. Compile in the X Shared Memory extension option if it's supported on your system by adding -DSHM to CFLAGS and -lXext to XLIBS for your system in the Make-config file.
5. Recompile Mesa with more optimization if possible.
6. Try to maximize the amount of drawing done between glBegin/glEnd pairs.
7. Use the MESA_BACK_BUFFER variable to find best performance in double buffered mode.

Display Modes: The glXChooseVisual function tries its best to pick an appropriate visual for the given attribute list. However, if this doesn't suit your needs you can force Mesa to use any X visual you want (though not all are supported) by setting the MESA_RGB_VISUAL and MESA_CI_VISUAL envi- ronment variables. When an RGB visual is requested, glXChooseVisual will first look if the MESA_RGB_VISUAL variable is defined. If so, it will try to use the specified visual. Similarly, when a color index visual is re- quested, glXChooseVisual will look for the MESA_CI_VISUAL variable.

The format of accepted values is: Here are some examples:

          using the C-shell:
          % setenv MESA_RGB_VISUAL "TrueColor 8" // 8-bit TrueColor
          % setenv MESA_CI_VISUAL "PseudoColor 12" // 12-bit PseudoColor
          % setenv MESA_RGB_VISUAL "PseudoColor 8" // 8-bit PseudoColor

          using the KornShell:
          $ export MESA_RGB_VISUAL="TrueColor 8"
          $ export MESA_CI_VISUAL="PseudoColor 12"
          $ export MESA_RGB_VISUAL="PseudoColor 8"
        

While Mesa includes its own header files GL/gl.h GL/glx.h GL/glu.h you can optionally compile Mesa using the real OpenGL header files if you have them. Just remove or move the GL/gl.h GL/glx.h GL/glu.h Mesa files and replace them with copies or links to the real OpenGL header files. Then recompile Mesa.

Miscellaneous

The latest version of Mesa can be found at iris.ssec.wisc.edu in pub/misc/

There is a Mesa WWW home page at http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/~brianp/Mesa.html

There is a Mesa mailing list. To subscribe, send the following message to the address listserv@iqm.unicamp.br

          subs mesa 
            set mesa mail ack
        

          subs mesa Brian Paul
          set mesa mail ack
        

You will receive a welcome message from the list server when you have been added to the list. It tells you how to post messages to the list, how to unsubscribe, etc. Thanks to Pedro Vazquez for setting up the list.

There is a contrib/ subdirectory containing contributions from Mesa users. See the README file in that directory for more information.

Known Bugs

Perspective-corrected texture map coordinate interpolation can fail under certain conditions due to numerical error.

Version History

          1.0 beta February 1995
          Initial release

          1.1 beta March 4, 1995
          Many improvements:
          - faster point and line drawing (2x faster)
          - more systems supported, better Makefiles
          - many small bug fixes
          - pseudo-GLX functions added
          - GLUT support
          - new implementation of evaluators (eval2.c)
          - Renamed lib*.a files to avoid collisions

          1.1.1 beta March 7, 1995
          Reverted from eval2.c to eval.c due to FPE on Linux
          more speed improvements
          more Makefile changes

          1.1.2 beta March 14,1995
          Using eval2.c again
          more FPE-prevention checks (0-length normals are OK)
          a few small bug fixes
          much faster pixel logic ops!
          faster transformation arithmetic
          implementation of SGI's blending extensions
          glXUseXFont implemented
          added MESA_DEBUG environment variable support

          1.1.3 beta March 31,1995
          gluScaleImage() and gluBuild2DMipMaps() implemented
          Mesa widgets for Xt/Motif
          more bug fixes
          blendEXT demos
          added environment variables for selecting visuals
          almost all GLUT demos work correctly now
          faster X device driver functions

          1.1.4 beta April 20,1995
          Bug fixes:
          - missing #define SEEK_SET in src-tk/image.c
          - compile glShadeModel into display lists
          - fixed pow() domain error in src/light.c
          - fixed "flickering bitmaps" in double buffer mode
          - fixed tk.h and aux.h for C++
          - state of LIGHT_MODEL_LOCAL_VIEWER was inverted
          New features:
          - MUCH, MUCH nicer dithering in 8-bit RGB mode
          - updated widgets and widget demos
          - Implemented GLXPixmap functions
          - Added GLU 1.1 and GLX 1.1 functions
          - Changed the X/Mesa interface API, more versatile
          - Implemented gluPartialDisk()

          1.2 May 22,1995
          Bug fixes:
          - IRIX 4.x makefile problem
          - modified tk to share root colormap as needed
          - gluLookAt normalization problem
          - suppress Expose, NoExpose events in swapbuffers
          - glBitmap() and glDrawPixels() clipping
          New features:
          - GL_BLEND, GL_MODULATE, GL_DECAL, and GL_REPLACE_EXT texture
          modes implemented
          - texture maps stored more efficiently
          - texture maps can be compiled into display lists
          - Bogdan Sikorski's GLU polygon tesselation code
          - Linas Vepstas's sweep and extrusion library
          - glXCreateContext()'s shareList parameter works as it's supposed to.
          XMesaCreateContext() updated to accept a shareList parameter too.
          - Mesa can be compiled with real OpenGL .h files
          - MESA_BACK_BUFFER environment variable
          - better GLX error checking

          1.2.1 June 22, 1995
          Bug fixes:
          - X/Mesa double buffer window resize crash
          - widgets now pass PointerMotion events
          - X/Mesa incorrect default clear color and drawing color
          - more robust X MIT-SHM support in X/Mesa
          - glTexImage( format=GL_LUMINANCE ) didn't work
          - GL_LINE mode polygons with line width > 1.0 could cause a crash
          - numerous feedback bugs
          - glReadPixels() from depth buffer was wrong
          - error prone depth and stencil buffer allocation
          New features:
          - Preliminary Microsoft Windows driver
          - Implemented a number of missing functions: glEvalCoord[12][df]v(),
          glGet...(), etc.
          - Added a few missing symbols to gl.h and glu.h
          - Faster rendering of smooth-shaded, RGBA, depth-buffered polygons.
          - Faster rendering of lines when width=2.0
          - Stencil-related functions now work in display lists
          Changes:
          - renamed aux.h as glaux.h (MS-DOS names can't start with aux)
          - most filenames are in 8.3 format to accomodate MS-DOS
          - use GLubytes to store arrays of colors instead of GLints

          Coming up...
          All new triangle rasterization

        

Why is it the library called Mesa?

[I've recently discovered that at least two other software products use the name Mesa. A name change may be necessary in the future. Suggestions are welcome!]

Thanks to

Erich Stefan Boleyn

for the glRotate code and testing early Mesa

Joe Kiniry, Kendall Bennett

for opinions and discussion

Marc Buffat

for the gluProject and gluUnproject functions

Bernd Barsuhn, Volker Weiss

for the new implementation of evaluators

Philip Brown

for the initial GLX, GLUT implementation

Thorsten Ohl

for glXUseXFont() and glBitmap bug fixes

Thomas Malik

for new invert_matrix and other xform.c code

Michael Pichler

for X colormap code

Thorsten Ohl, Jeroen van der Zijp

for the widget set

Bob Mercier

for the new 8-bit RGB dithering code

Pedro Vazquez

for establishing the Mesa mailing list

Bogdan Sikorski

for the GLU polygon tesselation code

Linas Vepstas

for his extrusion and swept surface library

Frederic Devernay

for improved X shared memory support

Asif Khan

for bringing _many_ subtle bugs to my attention

Mark Peterson

for the MS Windows driver for Mesa

Your contributionss are greatly appreciated!

The README that this file is based upon was last revised: 22 June 1995

This file was created by Ron Record (rr@ronrecord.com) on 04 July 1995 and last revised on 05 July 1995

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