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na641
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Joined: 27 Jun 2002
Posts: 171
Location: Eugene, OR

PostPosted: Sat Jul 06, 2024 11:36 am    Post subject: Wayland clarification for EGL and more generally Reply with quote

I am seeking clarification around EGL (and by extension GLES and GLESv2). Until i made this post, it was my understanding "EGL" referred to embedded interfaces for OpenGL (or similar). Ive always had a weak understanding around this terminology.

Recently, when working with wayland, i've found myself thoroughly confused about this nomenclature.

Links:

- https://wayland.freedesktop.org/architecture.html
- https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/OpenGL
- https://www.khronos.org/egl
- https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Mpv

Use Examples:

```
+ + egl : Enable EGL (Embedded-System Graphics Library, interfacing between windowing system and OpenGL/GLES) support
```

I can provide more links, if needed. And more use flag examples.

Im confused as to what 'egl' refers to in the context of a gentoo system in 2024. The wayland documentation implies that 'egl' is a requirement for hardware acceleration (embedded or no). The arch wiki and gentoo wiki are a mixed bag when referencing this 'egl' term. Almost all gentoo 'use flags' related docs, refer to 'embedded gl'. I am hoping to find some up to date clarity around this terminology. I often read 'egl-wayland' (or similar) and it just does not seem to refer to 'embedded'.
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rab0171610
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Joined: 24 Dec 2022
Posts: 423

PostPosted: Sat Jul 06, 2024 5:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The easiest way to wrap your brain around it is:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EGL_(API)
Highlights:
Quote:
EGL is an interface between Khronos rendering APIs (such as OpenGL, OpenGL ES or OpenVG) and the underlying native platform windowing system.

Quote:
The acronym EGL is an initialism, which starting from EGL version 1.2 refers to Khronos Native Platform Graphics Interface.[3] Prior to version 1.2, the name of the EGL specification was OpenGL ES Native Platform Graphics Interface.[4] X.Org development documentation glossary defines EGL as "Embedded-System Graphics Library"

It was adopted by Blackberry and Android for graphics rendering.
The Wayland display server [also] protocol uses EGL:
Quote:
It is implemented in a way that Wayland clients will draw directly to the framebuffer using EGL.

Quote:
The free implementations of the Wayland (display server protocol) rely upon the Mesa implementation of EGL. A special library called libwayland-EGL was written to accommodate the access to the framebuffer

So maybe initially it was intended or thought to address rendering on embedded systems, it grew into much more than that. It has been widely adopted.
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na641
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Joined: 27 Jun 2002
Posts: 171
Location: Eugene, OR

PostPosted: Mon Jul 08, 2024 4:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Is it reasonable to suggest this distinction could be better made throughout the gentoo wiki? Also, is there a better term for the 'e' other than embedded? I wouldn't mind putting in the effort in The wiki to provide better clarity.
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Hu
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Joined: 06 Mar 2007
Posts: 22649

PostPosted: Mon Jul 08, 2024 12:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Wiki is a community project, and as long as the proposed revisions are not misleading, I see no reason they should not be considered. If you want feedback from users more directly involved in considering your changes, you could use the Talk page for the page(s) you want to modify. That will advise existing editors of your proposal.
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