Linux kernel interfaces: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:17, 11 July 2017

Revision as of 13:27, 11 July 2017

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== Abstraction APIs ==

[[File:Linux kernel and OpenGL video games.svg|thumb|OpenGL is indeed an abstraction API to make use of diverse GPUs of multiple vendors without the need to program for each one specifically.]]

For several use cases using the Linux API is considered too low-level and higher abstraction APIs are used. Such of course still need to work on top of the low-level Linux APIs. Examples:

[[File:Division of labor cpu and gpu.svg|thumb|But the implementation of the OpenGL-specification is executed on the CPU in the context of the running operating system. One design goal of [[Vulkan (API)|Vulkan]] was to make the "graphics driver", i.e. the implementation of the graphics API, do less.]]

For several use cases using the Linux API is considered too low-level and higher abstraction APIs are used. Such of course still need to work on top of the low-level Linux APIs. Examples:

* implementation of the [[OpenGL]] specificationand [[Vulkan (API)|Vulkan]] specifications in proprietary Linux graphics drivers and the free and open-source implementation in [[Mesa (computer graphics)|Mesa]]

* implementation of the [[OpenAL]] specification

* [[Simple DirectMedia Layer]]: abstraction API for input/sound/etc. available for many operating systems