It was one case on one backend under one transport: OpenRA, DirectGLES,
inproc. It is now every CI case, both backends, inproc AND spawn - 154 CI
entries, 156 local ctest entries - because every defect the spawn work turned
up was a question about the SERVER's process and not about any one trace or
either backend.
THE DirectVulkan ARM. tools/trace_replay/CMakeLists.txt carried "a
DirectVulkan arm would be measuring a server nobody has written yet". True
when P5 wrote it; false since P5f/P7 landed Magma's server consumers and its
run-ahead readiness gate. Leaving it would have shipped a split shape whose
second backend nothing ever ran - the same class of hole as a lane that runs
monolith under a name that says split. Magma now brings up a server process
of its own and OpenRA retraces across it at ssim=1.000000, which is only
possible because this branch also taught the child to load its config: before
that, a DirectVulkan session brought up a DirectGLES server and the two
halves disagreed about which backend the capability mask describes.
`split` BECOMES AN OPT-OUT. It began as an opt-in naming one case, because
one case was the work. Marking 39 cases `"split": true` would carry no
information and would reinstate the hole the key was written to close, only
mirrored: a case added later would get the monolith arms and be silently
absent from the split ones, and absent is the one state nothing reds on. A CI
case is now in the subset unless it says `"split": false`, which is a
reviewable claim that a trace cannot cross a role boundary.
THE CI MATRIX GAINS A THIRD DIMENSION. The job took {backend, case} and
hard-coded MOBILEGL_TRANSPORT=inproc in its own run block, so `spawn` had no
way into CI at all; the .SPAWN ctest entries existed only for a local build.
It is {backend, case, transport} now, the backends are the case's own
ci_backends rather than a hard-coded DirectGLES, and the artifact names carry
the transport or the two arms of one {backend, case} would overwrite each
other's uploads.
inproc STAYS AS THE CONTROL. Same library, same codec, same applier, same
picture; the only difference is which process the server role runs in.
Running only spawn would leave "did the transport break it?" and "did the
phase break it?" answerable only together - which is the question every
failure in this phase has turned on, including the SIGSEGV that D1 explained.
BOTH NEGATIVE CONTROLS FOLLOW THE ARM. retrace_pull_library_control.sh and
retrace_drop_draw_control.sh each exported MOBILEGL_TRANSPORT=inproc
themselves, so on a spawn job they would have gone on proving something about
the other arm while spawn ran unguarded. They read SPLIT_TRANSPORT now, and
default to inproc so a caller that sets nothing behaves exactly as before.
scripts/ci/control_smoke_test.sh: 22 passed, 0 failed against the stubbed
ctest, including the two modes that matter most - a red whose SSIM never fell
and a knob that armed and dropped nothing.
The spawn arm needs a second binary and the inproc arm needs none, so the job
places libMobileGLServer.so only on the spawn arm and a missing one is a
named failure there rather than a LaunchServer refusal 78 jobs deep.
Measured locally as this lands: 39 of the 78 SPAWN entries complete, all
green. The rest are still running.
MobileGL
A desktop OpenGL implementation
MobileGL is a free and open-source project that implements a desktop OpenGL API. The goal is to provide a complete desktop OpenGL implementation with a state management layer and multi-backend support.
Note
Status: In development. Parts of the codebase are incomplete. Current short-term target: OpenGL 4.2 (Core Profile).
Project positioning
MobileGL is an implementation of a desktop OpenGL library. It aims to provide:
- Full OpenGL state management.
- A front-end that exposes OpenGL functions.
- Multiple independent backend implementations, where each backend targets a specific graphics API and remains fully isolated from others.
This project is intended as an implementation/translation layer.
Key components
The repository is organized into following top-level modules:
- MG_State — state tracking and management logic for Graphics APIs.
- MG_Impl — front-end implementations of Graphics APIs that interact with
MG_StateandMG_Backend. - MG_Backend — per-backend translation layer that maps front-end Graphics APIs' semantics and state into concrete backend API calls (e.g. OpenGL ES, Vulkan).
- MG_Util and other utility modules.
Third-party components
MobileGL reuses several open-source projects:
- SPIRV-Cross by KhronosGroup - Apache License 2.0: github
- glslang by KhronosGroup - Various Licenses: github
- DiligentCore by Diligent Graphics - Apache License 2.0: github
- flat_hash_map by Malte Skarupke - Boost Software License 1.0: github
Refer to each component's repository for exact license texts. Any bundled third-party code in this repository is included under the upstream project's license.
Compatibility & target
- Short-term target:
OpenGL 4.2 (Core Profile). - Current development focus:
- Performance improvement
MG_StateandMG_ImplforOpenGL 4.2 (Core Profile)Direct (Vulkan)backendDirect (OpenGL ES)backend
Build Instructions
We currently provide no releases and no precompiled binaries.
If you want to try the project right now, you’ll need to build it yourself:
-
Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/MobileGL-Dev/MobileGL.git -
Initialize and update all submodules recursively:
git submodule update --init --recursive -
Follow glslang’s own documentation for its required initiation.
-
Configure and build the project with CMake:
cmake -B build cmake --build buildor do it in a modern way:
cmake -S . -B build -G Ninja -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=clang -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=clang++ cmake --build buildAlternatively, you can use platform-specific build commands as needed.
Build For macOS
On macOS, MobileGL can be built as a dylib that exposes the normal OpenGL/CGL/NSOpenGL entry points and routes them to the DirectVulkan backend. This is useful for running applications such as Minecraft through their stock GLFW/LWJGL OpenGL path while MobileGL is injected before context creation.
Prerequisites:
- macOS with Clang and Ninja.
- Vulkan loader and MoltenVK installed. With Homebrew, the MoltenVK ICD is commonly located at
/opt/homebrew/etc/vulkan/icd.d/MoltenVK_icd.json.
Configure and build:
cmake -S . -B build-macos-magma \
-G Ninja \
-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
-DMOBILEGL_BACKEND_TYPE=DirectVulkan \
-DMOBILEGL_BUILD_TEST=OFF \
-DMOBILEGL_BUILD_BENCHMARK=OFF
cmake --build build-macos-magma --target MobileGL -j8
The dylib will be generated at:
build-macos-magma/libMobileGL.dylib
To run Minecraft by MobileGL from a launcher like PrismLauncher, keep the stock LWJGL/GLFW natives and add a wrapper command to the instance settings:
env DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES=/absolute/path/to/MobileGL/build-macos-magma/libMobileGL.dylib MOBILEGL_BACKEND_TYPE=DirectVulkan VK_ICD_FILENAMES=/opt/homebrew/etc/vulkan/icd.d/MoltenVK_icd.json
Also make sure the JVM arguments include:
-XstartOnFirstThread
DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES must be active before GLFW creates its OpenGL context. After startup, the Minecraft F3 screen should report MobileGL and the Direct (Vulkan) backend if the injection worked.
Build Options
| Option | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
MOBILEGL_BUILD_TEST |
Build MobileGL tests (requires Clang) | ON |
MOBILEGL_BUILD_BENCHMARK |
Build MobileGL benchmarks (requires Clang) | ON |
MOBILEGL_FORCE_RELEASE_OPT |
Enable O3 and LTO in Debug build | ON |
MOBILEGL_ENABLE_TRACY |
Enable Tracy profiler for performance analysis | OFF |
Notes:
- The project requires C++23.
MG_TestandMG_Benchmarkcan only be built with Clang, not GCC. To enforce Clang, add-DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=clang -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=clang++to your command.- On Android, tests and benchmarks are always disabled.
Environment Variables
MobileGL supports runtime configuration via environment variables.
Supported Keys
| Variable | Description | Allowed Values | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
MOBILEGL_BACKEND_TYPE |
Select active backend implementation at startup. | DirectGLES, DirectVulkan |
DirectGLES |
MOBILEGL_DISABLE_TIMERQUERY |
Disable GPU timer-query exposure and use. | 0, 1 |
0 |
MOBILEGL_ESPRYT_USE_ANGLE |
Load ANGLE EGL/GLES libraries. | 0, 1 |
0 |
MOBILEGL_MAGMA_DISABLE_SUBGROUP |
Disable Vulkan shader subgroup support. | 0, 1 |
0 |
MOBILEGL_ADVERTISE_FP64 |
Advertise GL_ARB_gpu_shader_fp64. GLSL double/dvec/dmat compile and run either way - they are narrowed to 32 bits - so this only changes whether an application is told it has 64-bit precision, which it does not. |
0, 1 |
0 |
MOBILEGL_MAGMA_R11G11B10F_FALLBACK |
Use Magma's R11G11B10F format fallback. | 0, 1 |
0 |
MOBILEGL_MAGMA_FRAMESINFLIGHT |
Set Magma frames in flight. | Integer 1–64 |
3 |
MOBILEGL_ESPRYT_AVOID_SAMPLER_MIPMAP_MIN_FILTER |
Avoid sampler mipmap minification filters. | 0, 1 |
0 |
MOBILEGL_COHERENT_AS_FLUSH |
Treat persistent GL_MAP_FLUSH_EXPLICIT_BIT maps as coherent (app-compat for engines like Flywheel that never flush them). |
0, 1 |
0 |
MOBILEGL_ESPRYT_FORCE_DS_READBACK_EMULATION |
Always emulate depth/stencil glReadPixels/glGetTexImage by shader sampling on Espryt, instead of using the driver's own depth/stencil readback where it has one. |
0, 1 |
0 |
VK_ICD_FILENAMES |
Select the Vulkan ICD used by the Vulkan loader. | Path to an ICD JSON file | Loader default |
License
This project is distributed under GNU LGPL v3.0. See the LICENSE file in the repository for detailed information.