gapil

Graphics API Language

The Graphics API Language is used to describe in detail the interface and required behaviour of a graphics API. From these API files, much of GAPII, GAPIR and GAPIS is generated.

Data types

Builtin types

Typename	Description
void	used to denote no return value, or a pointer to untyped memory (void*)
string	a sequence of characters
bool	architecture dependent sized boolean value
char	architecture dependent sized character value
int	architecture dependent sized signed integer
uint	architecture dependent sized unsigned integer
size	architecture dependent sized integer used for sizes
s8	8-bit signed integer
u8	8-bit unsigned integer
s16	16-bit signed integer
u16	16-bit unsigned integer
s32	32-bit signed integer
u32	32-bit unsigned integer
s64	64-bit signed integer
u64	64-bit unsigned integer
f32	32-bit floating-pointer number
f64	64-bit floating-pointer number

Named types

A number of different types can be defined within the API file.

Each of the following types can be preceded with any number of annotations.

Class

Class types define objects that can hold fields and methods.

Class instances can be used as value types or be shared using references.

Classes are declared using the syntax:

class name {
  field_type_1 field_name_1
  ...
  field_type_N field_name_N
}

Enum

Enum types define a collection of name-integer pairs within a named scope.

Enums may contain multiple names with the same value.

Enums are declared using the syntax:

enum name {
  name_1 = value_1
  ...
  name_N = value_N
}

Bitfield

Bitfield types define a collection of name-integer pairs within a named scope.

Bitfields have special operators for performing bitwise tests.

Bitfields are declared using the syntax:

bitfield name {
  name_1 = value_1
  ...
  name_N = value_N
}

Alias

Aliases create a new type derived from an existing type. Templates may chose to emit a new type for aliases in the target code-generated language.

Aliased types may have annotations.

Aliases are declared using the syntax:

type base_type alias_name

Commands

Commands are declared with a C-style function signature, prefixed with cmd.

cmd GLboolean glIsEnabled(GLenum capability) {
  // command body
}

Each command may be prefixed with one or more annotations.

@EndOfFrame
cmd EGLBoolean eglSwapBuffers(EGLDisplay display, void* surface) {
  // ...
}

Global fields

At the top-level scope of an API file, fields can be declared with optional initializers.

f32 aGlobalF32      // Default-initialized to 0
u8  aGlobalU8  = 4  // Initialized to 4

These fields are initialized before any command is executed

Statements

Builtin statements

read(T[] src)

read is used to signal that the specified memory slice is read by the command.

For GAPII the read statement will instruct the interceptor to observe src before invoking the real driver function.

For GAPIR the read statement will instruct the replay system to fill the corresponding memory range with the observed memory before invoking the call.

The read statement is an implicit pre-fence statement.

write(T[] dst)

write is used to signal that the specified memory slice is written by the command.

For GAPII the write statement will instruct the interceptor to observe dst after invoking the real driver function.

For GAPIR the write statement will instruct the replay system to perform any output-value remappings after invoking the call.

The write statement is an implicit post-fence statement.

copy(T[] dst, T[] src)

copy will copy min(len(src), len(dst)) elements from src to dst, and perform the corresponding read() and write() logic on src and dst, respectively.

The copy statement is an implicit pre and post-fence statement.

fence

Statements need to be split into those that are executed before the call to the function, and those that need to be executed after the call to the function.

For example consider a function that performs a read-modify-write operation on the provided buffer:

cmd void RMW(u8* buffer, u32 size) {
  read(buffer[0:size])
  // implicit fence
  write(buffer[0:size])
}

In this example, the GAPII interceptor needs to perform a read observation on buffer before calling the driver's RMW function, and a write observation after calling the driver's RMW function.

For commands that do not use the explicit fence statement, an implicit fence will be inserted between all pre-fence statements and all post-fence statements in the command. The logic to find this insertion point is currently pretty simple, and may fail with a compilation error if a single insertion point cannot be found. In these cases you should explicitly add a fence statement to the command.

Annotations

An annotation is a custom attribute that can be placed on named types and commands.

Annotations can take the form:

@name

@name(arg1, arg2, arg3)

Annotations are for use by the templates when using the apic [template] (../cmd/apic/template.go) or [validate] (../cmd/apic/validate.go) commands, but otherwise have no effect.