glgetstring
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glGetString(3G) OpenGL Reference glGetString(3G)
NAME
glGetString - returns a string describing the current GL connection
C SPECIFICATION
const GLubyte * glGetString( GLenum name )
PARAMETERS
name Specifies a symbolic constant, one of GL_VENDOR, GL_RENDERER,
GL_VERSION, or GL_EXTENSIONS.
DESCRIPTION
glGetString returns a pointer to a static string describing some aspect
of the current GL connection. name can be one of the following:
GL_VENDOR
Returns the company responsible for this GL implementation. This
name does not change from release to release. For Silicon
Graphics the string is "SGI".
GL_RENDERER
Returns the name of the renderer. This name is typically
specific to a particular configuration of a hardware platform.
It does not change from release to release. The renderer strings
for Silicon Graphics graphic engines are listed in the MACHINE
DEPENDENCIES section below.
GL_VERSION
Returns a version or release number. For SGI releases prior to
Irix 5.3 the string is "1.0". For Irix 5.3 and subsequent
releases the format is
"<GL version> Irix patch "; for
example in the Irix 5.3 release the string is "1.0 Irix 5.3".
GL_EXTENSIONS
Returns a space-separated list of supported extensions to GL.
Because GL does not include queries for the performance characteristics
of an implementation, it is expected that some applications will be
written to recognize known platforms and will modify their GL usage based
on known performance characteristics of these platforms. Strings
GL_VENDOR and GL_RENDERER together uniquely specify a platform, and will
not change from release to release. They should be used by such platform
recognition algorithms. The format and contents of the GL_VENDOR and the
GL_RENDERER strings depend on the implementation.
Some applications will want to make use of features which are not part of
the standard GL. These features may be implemented as extensions to the
standard GL. The GL_EXTENSIONS string is a space seperated list of
supported GL extensions. (Extension names never contain a space
character.)
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glGetString(3G) OpenGL Reference glGetString(3G)
The GL_VERSION string begins with a version number. The version number
is of the form major_number.minor_number or
major_number.minor_number.release_number. Vendor specific information may
follow the version number. Its format depends on the implementation, but
a space always seperates the version number and the vendor specific
information.
All strings are null-terminated.
NOTES
If an error is generated, glGetString returns zero.
The client and server may support different versions or extensions.
glGetString always returns a compatible version number or list of
extensions. The release number always describes the server.
ERRORS
GL_INVALID_ENUM is generated if name is not an accepted value.
GL_INVALID_OPERATION is generated if glGetString is executed between the
execution of glBegin and the corresponding execution of glEnd.
MACHINE DEPENDENCIES
The GL_RENDERER strings returned by glGetString for each graphics system
are listed below. Square brackets ([,]) surround optional parts of the
string, and angle brackets (<,>) surround multi-valued parts that are
always present. Neither the square brackets nor the angle brackets are
part of the string.
Indy and XL: "NEWPORT <nplanes>", where nplanes is the number of
configured bitplanes: 8 or 24.
Personal Iris: "GR1.<version>[/24][/Z][/Turbo]", where version is the
board version: 1 or 2; /24 indicates 24 bitplanes (otherwise 8); /Z
indicates a hardware depth buffer; /Turbo indicates the "Turbo"
option.
VGX and VGXT: "VGX[T][<spans>]", where spans is either /5 or /10
indicating the number of spans other than 20.
Indigo Entry: "LIGHT".
XS, XZ, Elan, and Extreme: "<type>-", where type is one of
GR2, GR3, GU1 or GR2MP and graphics is one of XS, XSM, XS24, XS24-Z,
XZ, Elan, or Extreme, corresponding to the configuration of the
graphics board.
RealityEngine, RealityEngine2, and VTX: "<type>///",
where type is REC, RE, or REV corresponding to Crimson, Power Series
or Onyx/VTX; pixd is S, M, or L, corresponding to small, medium, or
large pixel depth, respectively; nrm is 1, 2, or 4, indicating the
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glGetString(3G) OpenGL Reference glGetString(3G)
number of raster manager boards; texsz is 2 or 8 indicating the size
of the texture memory in megatexels. (Each texel is 16 bits in
size.)
InfiniteReality: "<type>////",
where type is IR or IRS, corresponding to Onyx with R4400 or R10000,
respectively; pixd is S, M, or L, corresponding to small, medium, or
large pixel depth, respectively; nrm is 1, 2, or 4, indicating the
number of raster manager boards; texsz is 16 or 64 indicating the
size of texture memory in megabytes; and nge indicates the number of
Geometry Engines on the geometry engine board.
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