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Name
ARB_fragment_shader_interlock
Name Strings
GL_ARB_fragment_shader_interlock
Contact
Slawomir Grajewski, Intel (slawomir.grajewski 'at' intel.com)
Contributors
Contributors to INTEL_fragment_shader_ordering
Contributers to NV_fragment_shader_interlock
Notice
Copyright (c) 2015 The Khronos Group Inc. Copyright terms at
http://www.khronos.org/registry/speccopyright.html
Specification Update Policy
Khronos-approved extension specifications are updated in response to
issues and bugs prioritized by the Khronos OpenGL Working Group. For
extensions which have been promoted to a core Specification, fixes will
first appear in the latest version of that core Specification, and will
eventually be backported to the extension document. This policy is
described in more detail at
https://www.khronos.org/registry/OpenGL/docs/update_policy.php
Status
Complete. Approved by the ARB on June 26, 2015.
Ratified by the Khronos Board of Promoters on August 7, 2015.
Version
Last Modified Date: May 7, 2015
Revision: 2
Number
ARB Extension #177
Dependencies
This extension is written against the OpenGL 4.5 (Core Profile)
Specification.
This extension is written against version 4.50 (revision 5) of the OpenGL
Shading Language Specification.
OpenGL 4.2 or ARB_shader_image_load_store is required; GLSL 4.20 is
required.
Overview
In unextended OpenGL 4.5, applications may produce a
large number of fragment shader invocations that perform loads and
stores to memory using image uniforms, atomic counter uniforms,
buffer variables, or pointers. The order in which loads and stores
to common addresses are performed by different fragment shader
invocations is largely undefined. For algorithms that use shader
writes and touch the same pixels more than once, one or more of the
following techniques may be required to ensure proper execution ordering:
* inserting Finish or WaitSync commands to drain the pipeline between
different "passes" or "layers";
* using only atomic memory operations to write to shader memory (which
may be relatively slow and limits how memory may be updated); or
* injecting spin loops into shaders to prevent multiple shader
invocations from touching the same memory concurrently.
This extension provides new GLSL built-in functions
beginInvocationInterlockARB() and endInvocationInterlockARB() that delimit
a critical section of fragment shader code. For pairs of shader
invocations with "overlapping" coverage in a given pixel, the OpenGL
implementation will guarantee that the critical section of the fragment
shader will be executed for only one fragment at a time.
There are four different interlock modes supported by this extension,
which are identified by layout qualifiers. The qualifiers
"pixel_interlock_ordered" and "pixel_interlock_unordered" provides mutual
exclusion in the critical section for any pair of fragments corresponding
to the same pixel. When using multisampling, the qualifiers
"sample_interlock_ordered" and "sample_interlock_unordered" only provide
mutual exclusion for pairs of fragments that both cover at least one
common sample in the same pixel; these are recommended for performance if
shaders use per-sample data structures.
Additionally, when the "pixel_interlock_ordered" or
"sample_interlock_ordered" layout qualifier is used, the interlock also
guarantees that the critical section for multiple shader invocations with
"overlapping" coverage will be executed in the order in which the
primitives were processed by the GL. Such a guarantee is useful for
applications like blending in the fragment shader, where an application
requires that fragment values to be composited in the framebuffer in
primitive order.
This extension can be useful for algorithms that need to access per-pixel
data structures via shader loads and stores. Such algorithms using this
extension can access such data structures in the critical section without
worrying about other invocations for the same pixel accessing the data
structures concurrently. Additionally, the ordering guarantees are useful
for cases where the API ordering of fragments is meaningful. For example,
applications may be able to execute programmable blending operations in
the fragment shader, where the destination buffer is read via image loads
and the final value is written via image stores.
New Procedures and Functions
None.
New Tokens
None.
Modifications to the OpenGL Shading Language Specification, Version 4.50
Including the following line in a shader can be used to control the
language features described in this extension:
#extension GL_ARB_fragment_shader_interlock : <behavior>
where <behavior> is as specified in section 3.3.
New preprocessor #defines are added to the OpenGL Shading Language:
#define GL_ARB_fragment_shader_interlock 1
Modify Section 4.4.1.3, Fragment Shader Inputs (p. 63)
(add to the list of layout qualifiers containing "early_fragment_tests",
p. 63, and modify the surrounding language to reflect that multiple
layout qualifiers are supported on "in")
layout-qualifier-id
pixel_interlock_ordered
pixel_interlock_unordered
sample_interlock_ordered
sample_interlock_unordered
(add to the end of the section, p. 63)
The identifiers "pixel_interlock_ordered", "pixel_interlock_unordered",
"sample_interlock_ordered", and "sample_interlock_unordered" control the
ordering of the execution of shader invocations between calls to the
built-in functions beginInvocationInterlockARB() and
endInvocationInterlockARB(), as described in section 8.13.3. A
compile or link error will be generated if more than one of these layout
qualifiers is specified in shader code. If a program containing a
fragment shader includes none of these layout qualifiers, it is as
though "pixel_interlock_ordered" were specified.
Add to the end of Section 8.13, Fragment Processing Functions (p. 170)
8.13.3, Fragment Shader Execution Ordering Functions
By default, fragment shader invocations are generally executed in
undefined order. Multiple fragment shader invocations may be executed
concurrently, including multiple invocations corresponding to a single
pixel. Additionally, fragment shader invocations for a single pixel might
not be processed in the order in which the primitives generating the
fragments were specified in the OpenGL API.
The paired functions beginInvocationInterlockARB() and
endInvocationInterlockARB() allow shaders to specify a critical section,
inside which stronger execution ordering is guaranteed. When using the
"pixel_interlock_ordered" or "pixel_interlock_unordered" qualifier,
ordering guarantees are provided for any pair of fragment shader
invocations X and Y triggered by fragments A and B corresponding to the
same pixel. When using the "sample_interlock_ordered" or
"sample_interlock_unordered" qualifier, ordering guarantees are provided
for any pair of fragment shader invocations X and Y triggered by fragments
A and B that correspond to the same pixel, where at least one sample of
the pixel is covered by both fragments. No ordering guarantees are
provided for pairs of fragment shader invocations corresponding to
different pixels. Additionally, no ordering guarantees are provided for
pairs of fragment shader invocations corresponding to the same fragment.
When multisampling is enabled and the framebuffer has sample buffers,
multiple fragment shader invocations may result from a single fragment due
to the use of the "sample" auxiliary storage qualifier, OpenGL API
commands forcing multiple shader invocations per fragment, or for other
implementation-dependent reasons.
When using the "pixel_interlock_unordered" or "sample_interlock_unordered"
qualifier, the interlock will ensure that the critical sections of
fragment shader invocations X and Y with overlapping coverage will never
execute concurrently. That is, invocation X is guaranteed to complete its
call to endInvocationInterlockARB() before invocation Y completes its call
to beginInvocationInterlockARB(), or vice versa.
When using the "pixel_interlock_ordered" or "sample_interlock_ordered"
layout qualifier, the critical sections of invocations X and Y with
overlapping coverage will be executed in a specific order, based on the
relative order assigned to their fragments A and B. If fragment A is
considered to precede fragment B, the critical section of invocation X is
guaranteed to complete before the critical section of invocation Y begins.
When a pair of fragments A and B have overlapping coverage, fragment A is
considered to precede fragment B if
* the OpenGL API command producing fragment A was called prior to the
command producing B, or
* the point, line, triangle, [[compatibility profile: quadrilateral,
polygon,]] or patch primitive producing fragment A appears earlier in
the same strip, loop, fan, or independent primitive list producing
fragment B.
When [[compatibility profile: decomposing quadrilateral or polygon
primitives or]] tessellating a single patch primitive, multiple
primitives may be generated in an undefined implementation-dependent
order. When fragments A and B are generated from such unordered
primitives, their ordering is also implementation-dependent.
If fragment shader X completes its critical section before fragment shader
Y begins its critical section, all stores to memory performed in the
critical section of invocation X using a pointer, image uniform, atomic
counter uniform, or buffer variable qualified by "coherent" are guaranteed
to be visible to any reads of the same types of variable performed in the
critical section of invocation Y.
If multisampling is disabled, or if the framebuffer does not include
sample buffers, fragment coverage is computed per-pixel. In this case,
the "sample_interlock_ordered" or "sample_interlock_unordered" layout
qualifiers are treated as "pixel_interlock_ordered" or
"pixel_interlock_unordered", respectively.
Syntax:
void beginInvocationInterlockARB(void);
void endInvocationInterlockARB(void);
Description:
The beginInvocationInterlockARB() and endInvocationInterlockARB() may only
be placed inside the function main() of a fragment shader and may not be
called within any flow control. These functions may not be called after a
return statement in the function main(), but may be called after a discard
statement. A compile- or link-time error will be generated if main()
calls either function more than once, contains a call to one function
without a matching call to the other, or calls endInvocationInterlockARB()
before calling beginInvocationInterlockARB().
Additions to the AGL/GLX/WGL Specifications
None.
Errors
None.
New State
None.
New Implementation Dependent State
None.
Issues
(1) When using multisampling, the OpenGL specification permits
multiple fragment shader invocations to be generated for a single
fragment. For example, per-sample shading using the "sample"
auxiliary storage qualifier or the MinSampleShading() OpenGL API command
can be used to force per-sample shading. What execution ordering
guarantees are provided between fragment shader invocations generated
from the same fragment?
RESOLVED: We don't provide any ordering guarantees in this extension.
This implies that when using multisampling, there is no guarantee that
two fragment shader invocations for the same fragment won't be executing
their critical sections concurrently. This could cause problems for
algorithms sharing data structures between all the samples of a pixel
unless accesses to these data structures are performed atomically.
When using per-sample shading, the interlock we provide *does* guarantee
that no two invocations corresponding to the same sample execute the
critical section concurrently. If a separate set of data structures is
provided for each sample, no conflicts should occur within the critical
section.
Note that in addition to the per-sample shading options in the shading
language and API, implementations may provide multisample antialiasing
modes where the implementation can't simply run the fragment shader once
and broadcast results to a large set of covered samples.
(2) What performance differences are expected between shaders using the
"pixel" and "sample" layout qualifier variants in this extension (e.g.,
"pixel_invocation_ordered" and "sample_invocation_ordered")?
RESOLVED: We expect that shaders using "sample" qualifiers may have
higher performance, since the implementation need not order pairs of
fragments that touch the same pixel with "complementary" coverage. Such
situations are fairly common: when two adjacent triangles combine to
cover a given pixel, two fragments will be generated for the pixel but
no sample will be covered by both. When using "sample" qualifiers, the
invocations for both fragments can run concurrently. When using "pixel"
qualifiers, the critical section for one fragment must wait until the
critical section for the other fragment completes.
(3) What performance differences are expected between shaders using the
"ordered" and "unordered" layout qualifier variants in this extension
(e.g., "pixel_invocation_ordered" and "pixel_invocation_unordered")?
RESOLVED: We expect that shaders using "unordered" may have higher
performance, since the critical section implementation doesn't need to
ensure that all previous invocations with overlapping coverage have
completed their critical sections. Some algorithms (e.g., building data
structures in order-independent transparency algorithms) will require
mutual exclusion when updating per-pixel data structures, but do not
require that shaders execute in a specific ordering.
(4) Are fragment shaders using this extension allowed to write outputs?
If so, is there any guarantee on the order in which such outputs are
written to the framebuffer?
RESOLVED: Yes, fragment shaders with critical sections may still write
outputs. If fragment shader outputs are written, they are stored or
blended into the framebuffer in API order, as is the case for fragment
shaders not using this extension.
(5) What considerations apply when using this extension to implement a
programmable form of conventional blending using image stores?
RESOLVED: Per-fragment operations performed in the pipeline following
fragment shader execution obviously have no effect on image stores
executing during fragment shader execution. In particular, multisample
operations such as broadcasting a single fragment output to multiple
samples or modifying the coverage with alpha-to-coverage or a shader
coverage mask output value have no effect. Fragments can not be killed
before fragment shader blending using the fixed-function alpha test or
using the depth test with a Z value produced by the shader. Fragments
will normally not be killed by fixed-function depth or stencil tests,
but those tests can be enabled before fragment shader invocations using
the layout qualifier "early_fragment_tests". Any required
fixed-function features that need to be handled before programmable
blending that aren't enabled by "early_fragment_tests" would need to be
emulated in the shader.
Note also that performing blend computations in the shader are not
guaranteed to produce results that are bit-identical to these produced
by fixed-function blending hardware, even if mathematically equivalent
algorithms are used.
(6) For operations accessing shared per-pixel data structures in the
critical section, what operations (if any) must be performed in shader
code to ensure that stores from one shader invocation are visible to
the next?
RESOLVED: The "coherent" qualifier is required in the declaration of
the shared data structures to ensure that writes performed by one
invocation are visible to reads performed by another invocation.
In shaders that don't use the interlock, "coherent" is not sufficient as
there is no guarantee of the ordering of fragment shader invocations --
even if invocation A can see the values written by another invocation B,
there is no general guarantee that invocation A's read will be performed
before invocation B's write. The built-in function memoryBarrier() can
be used to generate a weak ordering by which threads can communicate,
but it doesn't order memory transactions between two separate
invocations. With the interlock, execution ordering between two threads
from the same pixel is well-defined as long as the loads and stores are
performed inside the critical section, and the use of "coherent" ensures
that stores done by one invocation are visible to other invocations.
(7) Should we provide an explicit mechanisms for shaders to indicate a
critical section? Or should we just automatically infer a critical
section by analyzing shader code? Or should we just wrap the entire
fragment shader in a critical section?
RESOLVED: Provide an explicit critical section.
We definitely don't want to wrap the entire shader in a critical section
when a smaller section will suffice. Doing so would hold off the
execution of any other fragment shader invocation with the same (x,y)
for the entire (potentially long) life of the fragment shader. Hardware
would need to track a large number of fragments awaiting execution, and
may be so backed up that further fragments will be blocked even if they
don't overlap with any fragments currently executing. Providing a
smaller critical section reduces the amount of time other fragments are
blocked and allows implementations to perform useful work for
conflicting fragments before they hit the critical section.
While a compiler could analyze the code and wrap a critical section
around all memory accesses, it may be difficult to determine which
accesses actually require mutual exclusion and ordering, and which
accesses are safe to do with no protection. Requiring shaders to
explicitly identify a critical section doesn't seem overwhelmingly
burdensome, and allows applications to exclude memory accesses that it
knows to be "safe".
(8) What restrictions should be imposed on the use of the
beginInvocationInterlockARB() and endInvocationInterlockARB() functions
delimiting a critical section?
RESOLVED: We impose restrictions similar to those on the barrier()
built-in function in tessellation control shaders to ensure that any
shader using this functionality has a single critical section that can
be easily identified during compilation. In particular, we require that
these functions be called in main() and don't permit them to be called
in conditional flow control.
These restrictions ensure that there is always exactly one call to the
"begin" and "end" functions in a predictable location in the compiled
shader code, and ensure that the compiler and hardware don't have to
deal with unusual cases (like entering a critical section and never
leaving, leaving a critical section without entering it, or trying to
enter a critical section more than once).
Revision History
Rev. Date Author Changes
---- -------- -------- -----------------------------------------
1 04/01/15 S.Grajewski Inital version merging
INTEL_fragment_shader_ordering with
NV_fragment_shader_interlock
2 05/07/15 S.Grajewski Built-in functions
beginInvocationInterlockARB() and
endInvocationInterlockARB() have now ARB
suffixes.