README.md
1# Vulkan Ecosystem Components
2
3This project provides the Khronos official Vulkan ICD desktop loader for Windows, Linux, and MacOS.
4
5## CI Build Status
6
7| Platform | Build Status |
8|:--------:|:------------:|
9| Linux/MacOS | [](https://travis-ci.org/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Loader) |
10| Windows |[](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/Khronoswebmaster/vulkan-loader/branch/master) |
11
12## Introduction
13
14Vulkan is an explicit API, enabling direct control over how GPUs actually work.
15As such, Vulkan supports systems that have multiple GPUs, each running with a different driver, or ICD (Installable Client Driver).
16Vulkan also supports multiple global contexts (instances, in Vulkan terminology).
17The ICD loader is a library that is placed between a Vulkan application and any number of Vulkan drivers, in order to support multiple drivers and the instance-level functionality that works across these drivers.
18Additionally, the loader manages inserting Vulkan layer libraries, such as validation layers, between an application and the drivers.
19
20This repository contains the Vulkan loader that is used for Linux, Windows, MacOS, and iOS.
21There is also a separate loader, maintained by Google, which is used on Android.
22
23The following components are available in this repository:
24
25- [Vulkan header files (Vulkan-Headers submodule)](https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Headers)
26- [ICD Loader](loader/)
27- [Loader Documentation](loader/LoaderAndLayerInterface.md)
28- [Tests](tests/)
29
30## Contact Information
31
32- [Lenny Komow](mailto:lenny@lunarg.com)
33
34## Information for Developing or Contributing
35
36Please see the [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) file in this repository for more details.
37Please see the [GOVERNANCE.md](GOVERNANCE.md) file in this repository for repository
38management details.
39
40## How to Build and Run
41
42[BUILD.md](BUILD.md)
43Includes directions for building all components.
44
45Architecture and interface information for the loader is in
46[loader/LoaderAndLayerInterface.md](loader/LoaderAndLayerInterface.md).
47
48## Version Tagging Scheme
49
50Updates to the `Vulkan-Loader` repository which correspond to a new Vulkan specification release are tagged using the following format: `v<`_`version`_`>` (e.g., `v1.1.96`).
51
52**Note**: Marked version releases have undergone thorough testing but do not imply the same quality level as SDK tags. SDK tags follow the `sdk-<`_`version`_`>.<`_`patch`_`>` format (e.g., `sdk-1.1.92.0`).
53
54This scheme was adopted following the 1.1.96 Vulkan specification release.
55
56## License
57
58This work is released as open source under a Apache-style license from Khronos
59including a Khronos copyright.
60
61## Acknowledgements
62
63While this project has been developed primarily by LunarG, Inc., there are many other
64companies and individuals making this possible: Valve Corporation, funding
65project development; Khronos providing oversight and hosting of the project.
66
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