Vulkan Bindings for Vlang
The bindings in src/vulkan.v were generated from the current KhronosGroup API description.
Please make sure to clone the commit tag matching your installed Vulkan SDK.
Please install the Vulkan SDK. Further reading at https://vulkan.lunarg.com/doc/sdk/latest/linux/getting_started.html.
GLFW is required for the example app. It provides OS independent window creation. You can get it at glfw.org download. Or just use the package manager.
$ apt search glfw
libglfw3-dev/jammy,now 3.3.6-1 amd64
portable library for OpenGL, window and input (development files)
$ sudo apt install libglfw3-dev
VULKAN_SDK is an environment variable and should have the path to your Vulkan SDK, like $HOME/vulkansdk-linux-x86_64-1.3.290.0/x86_64. Besides that LD_LIBRARY_PATH and VK_LAYER_PATH have to be set. On linux you can append this to your shell start script
export VULKAN_SDK=$HOME/vulkansdk-linux-x86_64-<VERSION>/x86_64
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$VULKAN_SDK/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
export VK_LAYER_PATH=$VULKAN_SDK/share/vulkan/explicit_layer.d
Please install the Vulkan SDK. All environment variables are set automatically by the installer.
GLFW is required for the example app. It provides OS independent window creation. You can get it at glfw.org download.
Set GLFW paths in examples\vk_glfw_volk.v.
#flag windows -I<PATH TO GLFW INCLUDE, LIKE C:\glfw-3.4.bin.WIN64\include>
#flag windows -L<PATH TO GLFW LIB, LIKE C:\glfw-3.4.bin.WIN64\lib-mingw-w64>
GLFW releases different binaries for different compilers, which are in different directories.
You will also have to pass the -cc <compiler> parameter to V when compiling the app.
There is an app vk_glfw_volk.v, which opens a window and listens for keyboard events.
Please make sure to pick the tag matching your SDK installation, like --branch v1.3.290.
git clone --depth 1 --branch <YOUR_VERSION> https://github.com/antono2/vulkan.git
cd vulkan
v run examples/vk_glfw_volk.v
As of this writing, V expects a directory structure like modules/vulkan/vulkan.v for the example app to find the bindings. On Linux we can cheat with a symbolic link, on Windows we can duplicate vulkan.v and move the example app. Please make sure to pick the tag matching your SDK installation, like --branch v1.3.290.
This is one way to run, using the MinGW tool chain. In case of another C compiler, please change the GLFW library search directory and v -cc parameter accordingly.
git clone --depth 1 --branch <YOUR_VERSION> https://github.com/antono2/vulkan.git
cd vulkan
mkdir modules\vulkan
copy examples\vk_glfw_volk.v .
copy src\vulkan.v modules\vulkan
v -cc x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc run vk_glfw_volk.v
For missing information, like Could not create vulkan instance. VkResult: error_layer_not_present, please double check for missing environment variables and correct paths.
For vulkan related issues you can try VK_LOADER_DEBUG=all.
There are some #include in the vulkan bindings, for which the correct compiler flags have to be set by you.
The example already contains all required flags for Windows and Linux x64.
Why Volk?
Any vulkan function has some name (symbol) and address in your local library. These addresses have to be found either at compile time or dynamically.
In V we can use C. function type definitions and a simple #flag -lvulkan, which does this at compile time.
Unfortunately this requires conditional compilation for extension code blocks in the V vulkan bindings and additional work by the user to load required extension functions, when they need them.
Alternatively we can load the function address whenever we first call it. Well, V has a built in dynamic loader, but there is a ready to use solution. We can just use Volk, which is provided by the Vulkan SDK and does the same thing.
GLFW Bindings?
There are some C. functions for GLFW at the bottom of the example. V bindings for GLFW are available, but I prefer to control the global namespace for C. functions, as they might overlap and cause issues later. This will change in future.
There is always stuff to do and help is welcome. The goal is to cover some more vulkan functionality by example. Roughly like this.
Please rebase your local branch with origin/master and squash the commit log before creating the pull request.
It helps with readability and generally improves life quality.
Note that vulkan.v is generated in a different repository (not open source yet) and can not be edited directly.
In that case, please feel free to open an issue or start a discussion.
Public Domain for anything in this repository.
Big thanks to @spytheman for fixing my bugs in times of need.
To @JalonSolov for quick and solid answers to obscure questions.