gluX - cross platform easy OpenGL eXtension Loading

Version 1.82 (updated 2008-10-10)

Linux: gluX cannot compile with Mesa headers installed. Please check the FAQ.

downloads - change log - documentation - faq

What is gluX ?

gluX is a cross-platform easy-to-use OpenGL extension loader. It offers a very simple mechanism for loading and using OpenGL extensions. It allows your code to compile under Windows and Linux even if your video card doesn't support the OpenGL extensions used by your program: at run time, gluX will detect if required extensions are present or not.

Why would I use gluX ?

gluX is available for Windows and Linux
gluX loading mechanism allows to distingusih between required and optional extensions.
gluX can load extensions on the fly, at first function call.
gluX is extensible: its source code is generated from extension headers (glext.h, glxext.h and wglext.h).
gluX integrates an extension profile mechanism to test on the same computer application behaviour with different hardware configuration (more)
gluX is designed to ease development: readable error messages, extension status report, etc ...
gluX is free and comes with full source code

Documentation

gluX documentation.

Download latest version (v1.82)

Download (zip) gluX Visual C++ 2005 binaries (Windows).
Download (zip) gluX source code.

Change log (dd/mm/yyyy)

10/10/2008 v1.82
- Updated with latest extensions. See the list of all supported extensions.
- Updated gluxinfo accordingly
31/01/2008 v1.81 (still alive)
- Updated with latest extensions. See the list of all supported extensions.
- Updated gluxinfo accordingly
- Extensions are now automatically loaded, even if not declared as being used prior to a first call.
20/10/2005 v1.71
- Fixed a bug preventing WGL extensions from being detected (!) Thanks to Cort Stratton for pointing this one out :)
- Updated gluxinfo accordingly.
25/09/2005 v1.7
- Add support for latest extensions. See the list of all supported extensions.
- Removed project file for VC6 and Visual C++ 2002. Only Visual C++ 2003 is now supported.
- Updated gluxinfo.
09/09/2004 v1.61
- Add support for latest extensions.
02/03/2004 v1.6
- Add <glux_load_all.h>
- Add support for extension profiles (see gluX Extension Profiles)
- Loaded functions are now in the glux namespace to avoid dynamic link conflicts (no more seg. fault with latest drivers ...)
- No longer needs perl to compile under Windows
- Handles properly GLEXT_LEGACY defines
- Minor fixes in Makefiles
- Add support for all latest extensions. See the list of all supported extensions.
24/09/2003 v1.52
- Improve configure script (now it is possible to specify a path for gl and glx headers, the glXGetProcAddressARB check can be override with the command line option --with-glXGetProcAddressARB).
- Fix glx extensions warning at compile time
23/07/2003 v1.51
- Add macro GLUX_IS_DEVL and function gluxIsDevl (do not forget to call gluxInit(GLUX_DEVL) to enabe DEVL extensions loading).
- Fix GLUX_IS_AVAILABLE with DEVL extensions.
14/07/2003 v1.5
- Load DEVL extensions only if gluxInit is called with the GLUX_DEVL flag. DEVL extensions are not declared available by the driver but can be called. However these extensions are not officially supported and could therefore not work properly.
- Fix installation directory in Makefile.in
06/06/2003 v1.4
- Add support for all latest extensions (including ARB_vertex_buffer_object and GL_EXT_depth_bounds_test). See the list of all supported extensions.
- Add support for all wgl and glx extensions
- Extensions successfully loaded but reported as not present by the driver are marked as development extensions ([DEVL]).
- Windows package now includes library for VC6 and VC7, single and multi threaded.
- gluxinfo has been updated
- Display a messagebox with required extension list when loading fails under Windows.
- Creation of an FAQ.
- Shared library under Linux (see FAQ).
- Fix a bug that prevented gluX from being linked inside another library.
- Fix a bug with extension custom definitions.
07/03/2003 v1.3
- Add gluxinfo for extension listing
- Add binaries for Windows version
30/10/2002
- Add GL_ARB_vertex_program support
- Add GL_ARB_fragment_program support
30/10/2002
- Fix gluxIsLoaded undefined behavior with multiple GLUX_LOAD of the same extension.
- Fix some mistakes in naming convention: GLUX_IS_LOADED macro is now named GLUX_IS_AVAILABLE (the old macro is still available).
10/09/2002
- GLUX_REQUIRE and GLUX_LOAD can be called in multiple cpp files for the same extension. GLUX_REQUIRE has a higher priority.
- Add GLUX_IS_LOADED macro that is faster than gluxIsLoaded because it does not use a string to reference the extension. The constraint is that a GLUX_LOAD or a GLUX_REQUIRE for the extension should be present in the same cpp file.
23/08/2002
- glext.h can now be safely included.

Author

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Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Xavier Decoret, Samuel Hornus, Cort Danger Stratton, Frank Perbet, Stephane Guy and Jean-Dominique Gascuel for their help in improving gluX !