For end-users, librashader is available from the [Open Build Service](https://software.opensuse.org//download.html?project=home%3Achyyran%3Alibrashader&package=librashader) for a variety of Linux distributions and platforms.
Windows and macOS users can grab the latest binaries from [GitHub Releases](https://github.com/SnowflakePowered/librashader/releases).
Shader compatibility is not guaranteed on render APIs with secondary support.
wgpu has restrictions on shaders that can not be converted to WGSL, such as those that use `inverse`. Direct3D 9 does not support
shaders that need Direct3D 10+ only features, or shaders that can not be compiled to [Shader Model 3.0](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/direct3dhlsl/shader-model-3).
a dynamic loader for `librashader.dll` / `librashader.so` / `librashader.dylib`. See the [versioning policy](https://github.com/SnowflakePowered/librashader#versioning)
for details on how librashader handles C ABI and API stability with regards to library updates. You can also link dynamically
with just `librashader.h` and the equivalent of `-lrashader`.
If you wish to contribute a runtime implementation not already available, see the [librashader-runtime](https://docs.rs/librashader-runtime/latest/librashader_runtime/)
crate for helpers and shared logic used across all librashader runtime implementations. Using these helpers and traits will
ensure that your runtime has consistent behaviour for uniform and texture semantics bindings with the existing librashader runtimes.
These types should not be exposed to the end user in the runtime's public API, and should be kept internal to the implementation of
While librashader is intended to be used with nightly Rust until [required features](https://github.com/SnowflakePowered/librashader/issues/55) are stabilized, it supports being
If building the C API, the `--stable` flag in the build script will enable the `stable` feature.
```
cargo +stable run -p librashader-build-script -- --profile optimized --stable
```
There are some caveats when building against stable Rust, such that building librashader against nightly Rust is still highly encouraged.
* C headers will not be regenerated when building with the `stable` feature.
* There is a minor performance hit in initial shader compilation when building against stable Rust. This is due to boxed trait objects being used instead of `impl Trait`.
* A higher MSRV is required when building against stable Rust.
When the `trait_alias_impl_trait` feature is stabilized, the `stable` feature will be removed.
* Shaders are [pre-linked at the SPIR-V level](https://github.com/SnowflakePowered/librashader/blob/master/librashader-reflect/src/front/spirv_passes/link_input_outputs.rs) before being
passed to the driver. Unused inputs in the fragment shader are removed, and the corresponding input in the vertex shader
* The OpenGL runtime uses the same VBOs as the other runtimes as well as the identity matrix MVP for intermediate passes. RetroArch's OpenGL driver uses only the final VBO.
* All caveats from the OpenGL 3.3+ section should be considered.
* Should work on OpenGL 4.5 but this is not guaranteed. The OpenGL 4.6 runtime may eventually switch to using `ARB_spirv_extensions` for loading shaders, and this will not be marked as a breaking change.
* The OpenGL 4.6 runtime uses Direct State Access to minimize changes to the OpenGL state. For GPUs released within the last 5 years, this may improve performance.
* The OpenGL runtime uses the same VBOs as the other runtimes as well as the identity matrix MVP for intermediate passes. RetroArch's OpenGL driver uses only the final VBO.
* The Vulkan runtime can use [`VK_KHR_dynamic_rendering`](https://registry.khronos.org/vulkan/specs/1.3-extensions/man/html/VK_KHR_dynamic_rendering.html).
This extension must be enabled at device creation.
Dynamic rendering may have improved performance when enabled, and supported by the host hardware.
* Framebuffer copies are done via `ID3D11DeviceContext::CopySubresourceRegion` rather than a CPU conversion + copy.
* Direct3D 12
* The Direct3D 12 runtime uses [render passes](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/direct3d12/direct3d-12-render-passes). This feature has been available since Windows 10 version 1809,
which was released in late 2018.
* For maximum compatibility with shaders, a shader compile pipeline based on [`spirv-to-dxil`](https://github.com/SnowflakePowered/spirv-to-dxil-rs) is used, with the SPIRV-Cross HLSL pipeline used as a fallback.
This brings shader compatibility beyond what the RetroArch Direct3D 12 driver provides. The HLSL pipeline fallback may be removed in the future as `spirv-to-dxil` improves.
* The Direct3D 12 runtime requires `dxcompiler.dll` from the [DirectX Shader Compiler](https://github.com/microsoft/DirectXShaderCompiler), which may already be installed as part of Direct3D12. `dxil.dll` is not required.
* The Metal runtime uses the same VBOs as the other runtimes as well as the identity matrix MVP for intermediate passes. RetroArch's Metal driver uses only the final VBO.
- [`LIBRASHADER_CURRENT_VERSION`](https://github.com/SnowflakePowered/librashader/blob/f8de1fa2ee75270e5655284edf39ea070d6ec6f5/librashader-capi/src/version.rs#L16) specifies the *API* version exported by the librashader implementation.
- [`LIBRASHADER_CURRENT_ABI`](https://github.com/SnowflakePowered/librashader/blob/f8de1fa2ee75270e5655284edf39ea070d6ec6f5/librashader-capi/src/version.rs#L29) specifies the *ABI* version exported by the librashader implementation.
Note that the MSRV is only intended to ease distribution on Linux when building against nightly Rust or with `RUSTC_BOOTSTRAP=1`, and is allowed to change any time.
It generally tracks the latest version of Rust available in the latest version of Ubuntu, but this may change with no warning in a patch release.
