Azure Progress

[NVD]

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=688367

Skia backend for Azure has landed on inbound, should be in tomorrow's nightly.

[dbcooper.dk]

Is there going to be a preference to use it, or will it require a build flag at compilation?

[_Alexander]

It is an x86 Mac OS X thing

[NVD]

It is an x86 Mac OS X thing

Err no, please don't post nonsense if you don't know anything. Skia is used in Chrome/Chromium on Windows, Mac and Linux, Chrome/Chromium OS and Android.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skia_Graphics_Engine

[dbcooper.dk]

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=688367#c13

It's only working on mac currently, but you can try it there using
'gfx.canvas.azure.enabled=true'.

Should be in tonight's, or tomorrow night's nightly

[Omega X]

It only works for Mac atm, but will expand to other platforms. "gfx.canvas.azure.enabled=true"

[dbcooper.dk]

Bug for windows implementation:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=699258

[NVD]

There was no merge from mozilla-inbound to mozilla-central before the nightly was built, so Skia backend is not in today's Nightly.

[WonderCsabo]

Actually what does Skia do? I see it's a drawing library, but how does it improve performance? And is it working with HWA?

[Theliel]

Its a drawing library like Cairo and can use some HWA. Should be faster tham Cairo, but useless for any Windows + Direct2D (win+D2D its much faster). For example, Skia should give better numbers under Android or MAC OS or Windows without a good D2D support.

[patrickjdempsey]

For example, Skia should give better numbers under Android or MAC OS or Windows without a good D2D support.

So possible improvements for people running XP? or newer versions with D2D disabled?

[WonderCsabo]

Its a drawing library like Cairo and can use some HWA. Should be faster tham Cairo, but useless for any Windows + Direct2D (win+D2D its much faster). For example, Skia should give better numbers under Android or MAC OS or Windows without a good D2D support.

Basically, the software rendering will be faster with this?

[dbcooper.dk]

IIRC, D2D is called from Cairo currently, and Skia is better suited to work with D2D.

[NVD]

Skia backend is in today's Nightly, OSX only atm. Windows implementation see the earlier post by dbcooper.dk for link to the bug.

[Theliel]

So possible improvements for people running XP? or newer versions with D2D disabled?

Yes, in theory.

as far I know, Skia support HWA through OpenGL, but only partially.

a message from Bas some month ago:

"There's a bunch of reasons, first of all Skia's GPU support hasn't proven itself yet, whereas Direct2D's has. There's also licensing issues with Skia which would need to be resolved, but I don't know much about that. Finally I personally am not sure if I believe Skia is taking the best approach, but that's something that would require more research. This was the fastest road to major improvements on the short term, and the possibility to creating our own consistent GPU rendering on the longer term. Of course we could create a Skia Azure backend for testing!"

In this moment, the best solution for 2D HWA its Direct2D. Its possible use D3D/OGL for the same task, and im sure that a long term its possible make a better implementation that D2D with D3D/OGL, but for now Windows + D2D support its the best options... at least for 1 Year? 2 years?? and MS always can improve D2D. Problems? D2D only work on Vista/7 and depend completely on ms, so bugs and others you must wait to MS fix