path: root/docs/html/ndk/guides/graphics/shader-compilers.jd

page.title=Vulkan Shader Compilers on Android
@jd:body

<div id="qv-wrapper">
    <div id="qv">
      <h2>On this page</h2>

      <ol>
        <li><a href="#aot">AOT Compilation</a></li>
        <li><a href="#runtime">Runtime Compilation</a></li>
        <li><a href="#integrating">Integrating Into your Project</a></li>
      </ol>
    </div>
  </div>

<p>
A Vulkan app must manage shaders differently from the way an OpenGL ES app does so:
In OpenGL ES, you provide a shader as a set of strings forming the source text of a
GLSL shader program. By contrast, the Vulkan API requires you to provide a shader in
the form of an entry point in a <a href=”https://www.khronos.org/spir”>SPIR-V</a> module.
</p>

<p>
The NDK includes a runtime library for compiling GLSL into SPIR-V.
The runtime library is the same as the one in the
<a href="https://github.com/google/shaderc">Shaderc</a> open source project, and use the same
<a href="https://github.com/KhronosGroup/glslang">Glslang GLSL</a> reference compiler as a
back end. By default, the Shaderc version of the
compiler assumes you are compiling for Vulkan.  After checking whether your code is valid for
Vulkan, the compiler automatically enables the {@code KHR_vulkan_glsl} extension. The Shaderc
version of the compiler also generates Vulkan-compliant SPIR-V code.
</p>

<p>
You can choose to compile SPIR-V modules into your Vulkan app during development, a
practice called <em>ahead-of-time</em>, or <em>AOT</em>, compiling. Alternatively,
you can have your app compile them from shipped or procedurally generated shader
source when needed during runtime. This practice is called <em>runtime compiling</em>.
</p>

<p>
The rest of this page provides more detail about each practice, and then explains
how to integrate shader compilation into your Vulkan app.
</p>

<h2 id=”aot”>AOT Compilation</h2>

<p>
For AOT compilation, we recommend the <em>glslc</em> command-line compiler from GLSL to SPIR-V.
This compiler is available from the <a href="https://github.com/google/shaderc">Shaderc</a>
project.</a>Many of its command-line options are similar to those of GCC and Clang, allowing
you to integrate glslc into build systems easily.
</p>

<p>
The glslc tool compiles a single-source file to a SPIR-V module with a single shader
entry point.  By default, the output file has the same name as that of the source file,
but with the {@code .spv} extension appended.
</p>

<p>
You use filename extensions to tell the glslc tool which graphics shader stage to compile,
or whether a compute shader is being compiled. For information on how to use these filename
extensions, and options you can use with the tool, see
<a href="https://github.com/google/shaderc/tree/master/glslc#user-content-shader-stage-specification">
Shader stage specification</a> in the
<a href="https://github.com/google/shaderc/tree/master/glslc">
glslc</a> manual.
</p>

<h2 id="runtime">Runtime Compilation</h2>

<p>
For JIT compilation of shaders during runtime, the NDK provides the libshaderc library,
which has both C and C++ APIs.
</p>

<p>
C++ applications should use the C++ API. We recommend that apps in other languages
use the C API, because the C ABI is lower level, and likely to provide better stability.
</p>

<p>
The following example shows how to use the C++ API:
</p>

<pre>
#include &lt;iostream&gt;
#include &lt;string&gt;
#include &lt;vector&gt;
#include &lt;shaderc/shaderc.hpp&gt;

std::vector&lt;uint32_t&gt; compile_file(const std::string& name,
                                   shaderc_shader_kind kind,
                                   const std::string& data) {
  shaderc::Compiler compiler;
  shaderc::CompileOptions options;

  // Like -DMY_DEFINE=1
  options.AddMacroDefinition("MY_DEFINE", "1");

  shaderc::SpvCompilationResult module = compiler.CompileGlslToSpv(
      data.c_str(), data.size(), kind, name.c_str(), options);

  if (module.GetCompilationStatus() !=
      shaderc_compilation_status_success) {
    std::cerr << module.GetErrorMessage();
  }

  std::vector&lt;uint32_t&gt; result(module.cbegin(), module.cend());
  return result;
}
</pre>



<h2 id=”integrating”>Integrating into Your Projects</h2>

<p>
You can integrate the Vulkan shader compiler into your app using either the project's
{@code Android.mk} file or Gradle.
</p>

<h3 id=”androidmk”>Android.mk</h3>

<p>
Perform the following steps to use your project's {@code Android.mk}
file to integrate the shader compiler.
</p>

<ol>
<li>
Include the following lines in your Android.mk file:
<pre class="no-pretty-print">
include $(CLEAR_VARS)
     ...
LOCAL_STATIC_LIBRARIES := shaderc
     ...
include $(BUILD_SHARED_LIBRARY)

$(call import-module, third_party/shaderc)
</pre>
</li>

<li>
Set APP_STL to one of {@code c++_static}, {@code c++_shared}, {@code gnustl_static},
or {@code gnustl_shared}.
</li>
</ol>



<h3 id=”gradle”>Gradle</h3>

<ol>
<li>
In a terminal window, navigate to
{@code &lt;ndk_root&gt;/sources/third_party/shaderc/}.
</li>

<li>
Run the following command:

<pre class="no-pretty-print">
$ ../../../ndk-build NDK_PROJECT_PATH=. APP_BUILD_SCRIPT=Android.mk \
APP_STL:=&lt;stl_version&gt; APP_ABI=all libshaderc_combined
</pre>

<p>
This command places two folders in &lt;ndk_root&gt;/sources/third_party/shaderc/. The directory
structure is as follows:
</p>

<pre class="no-pretty-print">
include/
  shaderc/
    shaderc.h
    shaderc.hpp
libs/
  &lt;stl_version&gt;/
    {all of the abis}
       libshaderc.a
</pre>
</li>

<li>
Add includes and link lines as you normally would for external libraries.
</li>
<p>
The STL that you use to build your program must match the {@code stl} specified in
{@code stl_version}.
Only {@code c++_static}, {@code c++_shared}, {@code gnustl_static}, and
{@code gnustl_shared} are supported.
</p>