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Khronos Vulkan

Driver interface to the Vulkan Loader

Creative Commons

Table of Contents

Overview

This is the Driver-centric view of working with the Vulkan loader. For the complete overview of all sections of the loader, please refer to the LoaderInterfaceArchitecture.md file.

NOTE: While many of the interfaces still use the "icd" sub-string to identify various behavior associated with drivers, this is purely historical and should not indicate that the implementing code do so through the traditional ICD interface. Granted, the majority of drivers to this date are ICD drivers targeting specific GPU hardware.

Driver Discovery

Vulkan allows multiple drivers each with one or more devices (represented by a Vulkan VkPhysicalDevice object) to be used collectively. The loader is responsible for discovering available Vulkan drivers on the system. Given a list of available drivers, the loader can enumerate all the physical devices available for an application and return this information to the application. The process in which the loader discovers the available drivers on a system is platform-dependent. Windows, Linux, Android, and macOS Driver Discovery details are listed below.

Overriding the Default Driver Discovery

There may be times that a developer wishes to force the loader to use a specific Driver. This could be for many reasons including using a beta driver, or forcing the loader to skip a problematic driver. In order to support this, the loader can be forced to look at specific drivers with either the VK_DRIVER_FILES or the older VK_ICD_FILENAMES environment variable. Both these environment variables behave the same, but VK_ICD_FILENAMES should be considered deprecated. If both VK_DRIVER_FILES and VK_ICD_FILENAMES environment variables are present, then the newer VK_DRIVER_FILES will be used, and the values in VK_ICD_FILENAMES will be ignored.

The VK_DRIVER_FILES environment variable is a list of Driver Manifest files, containing the full path to the driver JSON Manifest file. This list is colon-separated on Linux and macOS, and semicolon-separated on Windows. Typically, VK_DRIVER_FILES will only contain a full pathname to one info file for a single driver. A separator (colon or semicolon) is only used if more than one driver is needed.

Additional Driver Discovery

There may be times that a developer wishes to force the loader to use a specific Driver in addition to the standard drivers (without replacing the standard search paths. The VK_ADD_DRIVER_FILES environment variable can be used to add a list of Driver Manifest files, containing the full path to the driver JSON Manifest file. This list is colon-separated on Linux and macOS, and semicolon-separated on Windows. It will be added prior to the standard driver search files. If VK_DRIVER_FILES or VK_ICD_FILENAMES is present, then VK_ADD_DRIVER_FILES will not be used by the loader and any values will be ignored.

Exception for Elevated Privileges

For security reasons, VK_ICD_FILENAMES, VK_DRIVER_FILES and VK_ADD_DRIVER_FILES are all ignored if running the Vulkan application with elevated privileges. Because of this, these environment variables can only be used for applications that do not use elevated privileges.

For more information see Elevated Privilege Caveats in the top-level LoaderInterfaceArchitecture.md document.

Examples

In order to use the setting, simply set it to a properly delimited list of Driver Manifest files. In this case, please provide the global path to these files to reduce issues.

For example:

On Windows
set VK_DRIVER_FILES=\windows\system32\nv-vk64.json

This is an example which is using the VK_DRIVER_FILES override on Windows to point to the Nvidia Vulkan Driver's Manifest file.

set VK_ADD_DRIVER_FILES=\windows\system32\nv-vk64.json

This is an example which is using the VK_ADD_DRIVER_FILES on Windows to point to the Nvidia Vulkan Driver's Manifest file which will be loaded first before all other drivers.

On Linux
export VK_DRIVER_FILES=/home/user/dev/mesa/share/vulkan/icd.d/intel_icd.x86_64.json

This is an example which is using the VK_DRIVER_FILES override on Linux to point to the Intel Mesa Driver's Manifest file.

export VK_ADD_DRIVER_FILES=/home/user/dev/mesa/share/vulkan/icd.d/intel_icd.x86_64.json

This is an example which is using the VK_ADD_DRIVER_FILES on Linux to point to the Intel Mesa Driver's Manifest file which will be loaded first before all other drivers.

On macOS
export VK_DRIVER_FILES=/home/user/MoltenVK/Package/Latest/MoltenVK/macOS/MoltenVK_icd.json

This is an example which is using the VK_DRIVER_FILES override on macOS to point to an installation and build of the MoltenVK GitHub repository that contains the MoltenVK driver.

See the Table of Debug Environment Variables in the LoaderInterfaceArchitecture.md document for more details

Driver Manifest File Usage

As with layers, on Windows, Linux and macOS systems, JSON-formatted manifest files are used to store driver information. In order to find system-installed drivers, the Vulkan loader will read the JSON files to identify the names and attributes of each driver. Notice that Driver Manifest files are much simpler than the corresponding layer Manifest files.

See the Current Driver Manifest File Format section for more details.

Driver Discovery on Windows

In order to find available drivers (including installed ICDs), the loader scans through registry keys specific to Display Adapters and all Software Components associated with these adapters for the locations of JSON manifest files. These keys are located in device keys created during driver installation and contain configuration information for base settings, including OpenGL and Direct3D locations.

The Device Adapter and Software Component key paths will be obtained by first enumerating DXGI adapters. Should that fail it will use the PnP Configuration Manager API. The 000X key will be a numbered key, where each device is assigned a different number.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{Adapter GUID}\000X\VulkanDriverName
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{SoftwareComponent GUID}\000X\VulkanDriverName

In addition, on 64-bit systems there may be another set of registry values, listed below. These values record the locations of 32-bit layers on 64-bit operating systems, in the same way as the Windows-on-Windows functionality.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{Adapter GUID}\000X\VulkanDriverNameWow
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{SoftwareComponent GUID}\000X\VulkanDriverNameWow

If any of the above values exist and is of type REG_SZ, the loader will open the JSON manifest file specified by the key value. Each value must be a full absolute path to a JSON manifest file. The values may also be of type REG_MULTI_SZ, in which case the value will be interpreted as a list of paths to JSON manifest files.

Additionally, the Vulkan loader will scan the values in the following Windows registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Khronos\Vulkan\Drivers

For 32-bit applications on 64-bit Windows, the loader scan's the 32-bit registry location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Khronos\Vulkan\Drivers

Every driver in these locations should be given as a DWORD, with value 0, where the name of the value is the full path to a JSON manifest file. The Vulkan loader will attempt to open each manifest file to obtain the information about a driver's shared library (".dll") file.

For example, let us assume the registry contains the following data:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Khronos\Vulkan\Drivers\]

"C:\vendor a\vk_vendor_a.json"=dword:00000000
"C:\windows\system32\vendor_b_vk.json"=dword:00000001
"C:\windows\system32\vendor_c_icd.json"=dword:00000000

In this case, the loader will step through each entry, and check the value. If the value is 0, then the loader will attempt to load the file. In this case, the loader will open the first and last listings, but not the middle. This is because the value of 1 for vendor_b_vk.json disables the driver.

Additionally, the Vulkan loader will scan the system for well-known Windows AppX/MSIX packages. If a package is found, the loader will scan the root directory of this installed package for JSON manifest files. At this time, the only package that is known is Microsoft's OpenCL™ and OpenGL® Compatibility Pack.

The Vulkan loader will open each enabled manifest file found to obtain the name or pathname of a driver's shared library (".DLL") file.

Drivers should use the registry locations from the PnP Configuration Manager wherever practical. Typically, this is most important for drivers, and the location clearly ties the driver to a given device. The SOFTWARE\Khronos\Vulkan\Drivers location is the older method for locating drivers, but is the primary location for software based drivers.

See the Driver Manifest File Format section for more details.

Driver Discovery on Linux

On Linux, the Vulkan loader will scan for Driver Manifest files using environment variables or corresponding fallback values if the corresponding environment variable is not defined:

Search Order Directory/Environment Variable Fallback Additional Notes
1 $XDG_CONFIG_HOME $HOME/.config This path is ignored when running with elevated privileges such as setuid, setgid, or filesystem capabilities.
This is done because under these scenarios it is not safe to trust that the environment variables are non-malicious.
See Elevated Privilege Caveats for more information.
1 $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS /etc/xdg
2 SYSCONFDIR /etc Compile-time option set to possible location of drivers installed from non-Linux-distribution-provided packages.
3 EXTRASYSCONFDIR /etc Compile-time option set to possible location of drivers installed from non-Linux-distribution-provided packages. Typically only set if SYSCONFDIR is set to something other than /etc
4 $XDG_DATA_HOME $HOME/.local/share This path is ignored when running with elevated privileges such as setuid, setgid, or filesystem capabilities.
This is done because under these scenarios it is not safe to trust that the environment variables are non-malicious.
See Elevated Privilege Caveats for more information.
5 $XDG_DATA_DIRS /usr/local/share/:/usr/share/

The directory lists are concatenated together using the standard platform path separator (:). The loader then selects each path, and applies the "/vulkan/icd.d" suffix onto each and looks in that specific folder for manifest files.

The Vulkan loader will open each manifest file found to obtain the name or pathname of a driver's shared library (".dylib") file.

NOTE While the order of folders searched for manifest files is well defined, the order contents are read by the loader in each directory is random due to the behavior of readdir.

See the Driver Manifest File Format section for more details.

It is also important to note that while VK_DRIVER_FILES will point the loader to finding the manifest files, it does not guarantee the library files mentioned by the manifest will immediately be found. Often, the Driver Manifest file will point to the library file using a relative or absolute path. When a relative or absolute path is used, the loader can typically find the library file without querying the operating system. However, if a library is listed only by name, the loader may not find it, unless the driver is installed placing the library in an operating system searchable default location. If problems occur finding a library file associated with a driver, try updating the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable to point at the location of the corresponding .so file.

Example Linux Driver Search Path

For a fictional user "me" the Driver Manifest search path might look like the following:

  /home/me/.config/vulkan/icd.d
  /etc/xdg/vulkan/icd.d
  /usr/local/etc/vulkan/icd.d
  /etc/vulkan/icd.d
  /home/me/.local/share/vulkan/icd.d
  /usr/local/share/vulkan/icd.d
  /usr/share/vulkan/icd.d

Driver Discovery on Fuchsia

On Fuchsia, the Vulkan loader will scan for manifest files using environment variables or corresponding fallback values if the corresponding environment variable is not defined in the same way as Linux. The only difference is that Fuchsia does not allow fallback values for $XDG_DATA_DIRS or $XDG_HOME_DIRS.

Driver Discovery on macOS

On macOS, the Vulkan loader will scan for Driver Manifest files using the application resource folder as well as environment variables or corresponding fallback values if the corresponding environment variable is not defined. The order is similar to the search path on Linux with the exception that the application's bundle resources are searched first: (bundle)/Contents/Resources/.

Example macOS Driver Search Path

For a fictional user "Me" the Driver Manifest search path might look like the following:

  <bundle>/Contents/Resources/vulkan/icd.d
  /Users/Me/.config/vulkan/icd.d
  /etc/xdg/vulkan/icd.d
  /usr/local/etc/vulkan/icd.d
  /etc/vulkan/icd.d
  /Users/Me/.local/share/vulkan/icd.d
  /usr/local/share/vulkan/icd.d
  /usr/share/vulkan/icd.d

Additional Settings For Driver Debugging

Sometimes, the driver may encounter issues when loading. A useful option may be to enable the LD_BIND_NOW environment variable to debug the issue. This forces every dynamic library's symbols to be fully resolved on load. If there is a problem with a driver missing symbols on the current system, this will expose it and cause the Vulkan loader to fail on loading the driver. It is recommended that LD_BIND_NOW along with VK_LOADER_DEBUG=error,warn to expose any issues.

Using Pre-Production ICDs or Software Drivers

Both software and pre-production ICDs can use an alternative mechanism to detect their drivers. Independent Hardware Vendor (IHV) may not want to fully install a pre-production ICD and so it can't be found in the standard location. For example, a pre-production ICD may simply be a shared library in the developer's build tree. In this case, there should be a way to allow developers to point to such an ICD without modifying the system-installed ICD(s) on their system.

This need is met with the use of the VK_DRIVER_FILES environment variable, which will override the mechanism used for finding system-installed drivers.

In other words, only the drivers listed in VK_DRIVER_FILES will be used.

See Overriding the Default Driver Discovery for more information on this.

Driver Discovery on Android

The Android loader lives in the system library folder. The location cannot be changed. The loader will load the driver via hw_get_module with the ID of "vulkan". Due to security policies in Android, none of this can be modified under normal use.

Driver Manifest File Format

The following section discusses the details of the Driver Manifest JSON file format. The JSON file itself does not have any requirements for naming. The only requirement is that the extension suffix of the file is ".json".

Here is an example driver JSON Manifest file:

{
   "file_format_version": "1.0.1",
   "ICD": {
      "library_path": "path to driver library",
      "api_version": "1.2.205",
      "library_arch" : "64",
      "is_portability_driver": false
   }
}
Field Name Field Value
"file_format_version" The JSON format major.minor.patch version number of this file.
Supported versions are: 1.0.0 and 1.0.1.
"ICD" The identifier used to group all driver information together.
NOTE: Even though this is labelled ICD it is historical and just as accurate to use for other drivers.
"library_path" The "library_path" specifies either a filename, a relative pathname, or a full pathname to a driver shared library file.
If "library_path" specifies a relative pathname, it is relative to the path of the JSON manifest file.
If "library_path" specifies a filename, the library must live in the system's shared object search path.
There are no rules about the name of the driver's shared library file other than it should end with the appropriate suffix (".DLL" on Windows, ".so" on Linux and ".dylib" on macOS).
"library_arch" Optional field which specifies the architecture of the binary associated with "library_path".
Allows the loader to quickly determine if the architecture of the driver matches that of the running application.
The only valid values are "32" and "64".
"api_version" The major.minor.patch version number of the maximum Vulkan API supported by the driver. However, just because the driver supports the specific Vulkan API version, it does not guarantee that the hardware on a user's system can support that version. Information on what the underlying physical device can support must be queried by the user using the vkGetPhysicalDeviceProperties API call.
For example: 1.0.33.
"is_portability_driver" Defines whether the driver contains any VkPhysicalDevices which implement the VK_KHR_portability_subset extension.

NOTE: If the same driver shared library supports multiple, incompatible versions of text manifest file format versions, it must have separate JSON files for each (all of which may point to the same shared library).

Driver Manifest File Versions

The current highest supported Layer Manifest file format supported is 1.0.1. Information about each version is detailed in the following sub-sections:

Driver Manifest File Version 1.0.0

The initial version of the Driver Manifest file specified the basic format and fields of a layer JSON file. The fields supported in version 1.0.0 of the file format include:

  • "file_format_version"
  • "ICD"
  • "library_path"
  • "api_version"

Driver Manifest File Version 1.0.1

Added the is_portability_driver boolean field for drivers to self report that they contain VkPhysicalDevices which support the VK_KHR_portability_subset extension. This is an optional field. Omitting the field has the same effect as setting the field to false.

Added the "library_arch" field to the driver manifest to allow the loader to quickly determine if the driver matches the architecture of the current running application. This field is optional.

Driver Vulkan Entry Point Discovery

The Vulkan symbols exported by a driver must not clash with the loader's exported Vulkan symbols. Because of this, all drivers must export the following function that is used for discovery of driver Vulkan entry-points. This entry-point is not a part of the Vulkan API itself, only a private interface between the loader and drivers for version 1 and higher interfaces.

VKAPI_ATTR PFN_vkVoidFunction VKAPI_CALL
   vk_icdGetInstanceProcAddr(
      VkInstance instance,
      const char* pName);

This function has very similar semantics to vkGetInstanceProcAddr. vk_icdGetInstanceProcAddr returns valid function pointers for all the global-level and instance-level Vulkan functions, and also for vkGetDeviceProcAddr. Global-level functions are those which contain no dispatchable object as the first parameter, such as vkCreateInstance and vkEnumerateInstanceExtensionProperties. The driver must support querying global-level entry points by calling vk_icdGetInstanceProcAddr with a NULL VkInstance parameter. Instance-level functions are those that have either VkInstance, or VkPhysicalDevice as the first parameter dispatchable object. Both core entry points and any instance extension entry points the driver supports should be available via vk_icdGetInstanceProcAddr. Future Vulkan instance extensions may define and use new instance-level dispatchable objects other than VkInstance and VkPhysicalDevice, in which case extension entry points using these newly defined dispatchable objects must be queryable via vk_icdGetInstanceProcAddr.

All other Vulkan entry points must either:

  • NOT be exported directly from the driver library
  • or NOT use the official Vulkan function names if they are exported

This requirement is for driver libraries that include other functionality (such as OpenGL) and thus could be loaded by the application prior to when the Vulkan loader library is loaded by the application.

Beware of interposing by dynamic OS library loaders if the official Vulkan names are used. On Linux, if official names are used, the driver library must be linked with -Bsymbolic.

Driver API Version

When an application calls vkCreateInstance, it can optionally include a VkApplicationInfo struct, which includes an apiVersion field. A Vulkan 1.0 driver was required to return VK_ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER if it did not support the API version that the user passed. Beginning with Vulkan 1.1, drivers are not allowed to return this error for any value of apiVersion. This creates a problem when working with multiple drivers, where one is a 1.0 driver and another is newer.

A loader that is newer than 1.0 will always give the version it supports when the application calls vkEnumerateInstanceVersion, regardless of the API version supported by the drivers on the system. This means that when the application calls vkCreateInstance, the loader will be forced to pass a copy of the VkApplicationInfo struct where apiVersion is 1.0 to any 1.0 drivers in order to prevent an error. To determine if this must be done, the loader will perform the following steps:

  1. Check the driver's JSON manifest file for the "api_version" field.
  2. If the JSON version is greater than or equal to 1.1, Load the driver's dynamic library
  3. Call the driver's vkGetInstanceProcAddr command to get a pointer to vkEnumerateInstanceVersion
  4. If the pointer to vkEnumerateInstanceVersion is not NULL, it will be called to get the driver's supported API version

The driver will be treated as a 1.0 driver if any of the following conditions are met:

  • The JSON manifest's "api_version" field is less that version 1.1
  • The function pointer to vkEnumerateInstanceVersion is NULL
  • The version returned by vkEnumerateInstanceVersion is less than 1.1
  • vkEnumerateInstanceVersion returns anything other than VK_SUCCESS

If the driver only supports Vulkan 1.0, the loader will ensure that any VkApplicationInfo struct that is passed to the driver will have an apiVersion field set to Vulkan 1.0. Otherwise, the loader will pass the struct to the driver without any changes.

Mixed Driver Instance Extension Support

On a system with more than one driver, a special case can arise. Some drivers may expose an instance extension that the loader is already aware of. Other drivers on that same system may not support the same instance extension.

In that scenario, the loader has some additional responsibilities:

Filtering Out Instance Extension Names

During a call to vkCreateInstance, the list of requested instance extensions is passed down to each driver. Since the driver may not support one or more of these instance extensions, the loader will filter out any instance extensions that are not supported by the driver. This is done per driver since different drivers may support different instance extensions.

Loader Instance Extension Emulation Support

In the same scenario, the loader must emulate the instance extension entry-points, to the best of its ability, for each driver that does not support an instance extension directly. This must work correctly when combined with calling into the other drivers which do support the extension natively. In this fashion, the application will be unaware of what drivers are missing support for this extension.

Driver Unknown Physical Device Extensions

Drivers that implement entrypoints which take a VkPhysicalDevice as the first parameter should support vk_icdGetPhysicalDeviceProcAddr. This function is added to the Driver Interface Version 4 and allows the loader to distinguish between entrypoints which take VkDevice and VkPhysicalDevice as the first parameter. This allows the loader to properly support entrypoints that are unknown to it gracefully.

PFN_vkVoidFunction
   vk_icdGetPhysicalDeviceProcAddr(
      VkInstance instance,
      const char* pName);

This function behaves similar to vkGetInstanceProcAddr and vkGetDeviceProcAddr except it should only return values for physical device extension entry points. In this way, it compares "pName" to every physical device function supported in the driver.

Implementations of the function should have the following behavior:

  • If pName is the name of a Vulkan API entrypoint that takes a VkPhysicalDevice as its primary dispatch handle, and the driver supports the entrypoint, then the driver must return the valid function pointer to the driver's implementation of that entrypoint.
  • If pName is the name of a Vulkan API entrypoint that takes something other than a VkPhysicalDevice as its primary dispatch handle, then the driver must return NULL.
  • If the driver is unaware of any entrypoint with the name pName, it must return NULL.

If a driver intends to support functions that take VkPhysicalDevice as the dispatchable parameter, then the driver should support vk_icdGetPhysicalDeviceProcAddr. This is because if these functions aren't known to the loader, such as those from unreleased extensions or because the loader is an older build thus doesn't know about them yet, the loader won't be able to distinguish whether this is a device or physical device function.

If a driver does implement this support, it must export the function from the driver library using the name vk_icdGetPhysicalDeviceProcAddr so that the symbol can be located through the platform's dynamic linking utilities.

The behavior of the loader's vkGetInstanceProcAddr with support for the vk_icdGetPhysicalDeviceProcAddr function is as follows:

  1. Check if core function:
    • If it is, return the function pointer
  2. Check if known instance or device extension function:
    • If it is, return the function pointer
  3. Call the layer/driver GetPhysicalDeviceProcAddr
    • If it returns non-NULL, return a trampoline to a generic physical device function, and set up a generic terminator which will pass it to the proper driver.
  4. Call down using GetInstanceProcAddr
    • If it returns non-NULL, treat it as an unknown logical device command. This means setting up a generic trampoline function that takes in a VkDevice as the first parameter and adjusting the dispatch table to call the driver/layer's function after getting the dispatch table from the VkDevice. Then, return the pointer to the corresponding trampoline function.
  5. Return NULL

The result is that if the command gets promoted to Vulkan core later, it will no longer be set up using vk_icdGetPhysicalDeviceProcAddr. Additionally, if the loader adds direct support for the extension, it will no longer get to step 3, because step 2 will return a valid function pointer. However, the driver should continue to support the command query via vk_icdGetPhysicalDeviceProcAddr, until at least a Vulkan version bump, because an older loader may still be attempting to use the commands.

Reason for adding vk_icdGetPhysicalDeviceProcAddr

Originally, when the loader's vkGetInstanceProcAddr was called, it would result in the following behavior:

  1. The loader would check if it was a core function:
    • If so, it would return the function pointer
  2. The loader would check if it was a known extension function:
    • If so, it would return the function pointer
  3. If the loader knew nothing about it, it would call down using GetInstanceProcAddr
    • If it returned non-NULL, treat it as an unknown logical device command.
    • This meant setting up a generic trampoline function that takes in a VkDevice as the first parameter and adjusting the dispatch table to call the driver/layer's function after getting the dispatch table from the VkDevice.
  4. If all the above failed, the loader would return NULL to the application.

This caused problems when a driver attempted to expose new physical device extensions the loader knew nothing about, but an application was aware of. Because the loader knew nothing about it, the loader would get to step 3 in the above process and would treat the function as an unknown logical device command. The problem is, this would create a generic VkDevice trampoline function which, on the first call, would attempt to dereference the VkPhysicalDevice as a VkDevice. This would lead to a crash or corruption.

Physical Device Sorting

When an application selects a GPU to use, it must enumerate physical devices or physical device groups. These API functions do not specify which order the physical devices or physical device groups will be presented in. On Windows, the loader will attempt to sort these objects so that the system preference will be listed first. This mechanism does not force an application to use any particular GPU — it merely changes the order in which they are presented.

This mechanism requires that a driver provide version 6 of the loader/driver interface. Version 6 of this interface defines a new exported function that the driver may provide on Windows:

VKAPI_ATTR VkResult VKAPI_CALL
   vk_icdEnumerateAdapterPhysicalDevices(
      VkInstance instance,
      LUID adapterLUID,
      uint32_t* pPhysicalDeviceCount,
      VkPhysicalDevice* pPhysicalDevices);

This function takes an adapter LUID as input, and enumerates all Vulkan physical devices that are associated with that LUID. This works in the same way as other Vulkan enumerations — if pPhysicalDevices is NULL, then the count will be provided. Otherwise, the physical devices associated with the queried adapter will be provided. The function must provide multiple physical devices when the LUID refers to a linked adapter. This allows the loader to translate the adapter into Vulkan physical device groups.

While the loader attempts to match the system's preference for GPU ordering, there are some limitations. Because this feature requires a new driver interface, only physical devices from drivers that support this function will be sorted. All unsorted physical devices will be listed at the end of the list, in an indeterminate order. Furthermore, only physical devices that correspond to an adapter may be sorted. This means that a software driver would likely not be sorted. Finally, this API only applies to Windows systems and will only work on versions of Windows 10 that support GPU selection through the OS. Other platforms may be included in the future, but they will require separate platform-specific interfaces.

Driver Dispatchable Object Creation

As previously covered, the loader requires dispatch tables to be accessible within Vulkan dispatchable objects, such as: VkInstance, VkPhysicalDevice, VkDevice, VkQueue, and VkCommandBuffer. The specific requirements on all dispatchable objects created by drivers are as follows:

  • All dispatchable objects created by a driver can be cast to void **
  • The loader will replace the first entry with a pointer to the dispatch table which is owned by the loader. This implies three things for drivers:
    1. The driver must return a pointer for the opaque dispatchable object handle
    2. This pointer points to a regular C structure with the first entry being a pointer.
    • NOTE: For any C++ drivers that implement VK objects directly as C++ classes:
      • The C++ compiler may put a vtable at offset zero if the class is non-POD due to the use of a virtual function.
      • In this case use a regular C structure (see below).
    1. The loader checks for a magic value (ICD_LOADER_MAGIC) in all the created dispatchable objects, as follows (see include/vulkan/vk_icd.h):
#include "vk_icd.h"

union _VK_LOADER_DATA {
  uintptr loadermagic;
  void *  loaderData;
} VK_LOADER_DATA;

vkObj
   alloc_icd_obj()
{
  vkObj *newObj = alloc_obj();
  ...
  // Initialize pointer to loader's dispatch table with ICD_LOADER_MAGIC

  set_loader_magic_value(newObj);
  ...
  return newObj;
}

Handling KHR Surface Objects in WSI Extensions

Normally, drivers handle object creation and destruction for various Vulkan objects. The WSI surface extensions for Linux, Windows, macOS, and QNX ("VK_KHR_win32_surface", "VK_KHR_xcb_surface", "VK_KHR_xlib_surface", "VK_KHR_wayland_surface", "VK_MVK_macos_surface", "VK_QNX_screen_surface" and "VK_KHR_surface") are handled differently. For these extensions, the VkSurfaceKHR object creation and destruction may be handled by either the loader or a driver.

If the loader handles the management of the VkSurfaceKHR objects:

  1. The loader will handle the calls to vkCreateXXXSurfaceKHR and vkDestroySurfaceKHR functions without involving the drivers.
    • Where XXX stands for the Windowing System name:
      • Wayland
      • XCB
      • Xlib
      • Windows
      • Android
      • MacOS (vkCreateMacOSSurfaceMVK)
      • QNX (vkCreateScreenSurfaceQNX)
  2. The loader creates a VkIcdSurfaceXXX object for the corresponding vkCreateXXXSurfaceKHR call.
    • The VkIcdSurfaceXXX structures are defined in include/vulkan/vk_icd.h.
  3. Drivers can cast any VkSurfaceKHR object to a pointer to the appropriate VkIcdSurfaceXXX structure.
  4. The first field of all the VkIcdSurfaceXXX structures is a VkIcdSurfaceBase enumerant that indicates whether the surface object is Win32, XCB, Xlib, Wayland, or Screen.

The driver may choose to handle VkSurfaceKHR object creation instead. If a driver desires to handle creating and destroying it must do the following:

  1. Support version 3 or newer of the loader/driver interface.
  2. Export and handle all functions that take in a VkSurfaceKHR object, including:
    • vkCreateXXXSurfaceKHR
    • vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceSupportKHR
    • vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR
    • vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceFormatsKHR
    • vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfacePresentModesKHR
    • vkCreateSwapchainKHR
    • vkDestroySurfaceKHR

Because the VkSurfaceKHR object is an instance-level object, one object can be associated with multiple drivers. Therefore, when the loader receives the vkCreateXXXSurfaceKHR call, it still creates an internal VkSurfaceIcdXXX object. This object acts as a container for each driver's version of the VkSurfaceKHR object. If a driver does not support the creation of its own VkSurfaceKHR object, the loader's container stores a NULL for that driver. On the other hand, if the driver does support VkSurfaceKHR creation, the loader will make the appropriate vkCreateXXXSurfaceKHR call to the driver, and store the returned pointer in its container object. The loader then returns the VkSurfaceIcdXXX as a VkSurfaceKHR object back up the call chain. Finally, when the loader receives the vkDestroySurfaceKHR call, it subsequently calls vkDestroySurfaceKHR for each driver whose internal VkSurfaceKHR object is not NULL. Then the loader destroys the container object before returning.

Loader and Driver Interface Negotiation

Generally, for functions issued by an application, the loader can be viewed as a pass through. That is, the loader generally doesn't modify the functions or their parameters, but simply calls the driver's entry point for that function. There are specific additional interface requirements a driver needs to comply with that are not part of any requirements from the Vulkan specification. These additional requirements are versioned to allow flexibility in the future.

Windows, Linux and macOS Driver Negotiation

Version Negotiation Between Loader and Drivers

All drivers (supporting interface version 2 or higher) must export the following function that is used for determination of the interface version that will be used. This entry point is not a part of the Vulkan API itself, only a private interface between the loader and drivers.

VKAPI_ATTR VkResult VKAPI_CALL
   vk_icdNegotiateLoaderICDInterfaceVersion(
      uint32_t* pSupportedVersion);

This function allows the loader and driver to agree on an interface version to use. The "pSupportedVersion" parameter is both an input and output parameter. "pSupportedVersion" is filled in by the loader with the desired latest interface version supported by the loader (typically the latest). The driver receives this and returns back the version it desires in the same field. Because it is setting up the interface version between the loader and driver, this should be the first call made by a loader to the driver (even prior to any calls to vk_icdGetInstanceProcAddr).

If the driver receiving the call no longer supports the interface version provided by the loader (due to deprecation), then it should report a VK_ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER error. Otherwise it sets the value pointed by "pSupportedVersion" to the latest interface version supported by both the driver and the loader and returns VK_SUCCESS.

The driver should report VK_SUCCESS in case the loader-provided interface version is newer than that supported by the driver, as it's the loader's responsibility to determine whether it can support the older interface version supported by the driver. The driver should also report VK_SUCCESS in the case its interface version is greater than the loader's, but return the loader's version. Thus, upon return of VK_SUCCESS the "pSupportedVersion" will contain the desired interface version to be used by the driver.

If the loader receives an interface version from the driver that the loader no longer supports (due to deprecation), or it receives a VK_ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER error instead of VK_SUCCESS, then the loader will treat the driver as incompatible and will not load it for use. In this case, the application will not see the driver's vkPhysicalDevice during enumeration.

Interfacing With Legacy Drivers or Loaders

If a loader sees that a driver does not export the vk_icdNegotiateLoaderICDInterfaceVersion function, then the loader assumes the corresponding driver only supports either interface version 0 or 1.

From the other side of the interface, if a driver sees a call to vk_icdGetInstanceProcAddr before a call to vk_icdNegotiateLoaderICDInterfaceVersion, then it knows that loader making the calls is a legacy loader supporting version 0 or 1. If the loader calls vk_icdGetInstanceProcAddr first, it supports at least version 1. Otherwise, the loader only supports version 0.

Loader Version 6 Interface Requirements

Version 6 provides a mechanism to allow the loader to sort physical devices. The loader will only attempt to sort physical devices on a driver if version 6 of the interface is supported. This version provides the vk_icdEnumerateAdapterPhysicalDevices function defined earlier in this document.

Loader Version 5 Interface Requirements

Version 5 of the loader/driver interface has no changes to the actual interface. If the loader requests interface version 5 or greater, it is simply an indication to drivers that the loader is now evaluating whether the API Version info passed into vkCreateInstance is a valid version for the loader. If it is not, the loader will catch this during vkCreateInstance and fail with a VK_ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER error.

On the other hand, if version 5 or newer is not requested by the loader, then it indicates to the driver that the loader is ignorant of the API version being requested. Because of this, it falls on the driver to validate that the API Version is not greater than major = 1 and minor = 0. If it is, then the driver should automatically fail with a VK_ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER error since the loader is a 1.0 loader, and is unaware of the version.

Here is a table of the expected behaviors:

Loader Supports I/f Version Driver Supports I/f Version Result
4 or Earlier Any Version Driver must fail with VK_ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER for all vkCreateInstance calls with apiVersion set to > Vulkan 1.0 because the loader is still at interface version <= 4.
Otherwise, the driver should behave as normal.
5 or Newer 4 or Earlier Loader must fail with VK_ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER if it can't handle the apiVersion. Driver may pass for all apiVersions, but since its interface is <= 4, it is best if it assumes it needs to do the work of rejecting anything > Vulkan 1.0 and fail with VK_ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER.
Otherwise, the driver should behave as normal.
5 or Newer 5 or Newer Loader must fail with VK_ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER if it can't handle the apiVersion, and drivers should fail with VK_ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER only if they can not support the specified apiVersion.
Otherwise, the driver should behave as normal.

Loader Version 4 Interface Requirements

The major change to version 4 of the loader/driver interface is the support of Unknown Physical Device Extensions using the vk_icdGetPhysicalDeviceProcAddr function. This function is purely optional. However, if a driver supports a physical device extension, it must provide a vk_icdGetPhysicalDeviceProcAddr function. Otherwise, the loader will continue to treat any unknown functions as VkDevice functions and cause invalid behavior.

Loader Version 3 Interface Requirements

The primary change that occurred in version 3 of the loader/driver interface was to allow a driver to handle creation/destruction of their own KHR_surfaces. Up until this point, the loader created a surface object that was used by all drivers. However, some drivers may want to provide their own surface handles. If a driver chooses to enable this support, it must export support for version 3 of the loader/driver interface, as well as any Vulkan function that uses a KHR_surface handle, such as:

  • vkCreateXXXSurfaceKHR (where XXX is the platform-specific identifier [i.e. vkCreateWin32SurfaceKHR for Windows])
  • vkDestroySurfaceKHR
  • vkCreateSwapchainKHR
  • vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceSupportKHR
  • vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR
  • vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceFormatsKHR
  • vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfacePresentModesKHR

A driver can still choose to not take advantage of this functionality by simply not exposing the above vkCreateXXXSurfaceKHR and vkDestroySurfaceKHR functions.

Loader Version 2 Interface Requirements

Version 2 interface is the first to implement the new vk_icdNegotiateLoaderICDInterfaceVersion functionality, see Version Negotiation Between Loader and Drivers for more details on that function.

Additional, version 2 was the first to define that Vulkan dispatchable objects created by drivers must now be created in accordance to the Driver Dispatchable Object Creation section.

Loader Version 1 Interface Requirements

Version 1 of the interface added the driver-specific entry-point vk_icdGetInstanceProcAddr. Since this is before the creation of the vk_icdNegotiateLoaderICDInterfaceVersion entry-point, the loader has no negotiation process for determine what interface version the driver supports. Because of this, the loader detects support for version 1 of the interface by the absence of the negotiate function, but the presence of the vk_icdGetInstanceProcAddr. No other entry-points need to be exported by the driver as the loader will query the appropriate function pointers using that.

Loader Version 0 Interface Requirements

Version 0 interface does not support either vk_icdGetInstanceProcAddr or vk_icdNegotiateLoaderICDInterfaceVersion. Because of this, the loader will assume the driver supports only version 0 of the interface unless one of those functions exists.

Additionally, for version 0, the driver must expose at least the following core Vulkan entry-points so the loader may build up the interface to the driver:

  • The function vkGetInstanceProcAddr must be exported in the driver library and returns valid function pointers for all the Vulkan API entry points.
  • vkCreateInstance must be exported by the driver library.
  • vkEnumerateInstanceExtensionProperties must be exported by the driver library.

Additional Interface Notes:

  • The loader will filter out extensions requested in vkCreateInstance and vkCreateDevice before calling into the driver; filtering will be of extensions advertised by entities (e.g. layers) different from the driver in question.
  • The loader will not call the driver for vkEnumerate*LayerProperties as layer properties are obtained from the layer libraries and layer JSON files.
  • If a driver library author wants to implement a layer, it can do so by having the appropriate layer JSON manifest file refer to the driver library file.
  • The loader will not call the driver for vkEnumerate*ExtensionProperties if "pLayerName" is not equal to NULL.
  • Drivers creating new dispatchable objects via device extensions need to initialize the created dispatchable object. The loader has generic trampoline code for unknown device extensions. This generic trampoline code doesn't initialize the dispatch table within the newly created object. See the Driver Dispatchable Object Creation section for more information on how to initialize created dispatchable objects for extensions non known by the loader.

Android Driver Negotiation

The Android loader uses the same protocol for initializing the dispatch table as described above. The only difference is that the Android loader queries layer and extension information directly from the respective libraries and does not use the JSON manifest files used by the Windows, Linux and macOS loaders.

Loader implementation of VK_KHR_portability_enumeration

The loader implements the VK_KHR_portability_enumeration instance extension, which filters out any drivers that report support for the portability subset device extension. Unless the application explicitly requests enumeration of portability devices by setting the VK_INSTANCE_CREATE_ENUMERATE_PORTABILITY_BIT_KHR bit in the VkInstanceCreateInfo::flags, the loader does not load any drivers that declare themselves to be portability drivers.

Drivers declare whether they are portability drivers or not in the Driver Manifest Json file, with the is_portability_driver boolean field. More information here

The initial support for this extension only reported errors when an application did not enable the portability enumeration feature. It did not filter out portability drivers. This was done to give a grace period for applications to update their instance creation logic without outright breaking the application.

Loader and Driver Policy

This section is intended to define proper behavior expected between the loader and drivers. Much of this section is additive to the Vulkan spec, and necessary for maintaining consistency across platforms. In fact, much of the language can be found throughout this document, but is summarized here for convenience. Additionally, there should be a way to identify bad or non-conformant behavior in a driver and remedy it as soon as possible. Therefore, a policy numbering system is provided to clearly identify each policy statement in a unique way.

Finally, based on the goal of making the loader efficient and performant, some of these policy statements defining proper driver behavior may not be testable (and therefore aren't enforceable by the loader). However, that should not detract from the requirement in order to provide the best experience to end-users and developers.

Number Format

Loader/Driver policy items start with the prefix LDP_ (short for Loader/Driver Policy) which is followed by an identifier based on what component the policy is targeted against. In this case there are only two possible components:

  • Drivers: which will have the string DRIVER_ as part of the policy number.
  • The Loader: which will have the string LOADER_ as part of the policy number.

Android Differences

As stated before, the Android Loader is actually separate from the Khronos Loader. Because of this and other platform requirements, not all of these policy statements apply to Android. Each table also has a column titled "Applicable to Android?" which indicates which policy statements apply to drivers that are focused only on Android support. Further information on the Android loader can be found in the Android Vulkan documentation.

Requirements of Well-Behaved Drivers

Requirement Number Requirement Description Result of Non-Compliance Applicable to Android? Enforceable by Loader? Reference Section
LDP_DRIVER_1 A driver must not cause other drivers to fail, crash, or otherwise misbehave. The behavior is undefined and may result in crashes or corruption. Yes No N/A
LDP_DRIVER_2 A driver must not crash if it detects that there are no supported Vulkan Physical Devices (VkPhysicalDevice) on the system when a call to that driver is made using any Vulkan instance of physical device API.
This is because some devices can be hot-plugged. 		The behavior is undefined and may result in crashes or corruption. Yes No
The loader has no direct knowledge of what devices (virtual or physical) may be supported by a given driver.		 N/A
LDP_DRIVER_3 A driver must be able to negotiate a supported version of the loader/driver interface with the loader in accordance with the stated negotiation process. The driver will not be loaded. No Yes Interface Negotiation
LDP_DRIVER_4 A driver must have a valid JSON manifest file for the loader to process that ends with the ".json" suffix. The driver will not be loaded. No Yes Manifest File Format
LDP_DRIVER_5 A driver must pass conformance with the results submitted, verified, and approved by Khronos before reporting a conformance version through any mechanism provided by Vulkan (examples include inside the VkPhysicalDeviceVulkan12Properties and the VkPhysicalDeviceDriverProperties structs).
Otherwise, when such a structure containing a conformance version is encountered, the driver must return a conformance version of 0.0.0.0 to indicate it hasn't been so verified and approved. 		Yes No The loader and/or the application may make assumptions about the capabilities of the driver resulting in undefined behavior possibly including crashes or corruption. Vulkan CTS Documentation
LDP_DRIVER_6 Removed - See Removed Driver Policies - - - -
LDP_DRIVER_7 If a driver desires to support Vulkan API 1.1 or newer, it must expose support of Vulkan loader/driver interface 5 or newer. The driver will be used when it shouldn't be and will cause undefined behavior possibly including crashes or corruption. No Yes Version 5 Interface Requirements
LDP_DRIVER_8 If a driver wishes to handle its own VkSurfaceKHR object creation, it must implement loader/driver interface version 3 or newer and support querying all the relevant surface functions via vk_icdGetInstanceProcAddr. The behavior is undefined and may result in crashes or corruption. No Yes Handling KHR Surface Objects
LDP_DRIVER_9 If a driver negotiation results in it using loader/driver interface version 4 or earlier, the driver must verify that the Vulkan API version passed into vkCreateInstance (through VkInstanceCreateInfo’s VkApplicationInfo's apiVersion) is supported. If the requested Vulkan API version can not be supported by the driver, it must return VK_ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER.
This is not required if the interface version is 5 or newer because the responsibility for this check then falls on the loader. 		The behavior is undefined and may result in crashes or corruption. No No Version 5 Interface Requirements
LDP_DRIVER_10 If a driver negotiation results in it using loader/driver interface version 5 or newer, the driver must ignore the Vulkan API version passed into vkCreateInstance (through VkInstanceCreateInfo’s VkApplicationInfo's apiVersion). The behavior is undefined and may result in crashes or corruption. No No Version 5 Interface Requirements
LDP_DRIVER_11 A driver must remove all Manifest files and references to those files (i.e. Registry entries on Windows) when uninstalling.
Similarly, on updating the driver files, the old files must be all updated or removed. 		If an old file is left pointing to an incorrect library, it will result in undefined behavior which may include crashes or corruption. No No
The loader has no idea what driver files are new, old, or incorrect. Any type of driver file verification would quickly become very complex since it would require the loader to maintain an internal database tracking badly behaving drivers based on the driver vendor, driver version, targeted platform(s), and possibly other criteria. 		N/A
LDP_DRIVER_12 To work properly with the public Khronos Loader, a driver must not expose platform interface extensions without first publishing them with Khronos.
Platforms under development may use modified versions of the Khronos Loader until the design because stable and/or public. 		The behavior is undefined and may result in crashes or corruption. Yes (specifically for Android extensions) No N/A

Removed Driver Policies

These policies were in the loader source at some point but later removed. They are documented here for reference.

Requirement Number Requirement Description Removal Reason
LDP_DRIVER_6 A driver supporting loader/driver interface version 1 or newer must not directly export standard Vulkan entry-points.
Instead, it must export only the loader interface functions required by the interface versions it does support (for example vk_icdGetInstanceProcAddr).
This is because the dynamic linking on some platforms has been problematic in the past and incorrectly links to exported functions from the wrong dynamic library at times.
NOTE: This is actually true for all exports. When in doubt, don't export any items from a driver that could cause conflicts in other libraries.
 This policy has been removed due to there being valid circumstances for drivers to export core entrypoints. Additionally, it was not found that dynamic linking would cause many issues in practice.

Requirements of a Well-Behaved Loader

Requirement Number Requirement Description Result of Non-Compliance Applicable to Android? Reference Section
LDP_LOADER_1 A loader must return VK_ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER if it fails to find and load a valid Vulkan driver on the system. The behavior is undefined and may result in crashes or corruption. Yes N/A
LDP_LOADER_2 A loader must attempt to load any driver's Manifest file it discovers and determines is formatted in accordance with this document.
The only exception is on platforms which determines driver location and functionality through some other mechanism. 		The behavior is undefined and may result in crashes or corruption. Yes Driver Discovery
LDP_LOADER_3 A loader must support a mechanism to load driver in one or more non-standard locations.
This is to allow support for fully software drivers as well as evaluating in-development ICDs.
The only exception to this rule is if the OS does not wish to support this due to security policies. 		It will be more difficult to use a Vulkan loader by certain tools and driver developers. No Pre-Production ICDs or SW
LDP_LOADER_4 A loader must not load a Vulkan driver which defines an API version that is incompatible with itself. The behavior is undefined and may result in crashes or corruption. Yes Driver Discovery
LDP_LOADER_5 A loader must ignore any driver for which a compatible loader/driver interface version can not be negotiated. The loader would load a driver improperly resulting in undefined behavior possibly including crashes or corruption. No Interface Negotiation
LDP_LOADER_6 If a driver negotiation results in it using loader/driver interface version 5 or newer, a loader must verify that the Vulkan API version passed into vkCreateInstance (through VkInstanceCreateInfo’s VkApplicationInfo's apiVersion) is supported by at least one driver. If the requested Vulkan API version can not be supported by any driver, the loader must return VK_ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER.
This is not required if the interface version is 4 or earlier because the responsibility for this check then falls on the drivers. 		The behavior is undefined and may result in crashes or corruption. No Version 5 Interface Requirements
LDP_LOADER_7 If there exist more than one driver on a system, and some of those drivers support only Vulkan API version 1.0 while other drivers support a newer Vulkan API version, then a loader must adjust the apiVersion field of the VkInstanceCreateInfo’s VkApplicationInfo to version 1.0 for all the drivers that are only aware of Vulkan API version 1.0.
Otherwise, the drivers that support Vulkan API version 1.0 will return VK_ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER during vkCreateInstance since 1.0 drivers were not aware of future versions. 		The behavior is undefined and may result in crashes or corruption. No Driver API Version
LDP_LOADER_8 If more than one driver is present, and at least one driver does not support instance-level functionality that other drivers support; then a loader must support the instance-level functionality in some fashion for the non-supporting drivers. The behavior is undefined and may result in crashes or corruption. No Loader Instance Extension Emulation Support
LDP_LOADER_9 A loader must filter out instance extensions from the VkInstanceCreateInfo structure's ppEnabledExtensionNames field that the driver does not support during a call to the driver's vkCreateInstance.
This is because the application has no way of knowing which drivers support which extensions.
This ties in directly with LDP_LOADER_8 above. 		The behavior is undefined and may result in crashes or corruption. No Filtering Out Instance Extension Names
LDP_LOADER_10 A loader must support creating VkSurfaceKHR handles that may be shared by all underlying drivers. The behavior is undefined and may result in crashes or corruption. Yes Handling KHR Surface Objects
LDP_LOADER_11 If a driver exposes the appropriate VkSurfaceKHR creation/handling entry-points, a loader must support creating the driver-specific surface object handle and provide it, and not the shared VkSurfaceKHR handle, back to that driver when requested.
Otherwise, a loader must provide the loader created VkSurfaceKHR handle. 		The behavior is undefined and may result in crashes or corruption. No Handling KHR Surface Objects
LDP_LOADER_12 A loader must not call any vkEnumerate*ExtensionProperties entry-points in a driver if pLayerName is not NULL. The behavior is undefined and may result in crashes or corruption. Yes Additional Interface Notes
LDP_LOADER_13 A loader must not load from user-defined paths (including the use of any of VK_ICD_FILENAMES, VK_DRIVER_FILES, or VK_ADD_DRIVER_FILES environment variables) when running elevated (Administrator/Super-user) applications.
This is for security reasons. 		The behavior is undefined and may result in computer security lapses, crashes or corruption. No Exception for Administrator and Super-User mode

Return to the top-level LoaderInterfaceArchitecture.md file.