Khronos releases version 1.2 of Vulkan-api

Khronos has released version 1.2 of the Vulkan API. The new update integrates 23 extensions, and should lead to better performance, among other things. Nvidia and AMD have both released GPU drivers with Vulkan 1.2 support.

Vulkan 1.2 is the first major upgrade to the API since 2018, when Khronos released version 1.1. Vulkan 1.2 mainly introduces new features that are of interest to developers. The average user will therefore not notice much of these innovations at first. However, according to Khronos, the update should lead to ‘improved performance and better visual quality’. All GPUs that support the previous version of Vulkan are also compatible with Vulkan 1.2. Both Nvidia and AMD have released GPU drivers with support for the updated API. In addition, all current applications running on Vulkan can be ported to version 1.2.

Khronos writes that, among other things, 23 former extensions will be integrated into the Vulkan 1.2 core API. This includes timeline semaphores, which should lead to improved management of synchronizations. Semaphores are a way to control access to shared resources for different processes. Vulkan already partially supported semaphores, but with the introduction of timeline semaphores this feature is improved. This gives the semaphores a larger value: 64bit instead of 1bit. Other features integrated into Vulkan 1.2 include descriptor indexing, buffer device address, shader float controls, and host query reset. Vulkan 1.2 also gets improved support for HLSL, Microsoft’s shader programming language. In addition, the new update comes with version 1.5 of SPIR-V.

In an accompanying presentation, Khronos elaborates on Vulkan’s roadmap. For example, an open ray tracing standard for the API is planned, about which more information will probably be shared in 2020. Support for variable rate shading is also expected. Video encoding and decoding is also being worked on. This position is planned for the first half of 2020, according to Phoronix.