Maintain a list of extension prefixes for OpenGL (including GLES and GLSC)

[cher-nov]

The current registry of extensions for the Vulkan API also specifies the organization responsible for each prefix. Unfortunately, this has never been addressed in any comprehensive manner for OpenGL, at least not publicly. I would like to propose filling this gap.

{My sources of truthful information, and for cross-validation}

Official websites and files:

https://registry.khronos.org/OpenGL/index_gl.php
https://registry.khronos.org/OpenGL/index_es.php
https://registry.khronos.org/OpenGL/index_sc.php
https://github.com/KhronosGroup/OpenGL-Registry/blob/b53ca669/xml/vendors.txt
https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://registry.khronos.org/OpenGL/extensions/*
https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.opengl.org/registry/specs/*
https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://oss.sgi.com/projects/ogl-sample/registry/*
https://retro.digitalvintage.ru/Abandonware Archives/sgifiles.irixnet.org/sgi/opengl/extensions/extension_info.tar.Z (mirror 1, mirror 2)
http://www.employees.org/~drich/SGI/SiliconSurf/tech/openGL/vendors.html (mirror)

Hardware databases:

https://opengl.gpuinfo.org/listextensions.php
https://opengles.gpuinfo.org/listextensions.php
https://opengles.gpuinfo.org/listeglextensions.php
https://dev.prineside.com/en/performance_report/
https://feedback.wildfiregames.com/report/opengl/
https://web.archive.org/web/20080509060931/http://delphi3d.net/hardware/allexts.php

Other texts and correspondence:

https://www.khronos.org/opengl/wiki/OpenGL_Extension#Extension_Types
https://www.opengl.org/archives/resources/features/OGLextensions/
https://www.opengl.org/archives/resources/code/samples/sig99/advanced99/notes/node394.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20060924130539/http://www.opengl.org/registry/specs/doc/reserved.txt
https://www-f9.ijs.si/~matevz/docs/007-2392-003/sgi_html/ch05.html
https://web.archive.org/web/19990423044859/http://hertz.eng.ohio-state.edu/~hts/opengl/article.html (mirror)

Mistakes I also found in the current documentation:

• ADD (present in vendors.txt and the earlier extensions.reserved with an E-Mail contact) was assigned somehow for a company named "Answers On Demand" (AOD), later known as "AOD Software". I suspect this could be caused by misreading a handwritten note.
  https://web.archive.org/web/19970412143729/http://www.aod.com
  https://web.archive.org/web/20120416231314/http://www.aodsoftware.com/aboutus.html
  https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/opengl-programming-for/9780321620491/pr03.html

• "Template Graphics Systems" is actually "Template Graphics Software, Inc." (TGS).
  https://web.archive.org/web/19961114170619/http://www.tgs.com/
  http://archive.irixnet.org/siliconsurf/tech/openGL/vendor/tgs.html

• PGI is neither "The Portland Group, Inc." (as Wiki claims) nor "Pacific Graphics Inc." (as in vendors.txt). It's "Portable Graphics, Inc." that was acquired afterwards by aforementioned Template Graphics Software in 1996 from Evans & Sutherland (E&S, ES).
  https://web.archive.org/web/19961219104948/http://www.portable.com/
  https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open_Inventor&oldid=1256194576#Mid_1990s

  other links

  https://archive.irixnet.org/siliconsurf/tech/openGL/vendor/portable.html
  https://www.deseret.com/1994/7/27/19121994/e-s-to-acquire-austin-based-portable-graphics/
  https://www.deseret.com/1996/12/30/19285742/e-s-sells-texas-based-unit-to-template-graphics/
  https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-12-31-fi-14076-story.html
  https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/economics-business-and-labor/businesses-and-occupations/evans-sutherland-computer-corp

---

Specification authors and common legends, active:

prefix	meaning or description	comment
EXT	a generic extension agreed upon by multiple vendors
EXTX	...same as previous, but experimental
KHR	The Khronos Group, Inc.
OES	The Khronos Group, Inc.	For OpenGL ES.
EMU	emulation	See ANDROID_EMU_* extensions.

Specification authors and common legends, no longer used:

prefix	meaning or description	comment
ARB	OpenGL Architecture Review Board	See KHR.
OML	The Khronos Group, Inc.	For OpenML.
IGLOO	SGI internal extensions for IrisGL-on-OpenGL wrapper library	See GL_SGIX_igloo_interface.

Vendors and projects, active:

prefix	meaning or description	comment
FJ	Fujitsu Semiconductor Ltd. (Fujitsu Limited)
HP	Hewlett-Packard Company	Split into HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (HPE) on November 1, 2015.
JM	Jingjia Micro (Changsha Jingjia Microelectronics Co., Ltd.)
NV	Nvidia Corporation
NVX	...same as previous, but experimental
AMD	Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
AMDX	...same as previous, but experimental
ARM	Arm Limited
AWS	Amazon Web Services, Inc.
DMP	Digital Media Professionals Inc.
IBM	International Business Machines Corporation
IMG	Imagination Technologies Limited
MGL	MetalANGLE	See also ANGLE.
MTK	MediaTek Inc.
MTX	Matrox Graphics, Inc. (Matrox Electronic Systems Ltd.)
VIV	Vivante Corporation
WIN	Microsoft Corporation	For Windows.
DIMD	Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc.
MESA	Mesa3D
MESAX	...same as previous, but experimental
MRVL	Marvell Technology, Inc.
QCOM	Qualcomm Incorporated
WINE	Wine	See also WIN.
ANGLE	ANGLE
APPLE	Apple Inc.
INTEL	Intel Corporation
ANDROID	Android
Autodesk	Autodesk, Inc.
CHROMIUM	Chromium	Not to be confused with CR.
HUAWEI	Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

Vendors and projects, no longer used:

prefix	meaning or description	comment
CR	Chromium	Not to be confused with CHROMIUM.
ES	Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation	GL_ES_lit_texture? no other mentions are known except this one.
MS	Microsoft Corporation	GL_MS_paletted_texture and GL_MS_clip_volume_hint were renamed to EXT. See WIN.
S3	S3 Graphics, Ltd.	Merged with Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc. on June 22, 1999; rebranded.
3DL 3DLabs 3Dlabs	3DLABS Inc. Ltd.	Acquired by Creative Technology Ltd. on May 15, 2002; rebranded.
ATI	ATI Technologies Inc.	Acquired by Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. on October 25, 2006; retired.
ATIX	...same as previous, but experimental
DGL	GLDirect	Originally developed by now-defunct SciTech Software, Inc. as SciTech GLDirect. See GL_DGL_stereo_auto_perspective. Maybe @kendallb still remembers it.
FGL	Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc.	For FireGL. See GL_FGL_lock_texture.
GL2	3DLABS Inc. Ltd.	For OpenGL2 initiative. Superseded with the official OpenGL 2.0 specification from ARB.
I3D	Intense3D (Intergraph Corporation)	Acquired by 3DLABS Inc. Ltd. on July 21, 2000. All the registered I3D extensions predate that.
KTX	Kinetix (Autodesk, Inc.)	Merged with Discreet Logic Inc. on March 16, 1999; rebranded.
OVR	Oculus VR, LLC	Acquired by Facebook, Inc. on July 22, 2014; rebranded.
PGI	Portable Graphics, Inc.	Acquired by Template Graphics Software Inc. on December 30, 1996; rebranded.
SGI	Silicon Graphics, Inc.	Acquired (as Silicon Graphics International Corp.) by Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company on November 1, 2016; rebranded.
SGIS	...same as previous, but special (?)	Used only on some devices, so 'S' could probably also mean "specific", "selected", "subset" or "system".
SGIX	...same as previous, but experimental	See SGI.
SUN	Sun Microsystems, Inc.	Acquired by Oracle Corporation on January 27, 2010; retired.
SUNX	...same as previous, but experimental
3DFX	3dfx Interactive, Inc.	Acquired by Nvidia Corporation on December 15, 2000; retired.
INGR	Intergraph Corporation	Acquired by Hexagon AB on October 28, 2010; rebranded.
REND	Rendition, Inc.	Acquired by Micron Technology, Inc. on September 11, 1998; rebranded.
GREMEDY	Graphic Remedy Ltd	Acquired by Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. on October ~7, 2010; rebranded. For gDEBugger.

[Perksey]

Generally only the information that is required for Khronos purposes in the registry is actively maintained by Khronos. That needn’t preclude the addition of further metadata (e.g. groups) but these will be solely community maintained only. In addition, community additions must not be disruptive to Khronos’ workflow or place undue constraints/considerations on day-to-day editing and maintenance of the specification/registry.

All this to say: if this data is already in the registry, you’re welcome to update it. If it’s new information, I trust others will discuss here but the likely outcome is “we’re not using it, so as long as we don’t have to do anything you are welcome to add this information”.

It’s at this point I should stress I am not a member of Khronos and this is just my experience in maintaining e.g. the enum groups as an external contributor.

[oddhack]

If you want to propose a PR updating xml/vendors.txt (and maybe renaming it and putting in in .adoc format), that would be fine. There's some historical vendor information in there which I don't think is in your list although generally yours is more comprehensive.

[oddhack]

N.b. I think S3 had the most exciting corporate evolution. At one point I needed to track down the current owner of the S3TC IP for legal purposes and it took me through, IIRC, 5 different companies.

[cher-nov]

If you want to propose a PR updating xml/vendors.txt (and maybe renaming it and putting in in .adoc format), that would be fine.

Initially I wanted to do literally this, and that’s where I actually started. But then I noticed mistakes with PGI and TGS, and later I saw this old document. After which I decided that, firstly, these were more likely someone’s working notes rather than a proper reference, and secondly, it was primarily dedicated to the allocated enumerant ranges rather than extension identifiers.

There's some historical vendor information in there which I don't think is in your list although generally yours is more comprehensive.

I have only listed those prefixes for which I found mention of at least one extension. This was the main purpose of compiling this table. Without this information, it is pretty difficult to search for information on rare, old or obscure hardware.