This extension adds Vulkan support for the SPV_KHR_workgroup_memory_explicit_layout SPIR-V extension, which allows shaders to explicitly define the layout of Workgroup storage class memory and create aliases between variables from that storage class in a compute shader.

The aliasing feature allows different “views” on the same data, so the shader can bulk copy data from another storage class using one type (e.g. an array of large vectors), and then use the data with a more specific type. It also enables reducing the amount of workgroup memory consumed by allowing the shader to alias data whose lifetimes do not overlap.

The explicit layout support and some form of aliasing is also required for layering OpenCL on top of Vulkan.

VK_KHR_workgroup_memory_explicit_layout

Name String

VK_KHR_workgroup_memory_explicit_layout

Extension Type

Device extension

Registered Extension Number

337

Revision

1

Extension and Version Dependencies

VK_KHR_get_physical_device_properties2

Contact

• Caio Marcelo de Oliveira Filho cmarcelo

Other Extension Metadata

Last Modified Date

2020-06-01

IP Status

No known IP claims.

Interactions and External Dependencies

• This extension requires SPV_KHR_workgroup_memory_explicit_layout
• This extension provides API support for GL_EXT_shared_memory_block

Contributors

• Caio Marcelo de Oliveira Filho, Intel
• Jeff Bolz, NVIDIA
• Graeme Leese, Broadcom
• Faith Ekstrand, Intel
• Daniel Koch, NVIDIA