[Bf-committers] proposal: OpenGL cleanup in master

[Mike Erwin]

Hi devs,

I was responding to something in bf-viewport but could use a wider set of
people to either agree or put a stop to this madness before it's too late.
:)

I'd like to start basic GL cleanup in master ASAP. By this I mean set GL
2.1 as a baseline and convert all code that uses obsolete extensions to the
functions/enums provided by GL itself. Much of this is simply deleting ARB
or EXT, and removing checks for GL features that are guaranteed in 2.1. No
new features, no major rewriting, just get the code up to spec and ready to
branch for the bigger GL 3.2 upgrade.

Staged migration of OpenGL:
now --> GL 2.1 (all platforms, soon)
--> 3.2 compatibility profile (Windows & Linux)
--> 3.2 core profile (all platforms, in time for Blender 2.8)

That final transition will be the most work. The first transition can be
done NOW and doesn't involve any design really -- just a plan of what to
remove/convert. Dropping support for GL 1.4, 1.5 and 2.0 in one swoop will
let us clean up a lot of legacy crap without raising the hardware bar.

Is anyone opposed to this? Anyone eager to help?

Mike Erwin
musician, naturalist, pixel pusher, hacker extraordinaire