// Copyright (c) 2014-2018 Khronos Group. This work is licensed under a // Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License; see // http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ = Vulkan^(R)^ Documentation and Extensions: Procedures and Conventions Jon Leech, Tobias Hector :data-uri: :icons: font :toc2: :toclevels: 3 :max-width: 100 :numbered: :doctype: book :imagewidth: 800 :fullimagewidth: width="800" :cl: : // Various special / math symbols. This is easier to edit with than Unicode. include::config/attribs.txt[] :leveloffset: 1 <<<< include::copyright-ccby.txt[] <<<< [[introduction]] = Introduction This document contains required procedures and conventions when writing specifications for new Vulkan APIs, extensions and layers, or related Khronos documentation such as white papers and tutorials; or contributing to existing Vulkan specifications. These are collectively referred to as _Vulkan Documentation_ or just _documentation_ below. The primary focus is the API Specification and API extensions, although all of the markup and most of the writing style is equally applicable to other documentation. The primary purpose is to achieve consistency across the API, as well as across all of our source and output documents. Consistency makes it easier for developers, editors, reviewers, and users of our documentation to understand and modify it. This document is now formally voted on and approved by the Vulkan Working Group. This means that unless explicitly stated otherwise, the procedures and conventions must be followed. If you have a strong desire to modify the procedures and conventions, such changes must be made through the normal Vulkan Working Group processes. [[introduction-terminology]] == Terminology The key words *must*, *required*, *should*, *recommend*, *may*, and *optional* in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 and by the Vulkan 1.1 Specification in the "`Terminology`" section. [[introduction-structure]] == Document Structure The style guide is broken into four sections: * <> - the required rules for choosing names of Vulkan identifiers of all types. * <> - the required procedures for creating formal Vulkan extensions and layers. * <> - the required and recommended markup style for writing asciidoc and XML source that follows consistent formatting and layout guidelines, tags special terms and phrases for proper processing by the spec generation tools, etc. * <> - the required and recommended writing style for overall and fine-grained structure and conventions, normative language use, API naming conventions, common words and phrases to use and to avoid, linking and cross-referencing, etc. [[introduction-asciidoc]] == Asciidoc Markup Vulkan Documentation is primarily written in Asciidoc, a form of text markup language. Specifically we're using the version of Asciidoc that is actively maintained by asciidoctor, which is documented on its website at http://www.asciidoctor.org/. References to the Asciidoctor User Manual are to sections in the document at http://asciidoctor.org/docs/user-manual/. Asciidoctor is implemented in Ruby (https://www.ruby-lang.org/), which is available for Linux, MacOS, and Microsoft Windows. Multiple preview tools also exist for the language, primarily using AsciidoctorJ (https://github.com/asciidoctor/asciidoctorj) or asciidoctor.js (https://github.com/asciidoctor/asciidoctor.js). In particular, GitHub and GitLab both have asciidoc previews for .adoc or .asciidoc files in repositories, and live preview extensions exist for Chrome and Firefox. The Asciidoctor toolchain and build process are not addressed by this document, which concentrates solely on source documents. [[introduction-normative]] == Normative References Normative references are references to external documents or resources to which documentation authors must comply. [[iso-8601]] International Organization for Standardization, _Data elements and interchange formats -- Information interchange -- Representation of dates and times_, http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue_detail?csnumber=40874, 2004-12-01. Also see https://www.w3.org/QA/Tips/iso-date for colloquial examples. [[vulkan-docs]] Khronos Vulkan Working Group, +KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Docs+ project on GitHub, https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Docs, 2016-07-05. [[vulkan-spec]] Vulkan Working Group, _Vulkan 1.1.70 - A Specification_, https://www.khronos.org/registry/vulkan/, 2018-03-07 Version 1.1.70 is the latest patch release of the Vulkan API Specification as of the time this reference was created, but that Specification is frequently updated with minor bugfixes and clarifications. When a more recent patch release is made, it becomes the normative reference for the API. // Chapters of the text are included below include::style/naming.txt[] include::style/extensions.txt[] include::style/markup.txt[] include::style/writing.txt[] include::style/misc.txt[] // Appendices are included below include::style/vuid.txt[] = Revision History * 2018-03-07 - Updated for Vulkan 1.1 release. * 2018-01-10 - Move details of mandated extension compatibility from the <> section into the Fundamentals section of the API Specification, where they are changed slightly to allow explicit incompatibilies (public issue 638). * 2017-10-27 - Add language about proper use of "`valid pointer`" and "`pointer to valid object`" for valid usage statements, in the <> section (related to public pull request 547). * 2017-10-15 - Describe how to write <> (internal issue 908). * 2017-10-15 - Add more details of <> (public issues 536, 580).. * 2017-09-10 - Add descriptions of <> to refer to properties of elments of arrays (internal issue 884). * 2017-09-10 - Add <> language specifying where to describe interactions of structures in a pname:pNext chain (internal issue 715). * 2017-09-10 - Add example of marking up an enumerated type all of whose values are defined by extensions (internal issue 864). * 2017-08-25 - Add language to the <> chapter describing how to write new API versions (internal issue 892). * 2017-06-12 - Add sections describing when to use the <> and <> markup macros instead of the *link{cl} macros, and clarify that slink{cl} should be used for handle as well as structure names (internal issue 886). * 2017-05-08 - Add appendix describing <> and how they're generated. * 2017-03-19 - Add naming rule for <>. * 2017-02-11 - Finish transitioning to asciidoctor markup. * 2016-09-28 - Add asciidoc math markup guidelines. * 2016-09-16 - Make style guide markup more consistent with its own recommendations. Simplify some tables of preferred terms. Add sections on block and table markup. * 2016-09-12 - Describe writing and markup style for labelled lists. Require use of the ISO 8601 date format except in rare legacy cases. Expand the description of <> and add a description of markup for <>. * 2016-09-08 - Add a writing section about proper use of <> (internal issue 432). * 2016-08-30 - Remove mustnot{cl} and shouldnot{cl} macro definitions, which are no longer used in the Specification (internal issue 407). * 2016-08-29 - Add spelling and compound word rules (public issue 352). * 2016-08-23 - Modify description of specifying extensions in the <> chapter to refer to the new single-branch model for extensions (internal issue 397). * 2016-07-26 - Add section describing <>. * 2016-07-18 - Add examples of function-parameter and structure-member markup (based on public issue 286). * 2016-07-11 - Change the document title. * 2016-07-07 - Rename document, change license to CC BY, clarify required and recommended actions, and reserve use of "`normative`" for the Specifications. * 2016-06-26 - Move Layers and Extensions chapter from Appendix C of the Vulkan API Specification and merge content with the naming guide. Put extension and naming chapters into their own source files. * 2016-06-20 - Add API naming guide. * 2016-05-22 - Add markup and image creation rules, after fixing missing figure captions for public issue 219. * 2016-05-01 - Include feedback from public issues 120 and 190. Use consistent conventions for defining structures. Use American rather than British spelling conventions. * 2016-03-12 - Recommend against "the value of". * 2016-02-26 - Replace use of the "maynot{cl}" macro with "may{cl} not". * 2016-02-16 - Place asciidoc conversion post-release. * 2016-02-09 - Added quotation mark convention. * 2016-02-01 - Add the Oxford Comma section and issue resolution. * 2016-01-26 - Add bullet-list style description of command parameters. * 2016-01-11 - Add "`Numbers in Text`" section from WSI work. * 2015-12-16 - Make "`begin / end`" preferred terms to "`start / finish`". * 2015-12-15 - Make "`implementation`" preferred term instead of "`system`". * 2015-12-13 - Add tlink{cl}/tname{cl} macros for function pointer types. * 2015-12-10 - Initial release for feedback.