SC11: Khronos Group approves OpenCL 1.2 standard

GPU integration platform adds collaborative and compatibility options

SEATTLE: The Khronos Group has ratified an update to OpenCL, which offers new development tools for the general processing over the GPU platform.

OpenCL 1.2 delivers better integration with DirectX 9 and 11, and improved integration with OpenGL, and is backwards-compatible with previous OpenCL releases.

Benedict Gaster, a programming model architect at AMD, told V3 that the update is an evolutionary release designed to appeal to new developers while maintaining support for existing OpenCL projects.

Gaster highlighted the addition of separate compilation and linking support, which allows components such as library tools to be compiled and shared for the first time without the need to exchange full source code.

"Before, you had to compile everything in one big go. This allows a third party to deliver its own products without having to be closely integrated to the programmer," he said.

OpenCL 1.2 also includes support for media and service sharing between OpenCL and DirectX 9 and 11, as well as device partitioning and built-in kernels for mobile and embedded environments.

The release comes as companies increasingly seek to integrate GPU and CPU hardware for high-performance operations. As the market evolves, Gaster said the open nature of the platform will provide an advantage over proprietary systems.

In the meantime, however, the project should continue an evolutionary approach rather than attempt to push sweeping updates.

"OpenCL 1.2 seems to come at a time when OpenCL is getting adopted," Gaster said. "We do not need to break that; we need people who have been adopting that to keep adopting it."