'\" t
.\"     Title: glGetString
.\"    Author: [FIXME: author] [see http://www.docbook.org/tdg5/en/html/author]
.\" Generator: DocBook XSL Stylesheets v1.79.2 <http://docbook.sf.net/>
.\"      Date: 03/14/2026
.\"    Manual: [FIXME: manual]
.\"    Source: [FIXME: source]
.\"  Language: English
.\"
.TH "GLGETSTRING" "3G" "03/14/2026" "[FIXME: source]" "[FIXME: manual]"
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.SH "NAME"
glGetString \- return a string describing the current GL connection
.SH "C SPECIFICATION"
.HP \w'const\ GLubyte\ *glGetString('u
.BI "const GLubyte *glGetString(GLenum\ " "name" ");"
.HP \w'const\ GLubyte\ *glGetStringi('u
.BI "const GLubyte *glGetStringi(GLenum\ " "name" ", GLuint\ " "index" ");"
.SH "PARAMETERS"
.PP
\fIname\fR
.RS 4
Specifies a symbolic constant, one of
\fBGL_VENDOR\fR,
\fBGL_RENDERER\fR,
\fBGL_VERSION\fR, or
\fBGL_SHADING_LANGUAGE_VERSION\fR\&. Additionally,
\fBglGetStringi\fR
accepts the
\fBGL_EXTENSIONS\fR
token\&.
.RE
.PP
\fIindex\fR
.RS 4
For
\fBglGetStringi\fR, specifies the index of the string to return\&.
.RE
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.PP
\fBglGetString\fR
returns a pointer to a static string describing some aspect of the current GL connection\&.
\fIname\fR
can be one of the following:
.PP
\fBGL_VENDOR\fR
.RS 4
Returns the company responsible for this GL implementation\&. This name does not change from release to release\&.
.RE
.PP
\fBGL_RENDERER\fR
.RS 4
Returns the name of the renderer\&. This name is typically specific to a particular configuration of a hardware platform\&. It does not change from release to release\&.
.RE
.PP
\fBGL_VERSION\fR
.RS 4
Returns a version or release number\&.
.RE
.PP
\fBGL_SHADING_LANGUAGE_VERSION\fR
.RS 4
Returns a version or release number for the shading language\&.
.RE
.PP
\fBglGetStringi\fR
returns a pointer to a static string indexed by
\fIindex\fR\&.
\fIname\fR
can be one of the following:
.PP
\fBGL_EXTENSIONS\fR
.RS 4
For
\fBglGetStringi\fR
only, returns the extension string supported by the implementation at
\fIindex\fR\&.
.RE
.PP
Strings
\fBGL_VENDOR\fR
and
\fBGL_RENDERER\fR
together uniquely specify a platform\&. They do not change from release to release and should be used by platform\-recognition algorithms\&.
.PP
The
\fBGL_VERSION\fR
and
\fBGL_SHADING_LANGUAGE_VERSION\fR
strings are laid out as follows:
\fI<version number><space><vendor\-specific information>\fR
.PP
The version number is either of the form
\fImajor_number\&.minor_number\fR
or
\fImajor_number\&.minor_number\&.release_number\fR, where the numbers all have one or more digits\&. The minor number for SHADING_LANGUAGE_VERSION is always two digits, matching the OpenGL ES Shading Language Specification release number\&.
.PP
Vendor\-specific information may follow the version number\&. Its format depends on the implementation, but a space always separates the version number and the vendor\-specific information\&.
.PP
All strings are null\-terminated\&.
.SH "NOTES"
.PP
If an error is generated,
\fBglGetString\fR
returns 0\&.
.PP
The client and server may support different versions\&.
\fBglGetString\fR
always returns a compatible version number\&. The release number always describes the server\&.
.SH "ERRORS"
.PP
\fBGL_INVALID_ENUM\fR
is generated if
\fIname\fR
is not an accepted value\&.
.PP
\fBGL_INVALID_VALUE\fR
is generated by
\fBglGetStringi\fR
if
\fIindex\fR
is outside the valid range for indexed state
\fIname\fR\&.
.SH "VERSION SUPPORT"
.TS
allbox tab(:);
lB cB s s s s s s s s s s s s
lB cB cB cB cB cB cB cB cB cB cB cB cB cB.
T{

T}:T{
\fBOpenGL Version\fR
T}
T{
\fBFunction / Feature Name\fR
T}:T{
\fB2\&.0\fR
T}:T{
\fB2\&.1\fR
T}:T{
\fB3\&.0\fR
T}:T{
\fB3\&.1\fR
T}:T{
\fB3\&.2\fR
T}:T{
\fB3\&.3\fR
T}:T{
\fB4\&.0\fR
T}:T{
\fB4\&.1\fR
T}:T{
\fB4\&.2\fR
T}:T{
\fB4\&.3\fR
T}:T{
\fB4\&.4\fR
T}:T{
\fB4\&.5\fR
T}:T{
\fB4\&.6\fR
T}
.T&
l c c c c c c c c c c c c c
l c c c c c c c c c c c c c.
T{
\fBglGetString\fR
T}:T{
✔
T}:T{
✔
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✔
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✔
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✔
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✔
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✔
T}
T{
\fBglGetStringi\fR
T}:T{
\-
T}:T{
\-
T}:T{
✔
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✔
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T}
.TE
.sp 1
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.SH "COPYRIGHT"
.PP
Copyright
\(co
1991\-2006 Silicon Graphics, Inc\&. Copyright
\(co
2010\-2014 Khronos Group\&. This document is licensed under the SGI Free Software B License\&. For details, see
\m[blue]\fBhttps://khronos\&.org/registry/OpenGL\-Refpages/LICENSES/LicenseRef\-FreeB\&.txt\fR\m[]\&.
.SH "COPYRIGHT"
.br
Copyright \(co 1991-2006 Silicon Graphics, Inc.
.br
Copyright \(co 2010-2014 Khronos Group
.br