Vulkan ® 1.2.148 - A Specification (with all registered extensions)

VK_SUCCESS

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

The VkFenceCreateInfo structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef struct VkFenceCreateInfo {
    VkStructureType       sType;
    const void*           pNext;
    VkFenceCreateFlags    flags;
} VkFenceCreateInfo;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.
flags is a bitmask of VkFenceCreateFlagBits specifying the initial state and behavior of the fence.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_FENCE_CREATE_INFO
Each pNext member of any structure (including this one) in the pNext chain must be either NULL or a pointer to a valid instance of VkExportFenceCreateInfo or VkExportFenceWin32HandleInfoKHR
The sType value of each struct in the pNext chain must be unique
flags must be a valid combination of VkFenceCreateFlagBits values

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef enum VkFenceCreateFlagBits {
    VK_FENCE_CREATE_SIGNALED_BIT = 0x00000001,
} VkFenceCreateFlagBits;

VK_FENCE_CREATE_SIGNALED_BIT specifies that the fence object is created in the signaled state. Otherwise, it is created in the unsignaled state.

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef VkFlags VkFenceCreateFlags;

VkFenceCreateFlags is a bitmask type for setting a mask of zero or more VkFenceCreateFlagBits.

To create a fence whose payload can be exported to external handles, add a VkExportFenceCreateInfo structure to the pNext chain of the VkFenceCreateInfo structure. The VkExportFenceCreateInfo structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
typedef struct VkExportFenceCreateInfo {
    VkStructureType                   sType;
    const void*                       pNext;
    VkExternalFenceHandleTypeFlags    handleTypes;
} VkExportFenceCreateInfo;

or the equivalent

// Provided by VK_KHR_external_fence
typedef VkExportFenceCreateInfo VkExportFenceCreateInfoKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.
handleTypes is a bitmask of VkExternalFenceHandleTypeFlagBits specifying one or more fence handle types the application can export from the resulting fence. The application can request multiple handle types for the same fence.

Valid Usage

The bits in handleTypes must be supported and compatible, as reported by VkExternalFenceProperties

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_EXPORT_FENCE_CREATE_INFO
handleTypes must be a valid combination of VkExternalFenceHandleTypeFlagBits values

To specify additional attributes of NT handles exported from a fence, add a VkExportFenceWin32HandleInfoKHR structure to the pNext chain of the VkFenceCreateInfo structure. The VkExportFenceWin32HandleInfoKHR structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_KHR_external_fence_win32
typedef struct VkExportFenceWin32HandleInfoKHR {
    VkStructureType               sType;
    const void*                   pNext;
    const SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES*    pAttributes;
    DWORD                         dwAccess;
    LPCWSTR                       name;
} VkExportFenceWin32HandleInfoKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.
pAttributes is a pointer to a Windows SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES structure specifying security attributes of the handle.
dwAccess is a DWORD specifying access rights of the handle.
name is a null-terminated UTF-16 string to associate with the underlying synchronization primitive referenced by NT handles exported from the created fence.

If VkExportFenceCreateInfo is not present in the same pNext chain, this structure is ignored.

If VkExportFenceCreateInfo is present in the pNext chain of VkFenceCreateInfo with a Windows handleType, but either VkExportFenceWin32HandleInfoKHR is not present in the pNext chain, or if it is but pAttributes is set to NULL, default security descriptor values will be used, and child processes created by the application will not inherit the handle, as described in the MSDN documentation for “Synchronization Object Security and Access Rights”¹. Further, if the structure is not present, the access rights will be

DXGI_SHARED_RESOURCE_READ | DXGI_SHARED_RESOURCE_WRITE

for handles of the following types:

VK_EXTERNAL_FENCE_HANDLE_TYPE_OPAQUE_WIN32_BIT

1: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/sync/synchronization-object-security-and-access-rights

Valid Usage

If VkExportFenceCreateInfo::handleTypes does not include VK_EXTERNAL_FENCE_HANDLE_TYPE_OPAQUE_WIN32_BIT, a VkExportFenceWin32HandleInfoKHR structure must not be included in the pNext chain of VkFenceCreateInfo

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_EXPORT_FENCE_WIN32_HANDLE_INFO_KHR
If pAttributes is not NULL, pAttributes must be a valid pointer to a valid SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES value

To export a Windows handle representing the state of a fence, call:

// Provided by VK_KHR_external_fence_win32
VkResult vkGetFenceWin32HandleKHR(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    const VkFenceGetWin32HandleInfoKHR*         pGetWin32HandleInfo,
    HANDLE*                                     pHandle);

device is the logical device that created the fence being exported.
pGetWin32HandleInfo is a pointer to a VkFenceGetWin32HandleInfoKHR structure containing parameters of the export operation.
pHandle will return the Windows handle representing the fence state.

For handle types defined as NT handles, the handles returned by vkGetFenceWin32HandleKHR are owned by the application. To avoid leaking resources, the application must release ownership of them using the CloseHandle system call when they are no longer needed.

Exporting a Windows handle from a fence may have side effects depending on the transference of the specified handle type, as described in Importing Fence Payloads.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
pGetWin32HandleInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkFenceGetWin32HandleInfoKHR structure
pHandle must be a valid pointer to a HANDLE value

Return Codes

VK_SUCCESS

VK_ERROR_TOO_MANY_OBJECTS
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY

The VkFenceGetWin32HandleInfoKHR structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_KHR_external_fence_win32
typedef struct VkFenceGetWin32HandleInfoKHR {
    VkStructureType                      sType;
    const void*                          pNext;
    VkFence                              fence;
    VkExternalFenceHandleTypeFlagBits    handleType;
} VkFenceGetWin32HandleInfoKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.
fence is the fence from which state will be exported.
handleType is the type of handle requested.

The properties of the handle returned depend on the value of handleType. See VkExternalFenceHandleTypeFlagBits for a description of the properties of the defined external fence handle types.

Valid Usage

handleType must have been included in VkExportFenceCreateInfo::handleTypes when the fence’s current payload was created
If handleType is defined as an NT handle, vkGetFenceWin32HandleKHR must be called no more than once for each valid unique combination of fence and handleType
fence must not currently have its payload replaced by an imported payload as described below in Importing Fence Payloads unless that imported payload’s handle type was included in VkExternalFenceProperties::exportFromImportedHandleTypes for handleType
If handleType refers to a handle type with copy payload transference semantics, fence must be signaled, or have an associated fence signal operation pending execution
handleType must be defined as an NT handle or a global share handle

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_FENCE_GET_WIN32_HANDLE_INFO_KHR
pNext must be NULL
fence must be a valid VkFence handle
handleType must be a valid VkExternalFenceHandleTypeFlagBits value

To export a POSIX file descriptor representing the payload of a fence, call:

// Provided by VK_KHR_external_fence_fd
VkResult vkGetFenceFdKHR(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    const VkFenceGetFdInfoKHR*                  pGetFdInfo,
    int*                                        pFd);

device is the logical device that created the fence being exported.
pGetFdInfo is a pointer to a VkFenceGetFdInfoKHR structure containing parameters of the export operation.
pFd will return the file descriptor representing the fence payload.

Each call to vkGetFenceFdKHR must create a new file descriptor and transfer ownership of it to the application. To avoid leaking resources, the application must release ownership of the file descriptor when it is no longer needed.

Note

Ownership can be released in many ways. For example, the application can call close() on the file descriptor, or transfer ownership back to Vulkan by using the file descriptor to import a fence payload.

If pGetFdInfo->handleType is VK_EXTERNAL_FENCE_HANDLE_TYPE_SYNC_FD_BIT and the fence is signaled at the time vkGetFenceFdKHR is called, pFd may return the value -1 instead of a valid file descriptor.

Where supported by the operating system, the implementation must set the file descriptor to be closed automatically when an execve system call is made.

Exporting a file descriptor from a fence may have side effects depending on the transference of the specified handle type, as described in Importing Fence State.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
pGetFdInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkFenceGetFdInfoKHR structure
pFd must be a valid pointer to an int value

Return Codes

VK_SUCCESS

VK_ERROR_TOO_MANY_OBJECTS
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY

The VkFenceGetFdInfoKHR structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_KHR_external_fence_fd
typedef struct VkFenceGetFdInfoKHR {
    VkStructureType                      sType;
    const void*                          pNext;
    VkFence                              fence;
    VkExternalFenceHandleTypeFlagBits    handleType;
} VkFenceGetFdInfoKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.
fence is the fence from which state will be exported.
handleType is the type of handle requested.

The properties of the file descriptor returned depend on the value of handleType. See VkExternalFenceHandleTypeFlagBits for a description of the properties of the defined external fence handle types.

Valid Usage

handleType must have been included in VkExportFenceCreateInfo::handleTypes when fence’s current payload was created
If handleType refers to a handle type with copy payload transference semantics, fence must be signaled, or have an associated fence signal operation pending execution
fence must not currently have its payload replaced by an imported payload as described below in Importing Fence Payloads unless that imported payload’s handle type was included in VkExternalFenceProperties::exportFromImportedHandleTypes for handleType
handleType must be defined as a POSIX file descriptor handle

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_FENCE_GET_FD_INFO_KHR
pNext must be NULL
fence must be a valid VkFence handle
handleType must be a valid VkExternalFenceHandleTypeFlagBits value

To destroy a fence, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
void vkDestroyFence(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    VkFence                                     fence,
    const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator);

device is the logical device that destroys the fence.
fence is the handle of the fence to destroy.
pAllocator controls host memory allocation as described in the Memory Allocation chapter.

Valid Usage

All queue submission commands that refer to fence must have completed execution
If VkAllocationCallbacks were provided when fence was created, a compatible set of callbacks must be provided here
If no VkAllocationCallbacks were provided when fence was created, pAllocator must be NULL

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
If fence is not VK_NULL_HANDLE, fence must be a valid VkFence handle
If pAllocator is not NULL, pAllocator must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure
If fence is a valid handle, it must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from device

Host Synchronization

Host access to fence must be externally synchronized

To query the status of a fence from the host, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
VkResult vkGetFenceStatus(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    VkFence                                     fence);

device is the logical device that owns the fence.
fence is the handle of the fence to query.

Upon success, vkGetFenceStatus returns the status of the fence object, with the following return codes:

Table 5. Fence Object Status Codes
Status	Meaning
`VK_SUCCESS`	The fence specified by `fence` is signaled.
`VK_NOT_READY`	The fence specified by `fence` is unsignaled.
`VK_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST`	The device has been lost. See Lost Device.

If a queue submission command is pending execution, then the value returned by this command may immediately be out of date.

If the device has been lost (see Lost Device), vkGetFenceStatus may return any of the above status codes. If the device has been lost and vkGetFenceStatus is called repeatedly, it will eventually return either VK_SUCCESS or VK_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
fence must be a valid VkFence handle
fence must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from device

Return Codes

VK_SUCCESS
VK_NOT_READY

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST

To set the state of fences to unsignaled from the host, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
VkResult vkResetFences(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    uint32_t                                    fenceCount,
    const VkFence*                              pFences);

device is the logical device that owns the fences.
fenceCount is the number of fences to reset.
pFences is a pointer to an array of fence handles to reset.

If any member of pFences currently has its payload imported with temporary permanence, that fence’s prior permanent payload is first restored. The remaining operations described therefore operate on the restored payload.

When vkResetFences is executed on the host, it defines a fence unsignal operation for each fence, which resets the fence to the unsignaled state.

If any member of pFences is already in the unsignaled state when vkResetFences is executed, then vkResetFences has no effect on that fence.

Valid Usage

Each element of pFences must not be currently associated with any queue command that has not yet completed execution on that queue

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
pFences must be a valid pointer to an array of fenceCount valid VkFence handles
fenceCount must be greater than 0
Each element of pFences must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from device

Host Synchronization

Host access to each member of pFences must be externally synchronized

Return Codes

VK_SUCCESS

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

When a fence is submitted to a queue as part of a queue submission command, it defines a memory dependency on the batches that were submitted as part of that command, and defines a fence signal operation which sets the fence to the signaled state.

The first synchronization scope includes every batch submitted in the same queue submission command. Fence signal operations that are defined by vkQueueSubmit additionally include in the first synchronization scope all commands that occur earlier in submission order. Fence signal operations that are defined by vkQueueSubmit or vkQueueBindSparse additionally include in the first synchronization scope any semaphore and fence signal operations that occur earlier in signal operation order.

The second synchronization scope only includes the fence signal operation.

The first access scope includes all memory access performed by the device.

The second access scope is empty.

To wait for one or more fences to enter the signaled state on the host, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
VkResult vkWaitForFences(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    uint32_t                                    fenceCount,
    const VkFence*                              pFences,
    VkBool32                                    waitAll,
    uint64_t                                    timeout);

device is the logical device that owns the fences.
fenceCount is the number of fences to wait on.
pFences is a pointer to an array of fenceCount fence handles.
waitAll is the condition that must be satisfied to successfully unblock the wait. If waitAll is VK_TRUE, then the condition is that all fences in pFences are signaled. Otherwise, the condition is that at least one fence in pFences is signaled.
timeout is the timeout period in units of nanoseconds. timeout is adjusted to the closest value allowed by the implementation-dependent timeout accuracy, which may be substantially longer than one nanosecond, and may be longer than the requested period.

If the condition is satisfied when vkWaitForFences is called, then vkWaitForFences returns immediately. If the condition is not satisfied at the time vkWaitForFences is called, then vkWaitForFences will block and wait until the condition is satisfied or the timeout has expired, whichever is sooner.

If timeout is zero, then vkWaitForFences does not wait, but simply returns the current state of the fences. VK_TIMEOUT will be returned in this case if the condition is not satisfied, even though no actual wait was performed.

If the condition is satisfied before the timeout has expired, vkWaitForFences returns VK_SUCCESS. Otherwise, vkWaitForFences returns VK_TIMEOUT after the timeout has expired.

If device loss occurs (see Lost Device) before the timeout has expired, vkWaitForFences must return in finite time with either VK_SUCCESS or VK_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST.

Note

While we guarantee that vkWaitForFences must return in finite time, no guarantees are made that it returns immediately upon device loss. However, the client can reasonably expect that the delay will be on the order of seconds and that calling vkWaitForFences will not result in a permanently (or seemingly permanently) dead process.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
pFences must be a valid pointer to an array of fenceCount valid VkFence handles
fenceCount must be greater than 0
Each element of pFences must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from device

Return Codes

VK_SUCCESS
VK_TIMEOUT

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST

An execution dependency is defined by waiting for a fence to become signaled, either via vkWaitForFences or by polling on vkGetFenceStatus.

The first synchronization scope includes only the fence signal operation.

The second synchronization scope includes the host operations of vkWaitForFences or vkGetFenceStatus indicating that the fence has become signaled.

Note

Signaling a fence and waiting on the host does not guarantee that the results of memory accesses will be visible to the host, as the access scope of a memory dependency defined by a fence only includes device access. A memory barrier or other memory dependency must be used to guarantee this. See the description of host access types for more information.

6.3.1. Alternate Methods to Signal Fences

Besides submitting a fence to a queue as part of a queue submission command, a fence may also be signaled when a particular event occurs on a device or display.

To create a fence that will be signaled when an event occurs on a device, call:

// Provided by VK_EXT_display_control
VkResult vkRegisterDeviceEventEXT(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    const VkDeviceEventInfoEXT*                 pDeviceEventInfo,
    const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator,
    VkFence*                                    pFence);

device is a logical device on which the event may occur.
pDeviceEventInfo is a pointer to a VkDeviceEventInfoEXT structure describing the event of interest to the application.
pAllocator controls host memory allocation as described in the Memory Allocation chapter.
pFence is a pointer to a handle in which the resulting fence object is returned.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
pDeviceEventInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkDeviceEventInfoEXT structure
If pAllocator is not NULL, pAllocator must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure
pFence must be a valid pointer to a VkFence handle

Return Codes

VK_SUCCESS

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY

The VkDeviceEventInfoEXT structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_EXT_display_control
typedef struct VkDeviceEventInfoEXT {
    VkStructureType         sType;
    const void*             pNext;
    VkDeviceEventTypeEXT    deviceEvent;
} VkDeviceEventInfoEXT;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.
device is a VkDeviceEventTypeEXT value specifying when the fence will be signaled.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_DEVICE_EVENT_INFO_EXT
pNext must be NULL
deviceEvent must be a valid VkDeviceEventTypeEXT value

Possible values of VkDeviceEventInfoEXT::device, specifying when a fence will be signaled, are:

// Provided by VK_EXT_display_control
typedef enum VkDeviceEventTypeEXT {
    VK_DEVICE_EVENT_TYPE_DISPLAY_HOTPLUG_EXT = 0,
} VkDeviceEventTypeEXT;

VK_DEVICE_EVENT_TYPE_DISPLAY_HOTPLUG_EXT specifies that the fence is signaled when a display is plugged into or unplugged from the specified device. Applications can use this notification to determine when they need to re-enumerate the available displays on a device.

To create a fence that will be signaled when an event occurs on a VkDisplayKHR object, call:

// Provided by VK_EXT_display_control
VkResult vkRegisterDisplayEventEXT(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    VkDisplayKHR                                display,
    const VkDisplayEventInfoEXT*                pDisplayEventInfo,
    const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator,
    VkFence*                                    pFence);

device is a logical device associated with display
display is the display on which the event may occur.
pDisplayEventInfo is a pointer to a VkDisplayEventInfoEXT structure describing the event of interest to the application.
pAllocator controls host memory allocation as described in the Memory Allocation chapter.
pFence is a pointer to a handle in which the resulting fence object is returned.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
display must be a valid VkDisplayKHR handle
pDisplayEventInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkDisplayEventInfoEXT structure
If pAllocator is not NULL, pAllocator must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure
pFence must be a valid pointer to a VkFence handle
Both of device, and display must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from the same VkPhysicalDevice

Return Codes

VK_SUCCESS

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY

The VkDisplayEventInfoEXT structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_EXT_display_control
typedef struct VkDisplayEventInfoEXT {
    VkStructureType          sType;
    const void*              pNext;
    VkDisplayEventTypeEXT    displayEvent;
} VkDisplayEventInfoEXT;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.
displayEvent is a VkDisplayEventTypeEXT specifying when the fence will be signaled.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_DISPLAY_EVENT_INFO_EXT
pNext must be NULL
displayEvent must be a valid VkDisplayEventTypeEXT value

Possible values of VkDisplayEventInfoEXT::displayEvent, specifying when a fence will be signaled, are:

// Provided by VK_EXT_display_control
typedef enum VkDisplayEventTypeEXT {
    VK_DISPLAY_EVENT_TYPE_FIRST_PIXEL_OUT_EXT = 0,
} VkDisplayEventTypeEXT;

VK_DISPLAY_EVENT_TYPE_FIRST_PIXEL_OUT_EXT specifies that the fence is signaled when the first pixel of the next display refresh cycle leaves the display engine for the display.

6.3.2. Importing Fence Payloads

Applications can import a fence payload into an existing fence using an external fence handle. The effects of the import operation will be either temporary or permanent, as specified by the application. If the import is temporary, the fence will be restored to its permanent state the next time that fence is passed to vkResetFences.

Note

Restoring a fence to its prior permanent payload is a distinct operation from resetting a fence payload. See vkResetFences for more detail.

Performing a subsequent temporary import on a fence before resetting it has no effect on this requirement; the next unsignal of the fence must still restore its last permanent state. A permanent payload import behaves as if the target fence was destroyed, and a new fence was created with the same handle but the imported payload. Because importing a fence payload temporarily or permanently detaches the existing payload from a fence, similar usage restrictions to those applied to vkDestroyFence are applied to any command that imports a fence payload. Which of these import types is used is referred to as the import operation’s permanence. Each handle type supports either one or both types of permanence.

The implementation must perform the import operation by either referencing or copying the payload referred to by the specified external fence handle, depending on the handle’s type. The import method used is referred to as the handle type’s transference. When using handle types with reference transference, importing a payload to a fence adds the fence to the set of all fences sharing that payload. This set includes the fence from which the payload was exported. Fence signaling, waiting, and resetting operations performed on any fence in the set must behave as if the set were a single fence. Importing a payload using handle types with copy transference creates a duplicate copy of the payload at the time of import, but makes no further reference to it. Fence signaling, waiting, and resetting operations performed on the target of copy imports must not affect any other fence or payload.

Export operations have the same transference as the specified handle type’s import operations. Additionally, exporting a fence payload to a handle with copy transference has the same side effects on the source fence’s payload as executing a fence reset operation. If the fence was using a temporarily imported payload, the fence’s prior permanent payload will be restored.

Note

The tables Handle Types Supported by VkImportFenceWin32HandleInfoKHR and Handle Types Supported by VkImportFenceFdInfoKHR define the permanence and transference of each handle type.

External synchronization allows implementations to modify an object’s internal state, i.e. payload, without internal synchronization. However, for fences sharing a payload across processes, satisfying the external synchronization requirements of VkFence parameters as if all fences in the set were the same object is sometimes infeasible. Satisfying valid usage constraints on the state of a fence would similarly require impractical coordination or levels of trust between processes. Therefore, these constraints only apply to a specific fence handle, not to its payload. For distinct fence objects which share a payload:

If multiple commands which queue a signal operation, or which unsignal a fence, are called concurrently, behavior will be as if the commands were called in an arbitrary sequential order.
If a queue submission command is called with a fence that is sharing a payload, and the payload is already associated with another queue command that has not yet completed execution, either one or both of the commands will cause the fence to become signaled when they complete execution.
If a fence payload is reset while it is associated with a queue command that has not yet completed execution, the payload will become unsignaled, but may become signaled again when the command completes execution.
In the preceding cases, any of the devices associated with the fences sharing the payload may be lost, or any of the queue submission or fence reset commands may return VK_ERROR_INITIALIZATION_FAILED.

Other than these non-deterministic results, behavior is well defined. In particular:

The implementation must not crash or enter an internally inconsistent state where future valid Vulkan commands might cause undefined results,
Timeouts on future wait commands on fences sharing the payload must be effective.

Note

These rules allow processes to synchronize access to shared memory without trusting each other. However, such processes must still be cautious not to use the shared fence for more than synchronizing access to the shared memory. For example, a process should not use a fence with shared payload to tell when commands it submitted to a queue have completed and objects used by those commands may be destroyed, since the other process can accidentally or maliciously cause the fence to signal before the commands actually complete.

When a fence is using an imported payload, its VkExportFenceCreateInfo::handleTypes value is that specified when creating the fence from which the payload was exported, rather than that specified when creating the fence. Additionally, VkExternalFenceProperties::exportFromImportedHandleTypes restricts which handle types can be exported from such a fence based on the specific handle type used to import the current payload. Passing a fence to vkAcquireNextImageKHR is equivalent to temporarily importing a fence payload to that fence.

Note

Because the exportable handle types of an imported fence correspond to its current imported payload, and vkAcquireNextImageKHR behaves the same as a temporary import operation for which the source fence is opaque to the application, applications have no way of determining whether any external handle types can be exported from a fence in this state. Therefore, applications must not attempt to export handles from fences using a temporarily imported payload from vkAcquireNextImageKHR.

When importing a fence payload, it is the responsibility of the application to ensure the external handles meet all valid usage requirements. However, implementations must perform sufficient validation of external handles to ensure that the operation results in a valid fence which will not cause program termination, device loss, queue stalls, host thread stalls, or corruption of other resources when used as allowed according to its import parameters. If the external handle provided does not meet these requirements, the implementation must fail the fence payload import operation with the error code VK_ERROR_INVALID_EXTERNAL_HANDLE.

To import a fence payload from a Windows handle, call:

// Provided by VK_KHR_external_fence_win32
VkResult vkImportFenceWin32HandleKHR(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    const VkImportFenceWin32HandleInfoKHR*      pImportFenceWin32HandleInfo);

device is the logical device that created the fence.
pImportFenceWin32HandleInfo is a pointer to a VkImportFenceWin32HandleInfoKHR structure specifying the fence and import parameters.

Importing a fence payload from Windows handles does not transfer ownership of the handle to the Vulkan implementation. For handle types defined as NT handles, the application must release ownership using the CloseHandle system call when the handle is no longer needed.

Applications can import the same fence payload into multiple instances of Vulkan, into the same instance from which it was exported, and multiple times into a given Vulkan instance.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
pImportFenceWin32HandleInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkImportFenceWin32HandleInfoKHR structure

Return Codes

VK_SUCCESS

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_INVALID_EXTERNAL_HANDLE

The VkImportFenceWin32HandleInfoKHR structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_KHR_external_fence_win32
typedef struct VkImportFenceWin32HandleInfoKHR {
    VkStructureType                      sType;
    const void*                          pNext;
    VkFence                              fence;
    VkFenceImportFlags                   flags;
    VkExternalFenceHandleTypeFlagBits    handleType;
    HANDLE                               handle;
    LPCWSTR                              name;
} VkImportFenceWin32HandleInfoKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.
fence is the fence into which the state will be imported.
flags is a bitmask of VkFenceImportFlagBits specifying additional parameters for the fence payload import operation.
handleType specifies the type of handle.
handle is the external handle to import, or NULL.
name is a null-terminated UTF-16 string naming the underlying synchronization primitive to import, or NULL.

The handle types supported by handleType are:

Table 6. Handle Types Supported by `VkImportFenceWin32HandleInfoKHR`
Handle Type	Transference	Permanence Supported
`VK_EXTERNAL_FENCE_HANDLE_TYPE_OPAQUE_WIN32_BIT`	Reference	Temporary,Permanent
`VK_EXTERNAL_FENCE_HANDLE_TYPE_OPAQUE_WIN32_KMT_BIT`	Reference	Temporary,Permanent

Valid Usage

handleType must be a value included in the Handle Types Supported by VkImportFenceWin32HandleInfoKHR table
If handleType is not VK_EXTERNAL_FENCE_HANDLE_TYPE_OPAQUE_WIN32_BIT, name must be NULL
If handleType is not 0 and handle is NULL, name must name a valid synchronization primitive of the type specified by handleType
If handleType is not 0 and name is NULL, handle must be a valid handle of the type specified by handleType
If handle is not NULL, name must be NULL
If handle is not NULL, it must obey any requirements listed for handleType in external fence handle types compatibility
If name is not NULL, it must obey any requirements listed for handleType in external fence handle types compatibility

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_IMPORT_FENCE_WIN32_HANDLE_INFO_KHR
pNext must be NULL
fence must be a valid VkFence handle
flags must be a valid combination of VkFenceImportFlagBits values
If handleType is not 0, handleType must be a valid VkExternalFenceHandleTypeFlagBits value

Host Synchronization

Host access to fence must be externally synchronized

To import a fence payload from a POSIX file descriptor, call:

// Provided by VK_KHR_external_fence_fd
VkResult vkImportFenceFdKHR(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    const VkImportFenceFdInfoKHR*               pImportFenceFdInfo);

device is the logical device that created the fence.
pImportFenceFdInfo is a pointer to a VkImportFenceFdInfoKHR structure specifying the fence and import parameters.

Importing a fence payload from a file descriptor transfers ownership of the file descriptor from the application to the Vulkan implementation. The application must not perform any operations on the file descriptor after a successful import.

Applications can import the same fence payload into multiple instances of Vulkan, into the same instance from which it was exported, and multiple times into a given Vulkan instance.

Valid Usage

fence must not be associated with any queue command that has not yet completed execution on that queue

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
pImportFenceFdInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkImportFenceFdInfoKHR structure

Return Codes

VK_SUCCESS

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_INVALID_EXTERNAL_HANDLE

The VkImportFenceFdInfoKHR structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_KHR_external_fence_fd
typedef struct VkImportFenceFdInfoKHR {
    VkStructureType                      sType;
    const void*                          pNext;
    VkFence                              fence;
    VkFenceImportFlags                   flags;
    VkExternalFenceHandleTypeFlagBits    handleType;
    int                                  fd;
} VkImportFenceFdInfoKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.
fence is the fence into which the payload will be imported.
flags is a bitmask of VkFenceImportFlagBits specifying additional parameters for the fence payload import operation.
handleType specifies the type of fd.
fd is the external handle to import.

The handle types supported by handleType are:

Table 7. Handle Types Supported by `VkImportFenceFdInfoKHR`
Handle Type	Transference	Permanence Supported
`VK_EXTERNAL_FENCE_HANDLE_TYPE_OPAQUE_FD_BIT`	Reference	Temporary,Permanent
`VK_EXTERNAL_FENCE_HANDLE_TYPE_SYNC_FD_BIT`	Copy	Temporary

Valid Usage

handleType must be a value included in the Handle Types Supported by VkImportFenceFdInfoKHR table
fd must obey any requirements listed for handleType in external fence handle types compatibility

If handleType is VK_EXTERNAL_FENCE_HANDLE_TYPE_SYNC_FD_BIT, the special value -1 for fd is treated like a valid sync file descriptor referring to an object that has already signaled. The import operation will succeed and the VkFence will have a temporarily imported payload as if a valid file descriptor had been provided.

Note

This special behavior for importing an invalid sync file descriptor allows easier interoperability with other system APIs which use the convention that an invalid sync file descriptor represents work that has already completed and does not need to be waited for. It is consistent with the option for implementations to return a -1 file descriptor when exporting a VK_EXTERNAL_FENCE_HANDLE_TYPE_SYNC_FD_BIT from a VkFence which is signaled.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_IMPORT_FENCE_FD_INFO_KHR
pNext must be NULL
fence must be a valid VkFence handle
flags must be a valid combination of VkFenceImportFlagBits values
handleType must be a valid VkExternalFenceHandleTypeFlagBits value

Host Synchronization

Host access to fence must be externally synchronized

Bits which can be set in VkImportFenceWin32HandleInfoKHR::flags and VkImportFenceFdInfoKHR::flags specifying additional parameters of a fence import operation are:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
typedef enum VkFenceImportFlagBits {
    VK_FENCE_IMPORT_TEMPORARY_BIT = 0x00000001,
  // Provided by VK_KHR_external_fence
    VK_FENCE_IMPORT_TEMPORARY_BIT_KHR = VK_FENCE_IMPORT_TEMPORARY_BIT,
} VkFenceImportFlagBits;

or the equivalent

// Provided by VK_KHR_external_fence
typedef VkFenceImportFlagBits VkFenceImportFlagBitsKHR;

VK_FENCE_IMPORT_TEMPORARY_BIT specifies that the fence payload will be imported only temporarily, as described in Importing Fence Payloads, regardless of the permanence of handleType.

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
typedef VkFlags VkFenceImportFlags;

or the equivalent

// Provided by VK_KHR_external_fence
typedef VkFenceImportFlags VkFenceImportFlagsKHR;

VkFenceImportFlags is a bitmask type for setting a mask of zero or more VkFenceImportFlagBits.

6.4. Semaphores

Semaphores are a synchronization primitive that can be used to insert a dependency between queue operations or between a queue operation and the host. Binary semaphores have two states - signaled and unsignaled. Timeline semaphores have a monotonically increasing 64-bit unsigned integer payload and are signaled with respect to a particular reference value. A semaphore can be signaled after execution of a queue operation is completed, and a queue operation can wait for a semaphore to become signaled before it begins execution. A timeline semaphore can additionally be signaled from the host with the vkSignalSemaphore command and waited on from the host with the vkWaitSemaphores command.

As with most objects in Vulkan, semaphores are an interface to internal data which is typically opaque to applications. This internal data is referred to as a semaphore’s payload.

The internal data of a semaphore may include a reference to any resources and pending work associated with signal or unsignal operations performed on that semaphore object. Mechanisms to import and export that internal data to and from semaphores are provided below. These mechanisms indirectly enable applications to share semaphore state between two or more semaphores and other synchronization primitives across process and API boundaries.

Semaphores are represented by VkSemaphore handles:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
VK_DEFINE_NON_DISPATCHABLE_HANDLE(VkSemaphore)

To create a semaphore, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
VkResult vkCreateSemaphore(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    const VkSemaphoreCreateInfo*                pCreateInfo,
    const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator,
    VkSemaphore*                                pSemaphore);

device is the logical device that creates the semaphore.
pCreateInfo is a pointer to a VkSemaphoreCreateInfo structure containing information about how the semaphore is to be created.
pAllocator controls host memory allocation as described in the Memory Allocation chapter.
pSemaphore is a pointer to a handle in which the resulting semaphore object is returned.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
pCreateInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkSemaphoreCreateInfo structure
If pAllocator is not NULL, pAllocator must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure
pSemaphore must be a valid pointer to a VkSemaphore handle

Return Codes

VK_SUCCESS

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

The VkSemaphoreCreateInfo structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef struct VkSemaphoreCreateInfo {
    VkStructureType           sType;
    const void*               pNext;
    VkSemaphoreCreateFlags    flags;
} VkSemaphoreCreateInfo;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.
flags is reserved for future use.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_SEMAPHORE_CREATE_INFO
Each pNext member of any structure (including this one) in the pNext chain must be either NULL or a pointer to a valid instance of VkExportSemaphoreCreateInfo, VkExportSemaphoreWin32HandleInfoKHR, or VkSemaphoreTypeCreateInfo
The sType value of each struct in the pNext chain must be unique
flags must be 0

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef VkFlags VkSemaphoreCreateFlags;

VkSemaphoreCreateFlags is a bitmask type for setting a mask, but is currently reserved for future use.

To create a semaphore of a specific type, add a VkSemaphoreTypeCreateInfo structure to the pNext chain of the VkSemaphoreCreateInfo structure. The VkSemaphoreTypeCreateInfo structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_2
typedef struct VkSemaphoreTypeCreateInfo {
    VkStructureType    sType;
    const void*        pNext;
    VkSemaphoreType    semaphoreType;
    uint64_t           initialValue;
} VkSemaphoreTypeCreateInfo;

or the equivalent

// Provided by VK_KHR_timeline_semaphore
typedef VkSemaphoreTypeCreateInfo VkSemaphoreTypeCreateInfoKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.
semaphoreType is a VkSemaphoreType value specifying the type of the semaphore.
initialValue is the initial payload value if semaphoreType is VK_SEMAPHORE_TYPE_TIMELINE.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_SEMAPHORE_TYPE_CREATE_INFO
semaphoreType must be a valid VkSemaphoreType value

Valid Usage

If the timelineSemaphore feature is not enabled, semaphoreType must not equal VK_SEMAPHORE_TYPE_TIMELINE
If semaphoreType is VK_SEMAPHORE_TYPE_BINARY, initialValue must be zero

If no VkSemaphoreTypeCreateInfo structure is included in the pNext chain of VkSemaphoreCreateInfo, then the created semaphore will have a default VkSemaphoreType of VK_SEMAPHORE_TYPE_BINARY.

Possible values of VkSemaphoreTypeCreateInfo::semaphoreType, specifying the type of a semaphore, are:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_2
typedef enum VkSemaphoreType {
    VK_SEMAPHORE_TYPE_BINARY = 0,
    VK_SEMAPHORE_TYPE_TIMELINE = 1,
  // Provided by VK_KHR_timeline_semaphore
    VK_SEMAPHORE_TYPE_BINARY_KHR = VK_SEMAPHORE_TYPE_BINARY,
  // Provided by VK_KHR_timeline_semaphore
    VK_SEMAPHORE_TYPE_TIMELINE_KHR = VK_SEMAPHORE_TYPE_TIMELINE,
} VkSemaphoreType;

or the equivalent

// Provided by VK_KHR_timeline_semaphore
typedef VkSemaphoreType VkSemaphoreTypeKHR;

VK_SEMAPHORE_TYPE_BINARY specifies a binary semaphore type that has a boolean payload indicating whether the semaphore is currently signaled or unsignaled. When created, the semaphore is in the unsignaled state.
VK_SEMAPHORE_TYPE_TIMELINE specifies a timeline semaphore type that has a monotonically increasing 64-bit unsigned integer payload indicating whether the semaphore is signaled with respect to a particular reference value. When created, the semaphore payload has the value given by the initialValue field of VkSemaphoreTypeCreateInfo.

To create a semaphore whose payload can be exported to external handles, add a VkExportSemaphoreCreateInfo structure to the pNext chain of the VkSemaphoreCreateInfo structure. The VkExportSemaphoreCreateInfo structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
typedef struct VkExportSemaphoreCreateInfo {
    VkStructureType                       sType;
    const void*                           pNext;
    VkExternalSemaphoreHandleTypeFlags    handleTypes;
} VkExportSemaphoreCreateInfo;

or the equivalent

// Provided by VK_KHR_external_semaphore
typedef VkExportSemaphoreCreateInfo VkExportSemaphoreCreateInfoKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.
handleTypes is a bitmask of VkExternalSemaphoreHandleTypeFlagBits specifying one or more semaphore handle types the application can export from the resulting semaphore. The application can request multiple handle types for the same semaphore.

Valid Usage

The bits in handleTypes must be supported and compatible, as reported by VkExternalSemaphoreProperties

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_EXPORT_SEMAPHORE_CREATE_INFO
handleTypes must be a valid combination of VkExternalSemaphoreHandleTypeFlagBits values

To specify additional attributes of NT handles exported from a semaphore, add a VkExportSemaphoreWin32HandleInfoKHR structure to the pNext chain of the VkSemaphoreCreateInfo structure. The VkExportSemaphoreWin32HandleInfoKHR structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_KHR_external_semaphore_win32
typedef struct VkExportSemaphoreWin32HandleInfoKHR {
    VkStructureType               sType;
    const void*                   pNext;
    const SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES*    pAttributes;
    DWORD                         dwAccess;
    LPCWSTR                       name;
} VkExportSemaphoreWin32HandleInfoKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.
pAttributes is a pointer to a Windows SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES structure specifying security attributes of the handle.
dwAccess is a DWORD specifying access rights of the handle.
name is a null-terminated UTF-16 string to associate with the underlying synchronization primitive referenced by NT handles exported from the created semaphore.

If VkExportSemaphoreCreateInfo is not present in the same pNext chain, this structure is ignored.

If VkExportSemaphoreCreateInfo is present in the pNext chain of VkSemaphoreCreateInfo with a Windows handleType, but either VkExportSemaphoreWin32HandleInfoKHR is not present in the pNext chain, or if it is but pAttributes is set to NULL, default security descriptor values will be used, and child processes created by the application will not inherit the handle, as described in the MSDN documentation for “Synchronization Object Security and Access Rights”¹. Further, if the structure is not present, the access rights used depend on the handle type.

For handles of the following types:

VK_EXTERNAL_SEMAPHORE_HANDLE_TYPE_OPAQUE_WIN32_BIT

The implementation must ensure the access rights allow both signal and wait operations on the semaphore.

For handles of the following types:

VK_EXTERNAL_SEMAPHORE_HANDLE_TYPE_D3D12_FENCE_BIT

The access rights must be:

GENERIC_ALL

1: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/sync/synchronization-object-security-and-access-rights

Valid Usage

If VkExportSemaphoreCreateInfo::handleTypes does not include VK_EXTERNAL_SEMAPHORE_HANDLE_TYPE_OPAQUE_WIN32_BIT or VK_EXTERNAL_SEMAPHORE_HANDLE_TYPE_D3D12_FENCE_BIT, VkExportSemaphoreWin32HandleInfoKHR must not be included in the pNext chain of VkSemaphoreCreateInfo

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_EXPORT_SEMAPHORE_WIN32_HANDLE_INFO_KHR
If pAttributes is not NULL, pAttributes must be a valid pointer to a valid SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES value

To export a Windows handle representing the payload of a semaphore, call:

// Provided by VK_KHR_external_semaphore_win32
VkResult vkGetSemaphoreWin32HandleKHR(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    const VkSemaphoreGetWin32HandleInfoKHR*     pGetWin32HandleInfo,
    HANDLE*                                     pHandle);

device is the logical device that created the semaphore being exported.
pGetWin32HandleInfo is a pointer to a VkSemaphoreGetWin32HandleInfoKHR structure containing parameters of the export operation.
pHandle will return the Windows handle representing the semaphore state.

For handle types defined as NT handles, the handles returned by vkGetSemaphoreWin32HandleKHR are owned by the application. To avoid leaking resources, the application must release ownership of them using the CloseHandle system call when they are no longer needed.

Exporting a Windows handle from a semaphore may have side effects depending on the transference of the specified handle type, as described in Importing Semaphore Payloads.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
pGetWin32HandleInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkSemaphoreGetWin32HandleInfoKHR structure
pHandle must be a valid pointer to a HANDLE value

Return Codes

VK_SUCCESS

VK_ERROR_TOO_MANY_OBJECTS
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY

The VkSemaphoreGetWin32HandleInfoKHR structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_KHR_external_semaphore_win32
typedef struct VkSemaphoreGetWin32HandleInfoKHR {
    VkStructureType                          sType;
    const void*                              pNext;
    VkSemaphore                              semaphore;
    VkExternalSemaphoreHandleTypeFlagBits    handleType;
} VkSemaphoreGetWin32HandleInfoKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.
semaphore is the semaphore from which state will be exported.
handleType is the type of handle requested.

The properties of the handle returned depend on the value of handleType. See VkExternalSemaphoreHandleTypeFlagBits for a description of the properties of the defined external semaphore handle types.

Valid Usage

handleType must have been included in VkExportSemaphoreCreateInfo::handleTypes when the semaphore’s current payload was created
If handleType is defined as an NT handle, vkGetSemaphoreWin32HandleKHR must be called no more than once for each valid unique combination of semaphore and handleType
semaphore must not currently have its payload replaced by an imported payload as described below in Importing Semaphore Payloads unless that imported payload’s handle type was included in VkExternalSemaphoreProperties::exportFromImportedHandleTypes for handleType
If handleType refers to a handle type with copy payload transference semantics, as defined below in Importing Semaphore Payloads, there must be no queue waiting on semaphore
If handleType refers to a handle type with copy payload transference semantics, semaphore must be signaled, or have an associated semaphore signal operation pending execution
handleType must be defined as an NT handle or a global share handle

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_SEMAPHORE_GET_WIN32_HANDLE_INFO_KHR
pNext must be NULL
semaphore must be a valid VkSemaphore handle
handleType must be a valid VkExternalSemaphoreHandleTypeFlagBits value

To export a POSIX file descriptor representing the payload of a semaphore, call:

// Provided by VK_KHR_external_semaphore_fd
VkResult vkGetSemaphoreFdKHR(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    const VkSemaphoreGetFdInfoKHR*              pGetFdInfo,
    int*                                        pFd);

device is the logical device that created the semaphore being exported.
pGetFdInfo is a pointer to a VkSemaphoreGetFdInfoKHR structure containing parameters of the export operation.
pFd will return the file descriptor representing the semaphore payload.

Each call to vkGetSemaphoreFdKHR must create a new file descriptor and transfer ownership of it to the application. To avoid leaking resources, the application must release ownership of the file descriptor when it is no longer needed.

Note

Where supported by the operating system, the implementation must set the file descriptor to be closed automatically when an execve system call is made.

Exporting a file descriptor from a semaphore may have side effects depending on the transference of the specified handle type, as described in Importing Semaphore State.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
pGetFdInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkSemaphoreGetFdInfoKHR structure
pFd must be a valid pointer to an int value

Return Codes

VK_SUCCESS

VK_ERROR_TOO_MANY_OBJECTS
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY

The VkSemaphoreGetFdInfoKHR structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_KHR_external_semaphore_fd
typedef struct VkSemaphoreGetFdInfoKHR {
    VkStructureType                          sType;
    const void*                              pNext;
    VkSemaphore                              semaphore;
    VkExternalSemaphoreHandleTypeFlagBits    handleType;
} VkSemaphoreGetFdInfoKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.
semaphore is the semaphore from which state will be exported.
handleType is the type of handle requested.

The properties of the file descriptor returned depend on the value of handleType. See VkExternalSemaphoreHandleTypeFlagBits for a description of the properties of the defined external semaphore handle types.

Valid Usage

handleType must have been included in VkExportSemaphoreCreateInfo::handleTypes when semaphore’s current payload was created
semaphore must not currently have its payload replaced by an imported payload as described below in Importing Semaphore Payloads unless that imported payload’s handle type was included in VkExternalSemaphoreProperties::exportFromImportedHandleTypes for handleType
If handleType refers to a handle type with copy payload transference semantics, as defined below in Importing Semaphore Payloads, there must be no queue waiting on semaphore
If handleType refers to a handle type with copy payload transference semantics, semaphore must be signaled, or have an associated semaphore signal operation pending execution
handleType must be defined as a POSIX file descriptor handle
If handleType refers to a handle type with copy payload transference semantics, semaphore must have been created with a VkSemaphoreType of VK_SEMAPHORE_TYPE_BINARY
If handleType refers to a handle type with copy payload transference semantics, semaphore must have an associated semaphore signal operation that has been submitted for execution and any semaphore signal operations on which it depends (if any) must have also been submitted for execution

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_SEMAPHORE_GET_FD_INFO_KHR
pNext must be NULL
semaphore must be a valid VkSemaphore handle
handleType must be a valid VkExternalSemaphoreHandleTypeFlagBits value

To destroy a semaphore, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
void vkDestroySemaphore(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    VkSemaphore                                 semaphore,
    const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator);

device is the logical device that destroys the semaphore.
semaphore is the handle of the semaphore to destroy.
pAllocator controls host memory allocation as described in the Memory Allocation chapter.

Valid Usage

All submitted batches that refer to semaphore must have completed execution
If VkAllocationCallbacks were provided when semaphore was created, a compatible set of callbacks must be provided here
If no VkAllocationCallbacks were provided when semaphore was created, pAllocator must be NULL

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
If semaphore is not VK_NULL_HANDLE, semaphore must be a valid VkSemaphore handle
If pAllocator is not NULL, pAllocator must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure
If semaphore is a valid handle, it must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from device

Host Synchronization

Host access to semaphore must be externally synchronized

6.4.1. Semaphore Signaling

When a batch is submitted to a queue via a queue submission, and it includes semaphores to be signaled, it defines a memory dependency on the batch, and defines semaphore signal operations which set the semaphores to the signaled state.

In case of semaphores created with a VkSemaphoreType of VK_SEMAPHORE_TYPE_TIMELINE the semaphore is considered signaled with respect to the counter value set to be signaled as specified in VkTimelineSemaphoreSubmitInfo or VkSemaphoreSignalInfo.

The first synchronization scope includes every command submitted in the same batch. Semaphore signal operations that are defined by vkQueueSubmit additionally include all commands that occur earlier in submission order. Semaphore signal operations that are defined by vkQueueSubmit or vkQueueBindSparse additionally include in the first synchronization scope any semaphore and fence signal operations that occur earlier in signal operation order.

The second synchronization scope includes only the semaphore signal operation.

The first access scope includes all memory access performed by the device.

The second access scope is empty.

6.4.2. Semaphore Waiting

When a batch is submitted to a queue via a queue submission, and it includes semaphores to be waited on, it defines a memory dependency between prior semaphore signal operations and the batch, and defines semaphore wait operations.

Such semaphore wait operations set the semaphores created with a VkSemaphoreType of VK_SEMAPHORE_TYPE_BINARY to the unsignaled state. In case of semaphores created with a VkSemaphoreType of VK_SEMAPHORE_TYPE_TIMELINE a prior semaphore signal operation defines a memory dependency with a semaphore wait operation if the value the semaphore is signaled with is greater than or equal to the value the semaphore is waited with, thus the semaphore will continue to be considered signaled with respect to the counter value waited on as specified in VkTimelineSemaphoreSubmitInfo.

The first synchronization scope includes all semaphore signal operations that operate on semaphores waited on in the same batch, and that happen-before the wait completes.

The second synchronization scope includes every command submitted in the same batch. In the case of vkQueueSubmit, the second synchronization scope is limited to operations on the pipeline stages determined by the destination stage mask specified by the corresponding element of pWaitDstStageMask. Also, in the case of vkQueueSubmit, the second synchronization scope additionally includes all commands that occur later in submission order.

The first access scope is empty.

The second access scope includes all memory access performed by the device.

The semaphore wait operation happens-after the first set of operations in the execution dependency, and happens-before the second set of operations in the execution dependency.

Note

Unlike timeline semaphores, fences or events, the act of waiting for a binary semaphore also unsignals that semaphore. Applications must ensure that between two such wait operations, the semaphore is signaled again, with execution dependencies used to ensure these occur in order. Binary semaphore waits and signals should thus occur in discrete 1:1 pairs.

Note

A common scenario for using pWaitDstStageMask with values other than VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_ALL_COMMANDS_BIT is when synchronizing a window system presentation operation against subsequent command buffers which render the next frame. In this case, a presentation image must not be overwritten until the presentation operation completes, but other pipeline stages can execute without waiting. A mask of VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_OUTPUT_BIT prevents subsequent color attachment writes from executing until the semaphore signals. Some implementations may be able to execute transfer operations and/or vertex processing work before the semaphore is signaled.

If an image layout transition needs to be performed on a presentable image before it is used in a framebuffer, that can be performed as the first operation submitted to the queue after acquiring the image, and should not prevent other work from overlapping with the presentation operation. For example, a VkImageMemoryBarrier could use:

srcStageMask = VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_OUTPUT_BIT
srcAccessMask = 0
dstStageMask = VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_OUTPUT_BIT
dstAccessMask = VK_ACCESS_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_READ_BIT | VK_ACCESS_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_WRITE_BIT.
oldLayout = VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_PRESENT_SRC_KHR
newLayout = VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_OPTIMAL

Alternatively, oldLayout can be VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_UNDEFINED, if the image’s contents need not be preserved.

This barrier accomplishes a dependency chain between previous presentation operations and subsequent color attachment output operations, with the layout transition performed in between, and does not introduce a dependency between previous work and any vertex processing stages. More precisely, the semaphore signals after the presentation operation completes, the semaphore wait stalls the VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_OUTPUT_BIT stage, and there is a dependency from that same stage to itself with the layout transition performed in between.

6.4.3. Semaphore State Requirements For Wait Operations

Before waiting on a semaphore, the application must ensure the semaphore is in a valid state for a wait operation. Specifically, when a semaphore wait operation is submitted to a queue:

A binary semaphore must be signaled, or have an associated semaphore signal operation that is pending execution.
Any semaphore signal operations on which the pending binary semaphore signal operation depends must also be completed or pending execution.
There must be no other queue waiting on the same binary semaphore when the operation executes.

6.4.4. Host Operations on Semaphores

In addition to semaphore signal operations and semaphore wait operations submitted to device queues, timeline semaphores support the following host operations:

Query the current counter value of the semaphore using the vkGetSemaphoreCounterValue command.
Wait for a set of semaphores to reach particular counter values using the vkWaitSemaphores command.
Signal the semaphore with a particular counter value from the host using the vkSignalSemaphore command.

To query the current counter value of a semaphore created with a VkSemaphoreType of VK_SEMAPHORE_TYPE_TIMELINE from the host, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_2
VkResult vkGetSemaphoreCounterValue(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    VkSemaphore                                 semaphore,
    uint64_t*                                   pValue);

or the equivalent command

// Provided by VK_KHR_timeline_semaphore
VkResult vkGetSemaphoreCounterValueKHR(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    VkSemaphore                                 semaphore,
    uint64_t*                                   pValue);

device is the logical device that owns the semaphore.
semaphore is the handle of the semaphore to query.
pValue is a pointer to a 64-bit integer value in which the current counter value of the semaphore is returned.

Note

If a queue submission command is pending execution, then the value returned by this command may immediately be out of date.

Valid Usage

semaphore must have been created with a VkSemaphoreType of VK_SEMAPHORE_TYPE_TIMELINE

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
semaphore must be a valid VkSemaphore handle
pValue must be a valid pointer to a uint64_t value
semaphore must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from device

Return Codes

VK_SUCCESS

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST

To wait for a set of semaphores created with a VkSemaphoreType of VK_SEMAPHORE_TYPE_TIMELINE to reach particular counter values on the host, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_2
VkResult vkWaitSemaphores(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    const VkSemaphoreWaitInfo*                  pWaitInfo,
    uint64_t                                    timeout);

or the equivalent command

// Provided by VK_KHR_timeline_semaphore
VkResult vkWaitSemaphoresKHR(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    const VkSemaphoreWaitInfo*                  pWaitInfo,
    uint64_t                                    timeout);

device is the logical device that owns the semaphore.
pWaitInfo is a pointer to a VkSemaphoreWaitInfo structure containing information about the wait condition.
timeout is the timeout period in units of nanoseconds. timeout is adjusted to the closest value allowed by the implementation-dependent timeout accuracy, which may be substantially longer than one nanosecond, and may be longer than the requested period.

If the condition is satisfied when vkWaitSemaphores is called, then vkWaitSemaphores returns immediately. If the condition is not satisfied at the time vkWaitSemaphores is called, then vkWaitSemaphores will block and wait until the condition is satisfied or the timeout has expired, whichever is sooner.

If timeout is zero, then vkWaitSemaphores does not wait, but simply returns information about the current state of the semaphore. VK_TIMEOUT will be returned in this case if the condition is not satisfied, even though no actual wait was performed.

If the condition is satisfied before the timeout has expired, vkWaitSemaphores returns VK_SUCCESS. Otherwise, vkWaitSemaphores returns VK_TIMEOUT after the timeout has expired.

If device loss occurs (see Lost Device) before the timeout has expired, vkWaitSemaphores must return in finite time with either VK_SUCCESS or VK_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
pWaitInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkSemaphoreWaitInfo structure

Return Codes

VK_SUCCESS
VK_TIMEOUT

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST

The VkSemaphoreWaitInfo structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_2
typedef struct VkSemaphoreWaitInfo {
    VkStructureType         sType;
    const void*             pNext;
    VkSemaphoreWaitFlags    flags;
    uint32_t                semaphoreCount;
    const VkSemaphore*      pSemaphores;
    const uint64_t*         pValues;
} VkSemaphoreWaitInfo;

or the equivalent

// Provided by VK_KHR_timeline_semaphore
typedef VkSemaphoreWaitInfo VkSemaphoreWaitInfoKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.
flags is a bitmask of VkSemaphoreWaitFlagBits specifying additional parameters for the semaphore wait operation.
semaphoreCount is the number of semaphores to wait on.
pSemaphores is a pointer to an array of semaphoreCount semaphore handles to wait on.
pValues is a pointer to an array of semaphoreCount timeline semaphore values.

Valid Usage

All of the elements of pSemaphores must reference a semaphore that was created with a VkSemaphoreType of VK_SEMAPHORE_TYPE_TIMELINE

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_SEMAPHORE_WAIT_INFO
pNext must be NULL
flags must be a valid combination of VkSemaphoreWaitFlagBits values
pSemaphores must be a valid pointer to an array of semaphoreCount valid VkSemaphore handles
pValues must be a valid pointer to an array of semaphoreCount uint64_t values
semaphoreCount must be greater than 0

Bits which can be set in VkSemaphoreWaitInfo::flags, specifying additional parameters of a semaphore wait operation, are:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_2
typedef enum VkSemaphoreWaitFlagBits {
    VK_SEMAPHORE_WAIT_ANY_BIT = 0x00000001,
  // Provided by VK_KHR_timeline_semaphore
    VK_SEMAPHORE_WAIT_ANY_BIT_KHR = VK_SEMAPHORE_WAIT_ANY_BIT,
} VkSemaphoreWaitFlagBits;

or the equivalent

// Provided by VK_KHR_timeline_semaphore
typedef VkSemaphoreWaitFlagBits VkSemaphoreWaitFlagBitsKHR;

VK_SEMAPHORE_WAIT_ANY_BIT specifies that the semaphore wait condition is that at least one of the semaphores in VkSemaphoreWaitInfo::pSemaphores has reached the value specified by the corresponding element of VkSemaphoreWaitInfo::pValues. If VK_SEMAPHORE_WAIT_ANY_BIT is not set, the semaphore wait condition is that all of the semaphores in VkSemaphoreWaitInfo::pSemaphores have reached the value specified by the corresponding element of VkSemaphoreWaitInfo::pValues.

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_2
typedef VkFlags VkSemaphoreWaitFlags;

or the equivalent

// Provided by VK_KHR_timeline_semaphore
typedef VkSemaphoreWaitFlags VkSemaphoreWaitFlagsKHR;

VkSemaphoreWaitFlags is a bitmask type for setting a mask of zero or more VkSemaphoreWaitFlagBits.

To signal a semaphore created with a VkSemaphoreType of VK_SEMAPHORE_TYPE_TIMELINE with a particular counter value, on the host, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_2
VkResult vkSignalSemaphore(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    const VkSemaphoreSignalInfo*                pSignalInfo);

or the equivalent command

// Provided by VK_KHR_timeline_semaphore
VkResult vkSignalSemaphoreKHR(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    const VkSemaphoreSignalInfo*                pSignalInfo);

device is the logical device that owns the semaphore.
pSignalInfo is a pointer to a VkSemaphoreSignalInfo structure containing information about the signal operation.

When vkSignalSemaphore is executed on the host, it defines and immediately executes a semaphore signal operation which sets the timeline semaphore to the given value.

The first synchronization scope is defined by the host execution model, but includes execution of vkSignalSemaphore on the host and anything that happened-before it.

The second synchronization scope is empty.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
pSignalInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkSemaphoreSignalInfo structure

Return Codes

VK_SUCCESS

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

The VkSemaphoreSignalInfo structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_2
typedef struct VkSemaphoreSignalInfo {
    VkStructureType    sType;
    const void*        pNext;
    VkSemaphore        semaphore;
    uint64_t           value;
} VkSemaphoreSignalInfo;

or the equivalent

// Provided by VK_KHR_timeline_semaphore
typedef VkSemaphoreSignalInfo VkSemaphoreSignalInfoKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.
semaphore is the handle of the semaphore to signal.
value is the value to signal.

Valid Usage

semaphore must have been created with a VkSemaphoreType of VK_SEMAPHORE_TYPE_TIMELINE
value must have a value greater than the current value of the semaphore
value must be less than the value of any pending semaphore signal operations
value must have a value which does not differ from the current value of the semaphore or the value of any outstanding semaphore wait or signal operation on semaphore by more than maxTimelineSemaphoreValueDifference

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_SEMAPHORE_SIGNAL_INFO
pNext must be NULL
semaphore must be a valid VkSemaphore handle

6.4.5. Importing Semaphore Payloads

Applications can import a semaphore payload into an existing semaphore using an external semaphore handle. The effects of the import operation will be either temporary or permanent, as specified by the application. If the import is temporary, the implementation must restore the semaphore to its prior permanent state after submitting the next semaphore wait operation. Performing a subsequent temporary import on a semaphore before performing a semaphore wait has no effect on this requirement; the next wait submitted on the semaphore must still restore its last permanent state. A permanent payload import behaves as if the target semaphore was destroyed, and a new semaphore was created with the same handle but the imported payload. Because importing a semaphore payload temporarily or permanently detaches the existing payload from a semaphore, similar usage restrictions to those applied to vkDestroySemaphore are applied to any command that imports a semaphore payload. Which of these import types is used is referred to as the import operation’s permanence. Each handle type supports either one or both types of permanence.

The implementation must perform the import operation by either referencing or copying the payload referred to by the specified external semaphore handle, depending on the handle’s type. The import method used is referred to as the handle type’s transference. When using handle types with reference transference, importing a payload to a semaphore adds the semaphore to the set of all semaphores sharing that payload. This set includes the semaphore from which the payload was exported. Semaphore signaling and waiting operations performed on any semaphore in the set must behave as if the set were a single semaphore. Importing a payload using handle types with copy transference creates a duplicate copy of the payload at the time of import, but makes no further reference to it. Semaphore signaling and waiting operations performed on the target of copy imports must not affect any other semaphore or payload.

Export operations have the same transference as the specified handle type’s import operations. Additionally, exporting a semaphore payload to a handle with copy transference has the same side effects on the source semaphore’s payload as executing a semaphore wait operation. If the semaphore was using a temporarily imported payload, the semaphore’s prior permanent payload will be restored.

Note

The tables Handle Types Supported by VkImportSemaphoreWin32HandleInfoKHR and Handle Types Supported by VkImportSemaphoreFdInfoKHR define the permanence and transference of each handle type.

External synchronization allows implementations to modify an object’s internal state, i.e. payload, without internal synchronization. However, for semaphores sharing a payload across processes, satisfying the external synchronization requirements of VkSemaphore parameters as if all semaphores in the set were the same object is sometimes infeasible. Satisfying the wait operation state requirements would similarly require impractical coordination or levels of trust between processes. Therefore, these constraints only apply to a specific semaphore handle, not to its payload. For distinct semaphore objects which share a payload, if the semaphores are passed to separate queue submission commands concurrently, behavior will be as if the commands were called in an arbitrary sequential order. If the wait operation state requirements are violated for the shared payload by a queue submission command, or if a signal operation is queued for a shared payload that is already signaled or has a pending signal operation, effects must be limited to one or more of the following:

Returning VK_ERROR_INITIALIZATION_FAILED from the command which resulted in the violation.
Losing the logical device on which the violation occurred immediately or at a future time, resulting in a VK_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST error from subsequent commands, including the one causing the violation.
Continuing execution of the violating command or operation as if the semaphore wait completed successfully after an implementation-dependent timeout. In this case, the state of the payload becomes undefined, and future operations on semaphores sharing the payload will be subject to these same rules. The semaphore must be destroyed or have its payload replaced by an import operation to again have a well-defined state.

Note

These rules allow processes to synchronize access to shared memory without trusting each other. However, such processes must still be cautious not to use the shared semaphore for more than synchronizing access to the shared memory. For example, a process should not use a shared semaphore as part of an execution dependency chain that, when complete, leads to objects being destroyed, if it does not trust other processes sharing the semaphore payload.

When a semaphore is using an imported payload, its VkExportSemaphoreCreateInfo::handleTypes value is that specified when creating the semaphore from which the payload was exported, rather than that specified when creating the semaphore. Additionally, VkExternalSemaphoreProperties::exportFromImportedHandleTypes restricts which handle types can be exported from such a semaphore based on the specific handle type used to import the current payload. Passing a semaphore to vkAcquireNextImageKHR is equivalent to temporarily importing a semaphore payload to that semaphore.

Note

Because the exportable handle types of an imported semaphore correspond to its current imported payload, and vkAcquireNextImageKHR behaves the same as a temporary import operation for which the source semaphore is opaque to the application, applications have no way of determining whether any external handle types can be exported from a semaphore in this state. Therefore, applications must not attempt to export external handles from semaphores using a temporarily imported payload from vkAcquireNextImageKHR.

When importing a semaphore payload, it is the responsibility of the application to ensure the external handles meet all valid usage requirements. However, implementations must perform sufficient validation of external handles to ensure that the operation results in a valid semaphore which will not cause program termination, device loss, queue stalls, or corruption of other resources when used as allowed according to its import parameters, and excepting those side effects allowed for violations of the valid semaphore state for wait operations rules. If the external handle provided does not meet these requirements, the implementation must fail the semaphore payload import operation with the error code VK_ERROR_INVALID_EXTERNAL_HANDLE.

In addition, when importing a semaphore payload that is not compatible with the payload type corresponding to the VkSemaphoreType the semaphore was created with, the implementation may fail the semaphore payload import operation with the error code VK_ERROR_INVALID_EXTERNAL_HANDLE.

Note

As the introduction of the external semaphore handle type VK_EXTERNAL_SEMAPHORE_HANDLE_TYPE_D3D12_FENCE_BIT predates that of timeline semaphores, support for importing semaphore payloads from external handles of that type into semaphores created (implicitly or explicitly) with a VkSemaphoreType of VK_SEMAPHORE_TYPE_BINARY is preserved for backwards compatibility. However, applications should prefer importing such handle types into semaphores created with a VkSemaphoreType of VK_SEMAPHORE_TYPE_TIMELINE.

To import a semaphore payload from a Windows handle, call:

// Provided by VK_KHR_external_semaphore_win32
VkResult vkImportSemaphoreWin32HandleKHR(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    const VkImportSemaphoreWin32HandleInfoKHR*  pImportSemaphoreWin32HandleInfo);

device is the logical device that created the semaphore.
pImportSemaphoreWin32HandleInfo is a pointer to a VkImportSemaphoreWin32HandleInfoKHR structure specifying the semaphore and import parameters.

Importing a semaphore payload from Windows handles does not transfer ownership of the handle to the Vulkan implementation. For handle types defined as NT handles, the application must release ownership using the CloseHandle system call when the handle is no longer needed.

Applications can import the same semaphore payload into multiple instances of Vulkan, into the same instance from which it was exported, and multiple times into a given Vulkan instance.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
pImportSemaphoreWin32HandleInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkImportSemaphoreWin32HandleInfoKHR structure

Return Codes

VK_SUCCESS

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_INVALID_EXTERNAL_HANDLE

The VkImportSemaphoreWin32HandleInfoKHR structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_KHR_external_semaphore_win32
typedef struct VkImportSemaphoreWin32HandleInfoKHR {
    VkStructureType                          sType;
    const void*                              pNext;
    VkSemaphore                              semaphore;
    VkSemaphoreImportFlags                   flags;
    VkExternalSemaphoreHandleTypeFlagBits    handleType;
    HANDLE                                   handle;
    LPCWSTR                                  name;
} VkImportSemaphoreWin32HandleInfoKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.
semaphore is the semaphore into which the payload will be imported.
flags is a bitmask of VkSemaphoreImportFlagBits specifying additional parameters for the semaphore payload import operation.
handleType specifies the type of handle.
handle is the external handle to import, or NULL.
name is a null-terminated UTF-16 string naming the underlying synchronization primitive to import, or NULL.

The handle types supported by handleType are:

Table 8. Handle Types Supported by `VkImportSemaphoreWin32HandleInfoKHR`
Handle Type	Transference	Permanence Supported
`VK_EXTERNAL_SEMAPHORE_HANDLE_TYPE_OPAQUE_WIN32_BIT`	Reference	Temporary,Permanent
`VK_EXTERNAL_SEMAPHORE_HANDLE_TYPE_OPAQUE_WIN32_KMT_BIT`	Reference	Temporary,Permanent
`VK_EXTERNAL_SEMAPHORE_HANDLE_TYPE_D3D12_FENCE_BIT`	Reference	Temporary,Permanent

Valid Usage

handleType must be a value included in the Handle Types Supported by VkImportSemaphoreWin32HandleInfoKHR table
If handleType is not VK_EXTERNAL_SEMAPHORE_HANDLE_TYPE_OPAQUE_WIN32_BIT or VK_EXTERNAL_SEMAPHORE_HANDLE_TYPE_D3D12_FENCE_BIT, name must be NULL
If handleType is not 0 and handle is NULL, name must name a valid synchronization primitive of the type specified by handleType
If handleType is not 0 and name is NULL, handle must be a valid handle of the type specified by handleType
If handle is not NULL, name must be NULL
If handle is not NULL, it must obey any requirements listed for handleType in external semaphore handle types compatibility
If name is not NULL, it must obey any requirements listed for handleType in external semaphore handle types compatibility
If handleType is VK_EXTERNAL_SEMAPHORE_HANDLE_TYPE_OPAQUE_WIN32_BIT or VK_EXTERNAL_SEMAPHORE_HANDLE_TYPE_OPAQUE_WIN32_KMT_BIT, the VkSemaphoreCreateInfo::flags field must match that of the semaphore from which handle or name was exported
If handleType is VK_EXTERNAL_SEMAPHORE_HANDLE_TYPE_OPAQUE_WIN32_BIT or VK_EXTERNAL_SEMAPHORE_HANDLE_TYPE_OPAQUE_WIN32_KMT_BIT, the VkSemaphoreTypeCreateInfo::semaphoreType field must match that of the semaphore from which handle or name was exported
If flags contains VK_SEMAPHORE_IMPORT_TEMPORARY_BIT, the VkSemaphoreTypeCreateInfo::semaphoreType field of the semaphore from which handle or name was exported must not be VK_SEMAPHORE_TYPE_TIMELINE

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_IMPORT_SEMAPHORE_WIN32_HANDLE_INFO_KHR
pNext must be NULL
semaphore must be a valid VkSemaphore handle
flags must be a valid combination of VkSemaphoreImportFlagBits values
If handleType is not 0, handleType must be a valid VkExternalSemaphoreHandleTypeFlagBits value

Host Synchronization

Host access to semaphore must be externally synchronized

To import a semaphore payload from a POSIX file descriptor, call:

// Provided by VK_KHR_external_semaphore_fd
VkResult vkImportSemaphoreFdKHR(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    const VkImportSemaphoreFdInfoKHR*           pImportSemaphoreFdInfo);

device is the logical device that created the semaphore.
pImportSemaphoreFdInfo is a pointer to a VkImportSemaphoreFdInfoKHR structure specifying the semaphore and import parameters.

Importing a semaphore payload from a file descriptor transfers ownership of the file descriptor from the application to the Vulkan implementation. The application must not perform any operations on the file descriptor after a successful import.

Applications can import the same semaphore payload into multiple instances of Vulkan, into the same instance from which it was exported, and multiple times into a given Vulkan instance.

Valid Usage

semaphore must not be associated with any queue command that has not yet completed execution on that queue

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
pImportSemaphoreFdInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkImportSemaphoreFdInfoKHR structure

Return Codes

VK_SUCCESS

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_INVALID_EXTERNAL_HANDLE

The VkImportSemaphoreFdInfoKHR structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_KHR_external_semaphore_fd
typedef struct VkImportSemaphoreFdInfoKHR {
    VkStructureType                          sType;
    const void*                              pNext;
    VkSemaphore                              semaphore;
    VkSemaphoreImportFlags                   flags;
    VkExternalSemaphoreHandleTypeFlagBits    handleType;
    int                                      fd;
} VkImportSemaphoreFdInfoKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.
semaphore is the semaphore into which the payload will be imported.
flags is a bitmask of VkSemaphoreImportFlagBits specifying additional parameters for the semaphore payload import operation.
handleType specifies the type of fd.
fd is the external handle to import.

The handle types supported by handleType are:

Table 9. Handle Types Supported by `VkImportSemaphoreFdInfoKHR`
Handle Type	Transference	Permanence Supported
`VK_EXTERNAL_SEMAPHORE_HANDLE_TYPE_OPAQUE_FD_BIT`	Reference	Temporary,Permanent
`VK_EXTERNAL_SEMAPHORE_HANDLE_TYPE_SYNC_FD_BIT`	Copy	Temporary

Valid Usage

handleType must be a value included in the Handle Types Supported by VkImportSemaphoreFdInfoKHR table
fd must obey any requirements listed for handleType in external semaphore handle types compatibility
If handleType is VK_EXTERNAL_SEMAPHORE_HANDLE_TYPE_OPAQUE_FD_BIT, the VkSemaphoreCreateInfo::flags field must match that of the semaphore from which fd was exported
If handleType is VK_EXTERNAL_SEMAPHORE_HANDLE_TYPE_OPAQUE_FD_BIT, the VkSemaphoreTypeCreateInfo::semaphoreType field must match that of the semaphore from which fd was exported
If flags contains VK_SEMAPHORE_IMPORT_TEMPORARY_BIT, the VkSemaphoreTypeCreateInfo::semaphoreType field of the semaphore from which fd was exported must not be VK_SEMAPHORE_TYPE_TIMELINE

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_IMPORT_SEMAPHORE_FD_INFO_KHR
pNext must be NULL
semaphore must be a valid VkSemaphore handle
flags must be a valid combination of VkSemaphoreImportFlagBits values
handleType must be a valid VkExternalSemaphoreHandleTypeFlagBits value

Host Synchronization

Host access to semaphore must be externally synchronized

Additional parameters of a semaphore import operation are specified by VkImportSemaphoreWin32HandleInfoKHR::flags or VkImportSemaphoreFdInfoKHR::flags . Bits which can be set include:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
typedef enum VkSemaphoreImportFlagBits {
    VK_SEMAPHORE_IMPORT_TEMPORARY_BIT = 0x00000001,
  // Provided by VK_KHR_external_semaphore
    VK_SEMAPHORE_IMPORT_TEMPORARY_BIT_KHR = VK_SEMAPHORE_IMPORT_TEMPORARY_BIT,
} VkSemaphoreImportFlagBits;

or the equivalent

// Provided by VK_KHR_external_semaphore
typedef VkSemaphoreImportFlagBits VkSemaphoreImportFlagBitsKHR;

These bits have the following meanings:

VK_SEMAPHORE_IMPORT_TEMPORARY_BIT specifies that the semaphore payload will be imported only temporarily, as described in Importing Semaphore Payloads, regardless of the permanence of handleType.

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
typedef VkFlags VkSemaphoreImportFlags;

or the equivalent

// Provided by VK_KHR_external_semaphore
typedef VkSemaphoreImportFlags VkSemaphoreImportFlagsKHR;

VkSemaphoreImportFlags is a bitmask type for setting a mask of zero or more VkSemaphoreImportFlagBits.

6.5. Events

Events are a synchronization primitive that can be used to insert a fine-grained dependency between commands submitted to the same queue, or between the host and a queue. Events must not be used to insert a dependency between commands submitted to different queues. Events have two states - signaled and unsignaled. An application can signal or unsignal an event either on the host or on the device. A device can be made to wait for an event to become signaled before executing further operations. No command exists to wait for an event to become signaled on the host, but the current state of an event can be queried.

Events are represented by VkEvent handles:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
VK_DEFINE_NON_DISPATCHABLE_HANDLE(VkEvent)

To create an event, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
VkResult vkCreateEvent(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    const VkEventCreateInfo*                    pCreateInfo,
    const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator,
    VkEvent*                                    pEvent);

device is the logical device that creates the event.
pCreateInfo is a pointer to a VkEventCreateInfo structure containing information about how the event is to be created.
pAllocator controls host memory allocation as described in the Memory Allocation chapter.
pEvent is a pointer to a handle in which the resulting event object is returned.

When created, the event object is in the unsignaled state.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
pCreateInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkEventCreateInfo structure
If pAllocator is not NULL, pAllocator must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure
pEvent must be a valid pointer to a VkEvent handle

Return Codes

VK_SUCCESS

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

The VkEventCreateInfo structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef struct VkEventCreateInfo {
    VkStructureType       sType;
    const void*           pNext;
    VkEventCreateFlags    flags;
} VkEventCreateInfo;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.
flags is reserved for future use.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_EVENT_CREATE_INFO
pNext must be NULL
flags must be 0

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef VkFlags VkEventCreateFlags;

VkEventCreateFlags is a bitmask type for setting a mask, but is currently reserved for future use.

To destroy an event, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
void vkDestroyEvent(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    VkEvent                                     event,
    const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator);

device is the logical device that destroys the event.
event is the handle of the event to destroy.
pAllocator controls host memory allocation as described in the Memory Allocation chapter.

Valid Usage

All submitted commands that refer to event must have completed execution
If VkAllocationCallbacks were provided when event was created, a compatible set of callbacks must be provided here
If no VkAllocationCallbacks were provided when event was created, pAllocator must be NULL

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
If event is not VK_NULL_HANDLE, event must be a valid VkEvent handle
If pAllocator is not NULL, pAllocator must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure
If event is a valid handle, it must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from device

Host Synchronization

Host access to event must be externally synchronized

To query the state of an event from the host, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
VkResult vkGetEventStatus(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    VkEvent                                     event);

device is the logical device that owns the event.
event is the handle of the event to query.

Upon success, vkGetEventStatus returns the state of the event object with the following return codes:

Table 10. Event Object Status Codes
Status	Meaning
`VK_EVENT_SET`	The event specified by `event` is signaled.
`VK_EVENT_RESET`	The event specified by `event` is unsignaled.

If a vkCmdSetEvent or vkCmdResetEvent command is in a command buffer that is in the pending state, then the value returned by this command may immediately be out of date.

The state of an event can be updated by the host. The state of the event is immediately changed, and subsequent calls to vkGetEventStatus will return the new state. If an event is already in the requested state, then updating it to the same state has no effect.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
event must be a valid VkEvent handle
event must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from device

Return Codes

VK_EVENT_SET
VK_EVENT_RESET

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST

To set the state of an event to signaled from the host, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
VkResult vkSetEvent(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    VkEvent                                     event);

device is the logical device that owns the event.
event is the event to set.

When vkSetEvent is executed on the host, it defines an event signal operation which sets the event to the signaled state.

If event is already in the signaled state when vkSetEvent is executed, then vkSetEvent has no effect, and no event signal operation occurs.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
event must be a valid VkEvent handle
event must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from device

Host Synchronization

Host access to event must be externally synchronized

Return Codes

VK_SUCCESS

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

To set the state of an event to unsignaled from the host, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
VkResult vkResetEvent(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    VkEvent                                     event);

device is the logical device that owns the event.
event is the event to reset.

When vkResetEvent is executed on the host, it defines an event unsignal operation which resets the event to the unsignaled state.

If event is already in the unsignaled state when vkResetEvent is executed, then vkResetEvent has no effect, and no event unsignal operation occurs.

Valid Usage

event must not be waited on by a vkCmdWaitEvents command that is currently executing

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
event must be a valid VkEvent handle
event must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from device

Host Synchronization

Host access to event must be externally synchronized

Return Codes

VK_SUCCESS

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

The state of an event can also be updated on the device by commands inserted in command buffers.

To set the state of an event to signaled from a device, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
void vkCmdSetEvent(
    VkCommandBuffer                             commandBuffer,
    VkEvent                                     event,
    VkPipelineStageFlags                        stageMask);

commandBuffer is the command buffer into which the command is recorded.
event is the event that will be signaled.
stageMask specifies the source stage mask used to determine the first synchronization scope.

When vkCmdSetEvent is submitted to a queue, it defines an execution dependency on commands that were submitted before it, and defines an event signal operation which sets the event to the signaled state.

The first synchronization scope includes all commands that occur earlier in submission order. The synchronization scope is limited to operations on the pipeline stages determined by the source stage mask specified by stageMask.

The second synchronization scope includes only the event signal operation.

If event is already in the signaled state when vkCmdSetEvent is executed on the device, then vkCmdSetEvent has no effect, no event signal operation occurs, and no execution dependency is generated.

Valid Usage

If the geometry shaders feature is not enabled, stageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_GEOMETRY_SHADER_BIT
If the tessellation shaders feature is not enabled, stageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_TESSELLATION_CONTROL_SHADER_BIT or VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_SHADER_BIT
If the conditional rendering feature is not enabled, stageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_CONDITIONAL_RENDERING_BIT_EXT
If the fragment density map feature is not enabled, stageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_FRAGMENT_DENSITY_PROCESS_BIT_EXT
If the transform feedback feature is not enabled, stageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_TRANSFORM_FEEDBACK_BIT_EXT
If the mesh shaders feature is not enabled, stageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_MESH_SHADER_BIT_NV
If the task shaders feature is not enabled, stageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_TASK_SHADER_BIT_NV
If the shading rate image feature is not enabled, stageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_SHADING_RATE_IMAGE_BIT_NV
Any pipeline stage included in stageMask must be supported by the capabilities of the queue family specified by the queueFamilyIndex member of the VkCommandPoolCreateInfo structure that was used to create the VkCommandPool that commandBuffer was allocated from, as specified in the table of supported pipeline stages
stageMask must not include VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_HOST_BIT
commandBuffer’s current device mask must include exactly one physical device

Valid Usage (Implicit)

commandBuffer must be a valid VkCommandBuffer handle
event must be a valid VkEvent handle
stageMask must be a valid combination of VkPipelineStageFlagBits values
stageMask must not be 0
commandBuffer must be in the recording state
The VkCommandPool that commandBuffer was allocated from must support graphics, or compute operations
This command must only be called outside of a render pass instance
Both of commandBuffer, and event must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from the same VkDevice

Host Synchronization

Host access to commandBuffer must be externally synchronized
Host access to the VkCommandPool that commandBuffer was allocated from must be externally synchronized

Command Properties

Command Buffer Levels	Render Pass Scope	Supported Queue Types	Pipeline Type
Primary Secondary	Outside	Graphics Compute

Primary
Secondary

Outside

Graphics
Compute

To set the state of an event to unsignaled from a device, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
void vkCmdResetEvent(
    VkCommandBuffer                             commandBuffer,
    VkEvent                                     event,
    VkPipelineStageFlags                        stageMask);

commandBuffer is the command buffer into which the command is recorded.
event is the event that will be unsignaled.
stageMask is a bitmask of VkPipelineStageFlagBits specifying the source stage mask used to determine when the event is unsignaled.

When vkCmdResetEvent is submitted to a queue, it defines an execution dependency on commands that were submitted before it, and defines an event unsignal operation which resets the event to the unsignaled state.

The second synchronization scope includes only the event unsignal operation.

If event is already in the unsignaled state when vkCmdResetEvent is executed on the device, then vkCmdResetEvent has no effect, no event unsignal operation occurs, and no execution dependency is generated.

Valid Usage

If the geometry shaders feature is not enabled, stageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_GEOMETRY_SHADER_BIT
If the tessellation shaders feature is not enabled, stageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_TESSELLATION_CONTROL_SHADER_BIT or VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_SHADER_BIT
If the conditional rendering feature is not enabled, stageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_CONDITIONAL_RENDERING_BIT_EXT
If the fragment density map feature is not enabled, stageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_FRAGMENT_DENSITY_PROCESS_BIT_EXT
If the transform feedback feature is not enabled, stageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_TRANSFORM_FEEDBACK_BIT_EXT
If the mesh shaders feature is not enabled, stageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_MESH_SHADER_BIT_NV
If the task shaders feature is not enabled, stageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_TASK_SHADER_BIT_NV
If the shading rate image feature is not enabled, stageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_SHADING_RATE_IMAGE_BIT_NV
Any pipeline stage included in stageMask must be supported by the capabilities of the queue family specified by the queueFamilyIndex member of the VkCommandPoolCreateInfo structure that was used to create the VkCommandPool that commandBuffer was allocated from, as specified in the table of supported pipeline stages
stageMask must not include VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_HOST_BIT
When this command executes, event must not be waited on by a vkCmdWaitEvents command that is currently executing
commandBuffer’s current device mask must include exactly one physical device

Valid Usage (Implicit)

commandBuffer must be a valid VkCommandBuffer handle
event must be a valid VkEvent handle
stageMask must be a valid combination of VkPipelineStageFlagBits values
stageMask must not be 0
commandBuffer must be in the recording state
The VkCommandPool that commandBuffer was allocated from must support graphics, or compute operations
This command must only be called outside of a render pass instance
Both of commandBuffer, and event must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from the same VkDevice

Host Synchronization

Host access to commandBuffer must be externally synchronized
Host access to the VkCommandPool that commandBuffer was allocated from must be externally synchronized

Command Properties

Command Buffer Levels	Render Pass Scope	Supported Queue Types	Pipeline Type
Primary Secondary	Outside	Graphics Compute

Primary
Secondary

Outside

Graphics
Compute

To wait for one or more events to enter the signaled state on a device, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
void vkCmdWaitEvents(
    VkCommandBuffer                             commandBuffer,
    uint32_t                                    eventCount,
    const VkEvent*                              pEvents,
    VkPipelineStageFlags                        srcStageMask,
    VkPipelineStageFlags                        dstStageMask,
    uint32_t                                    memoryBarrierCount,
    const VkMemoryBarrier*                      pMemoryBarriers,
    uint32_t                                    bufferMemoryBarrierCount,
    const VkBufferMemoryBarrier*                pBufferMemoryBarriers,
    uint32_t                                    imageMemoryBarrierCount,
    const VkImageMemoryBarrier*                 pImageMemoryBarriers);

commandBuffer is the command buffer into which the command is recorded.
eventCount is the length of the pEvents array.
pEvents is a pointer to an array of event object handles to wait on.
srcStageMask is a bitmask of VkPipelineStageFlagBits specifying the source stage mask.
dstStageMask is a bitmask of VkPipelineStageFlagBits specifying the destination stage mask.
memoryBarrierCount is the length of the pMemoryBarriers array.
pMemoryBarriers is a pointer to an array of VkMemoryBarrier structures.
bufferMemoryBarrierCount is the length of the pBufferMemoryBarriers array.
pBufferMemoryBarriers is a pointer to an array of VkBufferMemoryBarrier structures.
imageMemoryBarrierCount is the length of the pImageMemoryBarriers array.
pImageMemoryBarriers is a pointer to an array of VkImageMemoryBarrier structures.

When vkCmdWaitEvents is submitted to a queue, it defines a memory dependency between prior event signal operations on the same queue or the host, and subsequent commands. vkCmdWaitEvents must not be used to wait on event signal operations occurring on other queues.

The first synchronization scope only includes event signal operations that operate on members of pEvents, and the operations that happened-before the event signal operations. Event signal operations performed by vkCmdSetEvent that occur earlier in submission order are included in the first synchronization scope, if the logically latest pipeline stage in their stageMask parameter is logically earlier than or equal to the logically latest pipeline stage in srcStageMask. Event signal operations performed by vkSetEvent are only included in the first synchronization scope if VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_HOST_BIT is included in srcStageMask.

The second synchronization scope includes all commands that occur later in submission order. The second synchronization scope is limited to operations on the pipeline stages determined by the destination stage mask specified by dstStageMask.

The first access scope is limited to access in the pipeline stages determined by the source stage mask specified by srcStageMask. Within that, the first access scope only includes the first access scopes defined by elements of the pMemoryBarriers, pBufferMemoryBarriers and pImageMemoryBarriers arrays, which each define a set of memory barriers. If no memory barriers are specified, then the first access scope includes no accesses.

The second access scope is limited to access in the pipeline stages determined by the destination stage mask specified by dstStageMask. Within that, the second access scope only includes the second access scopes defined by elements of the pMemoryBarriers, pBufferMemoryBarriers and pImageMemoryBarriers arrays, which each define a set of memory barriers. If no memory barriers are specified, then the second access scope includes no accesses.

Note

vkCmdWaitEvents is used with vkCmdSetEvent to define a memory dependency between two sets of action commands, roughly in the same way as pipeline barriers, but split into two commands such that work between the two may execute unhindered.

Unlike vkCmdPipelineBarrier, a queue family ownership transfer cannot be performed using vkCmdWaitEvents.

Note

Applications should be careful to avoid race conditions when using events. There is no direct ordering guarantee between a vkCmdResetEvent command and a vkCmdWaitEvents command submitted after it, so some other execution dependency must be included between these commands (e.g. a semaphore).

Valid Usage

If the geometry shaders feature is not enabled, srcStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_GEOMETRY_SHADER_BIT
If the tessellation shaders feature is not enabled, srcStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_TESSELLATION_CONTROL_SHADER_BIT or VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_SHADER_BIT
If the conditional rendering feature is not enabled, srcStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_CONDITIONAL_RENDERING_BIT_EXT
If the fragment density map feature is not enabled, srcStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_FRAGMENT_DENSITY_PROCESS_BIT_EXT
If the transform feedback feature is not enabled, srcStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_TRANSFORM_FEEDBACK_BIT_EXT
If the mesh shaders feature is not enabled, srcStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_MESH_SHADER_BIT_NV
If the task shaders feature is not enabled, srcStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_TASK_SHADER_BIT_NV
If the shading rate image feature is not enabled, srcStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_SHADING_RATE_IMAGE_BIT_NV
Any pipeline stage included in srcStageMask must be supported by the capabilities of the queue family specified by the queueFamilyIndex member of the VkCommandPoolCreateInfo structure that was used to create the VkCommandPool that commandBuffer was allocated from, as specified in the table of supported pipeline stages

If the geometry shaders feature is not enabled, dstStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_GEOMETRY_SHADER_BIT
If the tessellation shaders feature is not enabled, dstStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_TESSELLATION_CONTROL_SHADER_BIT or VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_SHADER_BIT
If the conditional rendering feature is not enabled, dstStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_CONDITIONAL_RENDERING_BIT_EXT
If the fragment density map feature is not enabled, dstStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_FRAGMENT_DENSITY_PROCESS_BIT_EXT
If the transform feedback feature is not enabled, dstStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_TRANSFORM_FEEDBACK_BIT_EXT
If the mesh shaders feature is not enabled, dstStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_MESH_SHADER_BIT_NV
If the task shaders feature is not enabled, dstStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_TASK_SHADER_BIT_NV
If the shading rate image feature is not enabled, dstStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_SHADING_RATE_IMAGE_BIT_NV
Any pipeline stage included in dstStageMask must be supported by the capabilities of the queue family specified by the queueFamilyIndex member of the VkCommandPoolCreateInfo structure that was used to create the VkCommandPool that commandBuffer was allocated from, as specified in the table of supported pipeline stages

The srcAccessMask member of each element of pMemoryBarriers must only include access flags that are supported by one or more of the pipeline stages in srcStageMask, as specified in the table of supported access types
The dstAccessMask member of each element of pMemoryBarriers must only include access flags that are supported by one or more of the pipeline stages in dstStageMask, as specified in the table of supported access types
For any element of pBufferMemoryBarriers, if its srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex members are equal, or if its srcQueueFamilyIndex is the queue family index that was used to create the command pool that commandBuffer was allocated from, then its srcAccessMask member must only contain access flags that are supported by one or more of the pipeline stages in srcStageMask, as specified in the table of supported access types
For any element of pBufferMemoryBarriers, if its srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex members are equal, or if its dstQueueFamilyIndex is the queue family index that was used to create the command pool that commandBuffer was allocated from, then its dstAccessMask member must only contain access flags that are supported by one or more of the pipeline stages in dstStageMask, as specified in the table of supported access types
For any element of pImageMemoryBarriers, if its srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex members are equal, or if its srcQueueFamilyIndex is the queue family index that was used to create the command pool that commandBuffer was allocated from, then its srcAccessMask member must only contain access flags that are supported by one or more of the pipeline stages in srcStageMask, as specified in the table of supported access types
For any element of pImageMemoryBarriers, if its srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex members are equal, or if its dstQueueFamilyIndex is the queue family index that was used to create the command pool that commandBuffer was allocated from, then its dstAccessMask member must only contain access flags that are supported by one or more of the pipeline stages in dstStageMask, as specified in the table of supported access types
srcStageMask must be the bitwise OR of the stageMask parameter used in previous calls to vkCmdSetEvent with any of the members of pEvents and VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_HOST_BIT if any of the members of pEvents was set using vkSetEvent
If pEvents includes one or more events that will be signaled by vkSetEvent after commandBuffer has been submitted to a queue, then vkCmdWaitEvents must not be called inside a render pass instance
The srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex members of any element of pBufferMemoryBarriers or pImageMemoryBarriers must be equal
commandBuffer’s current device mask must include exactly one physical device

Valid Usage (Implicit)

commandBuffer must be a valid VkCommandBuffer handle
pEvents must be a valid pointer to an array of eventCount valid VkEvent handles
srcStageMask must be a valid combination of VkPipelineStageFlagBits values
srcStageMask must not be 0
dstStageMask must be a valid combination of VkPipelineStageFlagBits values
dstStageMask must not be 0
If memoryBarrierCount is not 0, pMemoryBarriers must be a valid pointer to an array of memoryBarrierCount valid VkMemoryBarrier structures
If bufferMemoryBarrierCount is not 0, pBufferMemoryBarriers must be a valid pointer to an array of bufferMemoryBarrierCount valid VkBufferMemoryBarrier structures
If imageMemoryBarrierCount is not 0, pImageMemoryBarriers must be a valid pointer to an array of imageMemoryBarrierCount valid VkImageMemoryBarrier structures
commandBuffer must be in the recording state
The VkCommandPool that commandBuffer was allocated from must support graphics, or compute operations
eventCount must be greater than 0
Both of commandBuffer, and the elements of pEvents must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from the same VkDevice

Host Synchronization

Host access to commandBuffer must be externally synchronized
Host access to the VkCommandPool that commandBuffer was allocated from must be externally synchronized

Command Properties

Command Buffer Levels	Render Pass Scope	Supported Queue Types	Pipeline Type
Primary Secondary	Both	Graphics Compute

Primary
Secondary

Both

Graphics
Compute

6.6. Pipeline Barriers

To record a pipeline barrier, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
void vkCmdPipelineBarrier(
    VkCommandBuffer                             commandBuffer,
    VkPipelineStageFlags                        srcStageMask,
    VkPipelineStageFlags                        dstStageMask,
    VkDependencyFlags                           dependencyFlags,
    uint32_t                                    memoryBarrierCount,
    const VkMemoryBarrier*                      pMemoryBarriers,
    uint32_t                                    bufferMemoryBarrierCount,
    const VkBufferMemoryBarrier*                pBufferMemoryBarriers,
    uint32_t                                    imageMemoryBarrierCount,
    const VkImageMemoryBarrier*                 pImageMemoryBarriers);

commandBuffer is the command buffer into which the command is recorded.
srcStageMask is a bitmask of VkPipelineStageFlagBits specifying the source stage mask.
dstStageMask is a bitmask of VkPipelineStageFlagBits specifying the destination stage mask.
dependencyFlags is a bitmask of VkDependencyFlagBits specifying how execution and memory dependencies are formed.
memoryBarrierCount is the length of the pMemoryBarriers array.
pMemoryBarriers is a pointer to an array of VkMemoryBarrier structures.
bufferMemoryBarrierCount is the length of the pBufferMemoryBarriers array.
pBufferMemoryBarriers is a pointer to an array of VkBufferMemoryBarrier structures.
imageMemoryBarrierCount is the length of the pImageMemoryBarriers array.
pImageMemoryBarriers is a pointer to an array of VkImageMemoryBarrier structures.

When vkCmdPipelineBarrier is submitted to a queue, it defines a memory dependency between commands that were submitted before it, and those submitted after it.

If vkCmdPipelineBarrier was recorded outside a render pass instance, the first synchronization scope includes all commands that occur earlier in submission order. If vkCmdPipelineBarrier was recorded inside a render pass instance, the first synchronization scope includes only commands that occur earlier in submission order within the same subpass. In either case, the first synchronization scope is limited to operations on the pipeline stages determined by the source stage mask specified by srcStageMask.

If vkCmdPipelineBarrier was recorded outside a render pass instance, the second synchronization scope includes all commands that occur later in submission order. If vkCmdPipelineBarrier was recorded inside a render pass instance, the second synchronization scope includes only commands that occur later in submission order within the same subpass. In either case, the second synchronization scope is limited to operations on the pipeline stages determined by the destination stage mask specified by dstStageMask.

If dependencyFlags includes VK_DEPENDENCY_BY_REGION_BIT, then any dependency between framebuffer-space pipeline stages is framebuffer-local - otherwise it is framebuffer-global.

Valid Usage

If the geometry shaders feature is not enabled, srcStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_GEOMETRY_SHADER_BIT
If the tessellation shaders feature is not enabled, srcStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_TESSELLATION_CONTROL_SHADER_BIT or VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_SHADER_BIT
If the conditional rendering feature is not enabled, srcStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_CONDITIONAL_RENDERING_BIT_EXT
If the fragment density map feature is not enabled, srcStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_FRAGMENT_DENSITY_PROCESS_BIT_EXT
If the transform feedback feature is not enabled, srcStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_TRANSFORM_FEEDBACK_BIT_EXT
If the mesh shaders feature is not enabled, srcStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_MESH_SHADER_BIT_NV
If the task shaders feature is not enabled, srcStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_TASK_SHADER_BIT_NV
If the shading rate image feature is not enabled, srcStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_SHADING_RATE_IMAGE_BIT_NV
Any pipeline stage included in srcStageMask must be supported by the capabilities of the queue family specified by the queueFamilyIndex member of the VkCommandPoolCreateInfo structure that was used to create the VkCommandPool that commandBuffer was allocated from, as specified in the table of supported pipeline stages

If the geometry shaders feature is not enabled, dstStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_GEOMETRY_SHADER_BIT
If the tessellation shaders feature is not enabled, dstStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_TESSELLATION_CONTROL_SHADER_BIT or VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_TESSELLATION_EVALUATION_SHADER_BIT
If the conditional rendering feature is not enabled, dstStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_CONDITIONAL_RENDERING_BIT_EXT
If the fragment density map feature is not enabled, dstStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_FRAGMENT_DENSITY_PROCESS_BIT_EXT
If the transform feedback feature is not enabled, dstStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_TRANSFORM_FEEDBACK_BIT_EXT
If the mesh shaders feature is not enabled, dstStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_MESH_SHADER_BIT_NV
If the task shaders feature is not enabled, dstStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_TASK_SHADER_BIT_NV
If the shading rate image feature is not enabled, dstStageMask must not contain VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_SHADING_RATE_IMAGE_BIT_NV
Any pipeline stage included in dstStageMask must be supported by the capabilities of the queue family specified by the queueFamilyIndex member of the VkCommandPoolCreateInfo structure that was used to create the VkCommandPool that commandBuffer was allocated from, as specified in the table of supported pipeline stages

The srcAccessMask member of each element of pMemoryBarriers must only include access flags that are supported by one or more of the pipeline stages in srcStageMask, as specified in the table of supported access types
The dstAccessMask member of each element of pMemoryBarriers must only include access flags that are supported by one or more of the pipeline stages in dstStageMask, as specified in the table of supported access types
For any element of pBufferMemoryBarriers, if its srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex members are equal, or if its srcQueueFamilyIndex is the queue family index that was used to create the command pool that commandBuffer was allocated from, then its srcAccessMask member must only contain access flags that are supported by one or more of the pipeline stages in srcStageMask, as specified in the table of supported access types
For any element of pBufferMemoryBarriers, if its srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex members are equal, or if its dstQueueFamilyIndex is the queue family index that was used to create the command pool that commandBuffer was allocated from, then its dstAccessMask member must only contain access flags that are supported by one or more of the pipeline stages in dstStageMask, as specified in the table of supported access types
For any element of pImageMemoryBarriers, if its srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex members are equal, or if its srcQueueFamilyIndex is the queue family index that was used to create the command pool that commandBuffer was allocated from, then its srcAccessMask member must only contain access flags that are supported by one or more of the pipeline stages in srcStageMask, as specified in the table of supported access types
For any element of pImageMemoryBarriers, if its srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex members are equal, or if its dstQueueFamilyIndex is the queue family index that was used to create the command pool that commandBuffer was allocated from, then its dstAccessMask member must only contain access flags that are supported by one or more of the pipeline stages in dstStageMask, as specified in the table of supported access types

If vkCmdPipelineBarrier is called within a render pass instance, the render pass must have been created with at least one VkSubpassDependency instance in VkRenderPassCreateInfo::pDependencies that expresses a dependency from the current subpass to itself, with synchronization scopes and access scopes that are all supersets of the scopes defined in this command
If vkCmdPipelineBarrier is called within a render pass instance, it must not include any buffer memory barriers
If vkCmdPipelineBarrier is called within a render pass instance, the image member of any image memory barrier included in this command must be an attachment used in the current subpass both as an input attachment, and as either a color or depth/stencil attachment
If vkCmdPipelineBarrier is called within a render pass instance, the oldLayout and newLayout members of any image memory barrier included in this command must be equal
If vkCmdPipelineBarrier is called within a render pass instance, the srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex members of any image memory barrier included in this command must be equal
If vkCmdPipelineBarrier is called outside of a render pass instance, VK_DEPENDENCY_VIEW_LOCAL_BIT must not be included in the dependency flags

Valid Usage (Implicit)

commandBuffer must be a valid VkCommandBuffer handle
srcStageMask must be a valid combination of VkPipelineStageFlagBits values
srcStageMask must not be 0
dstStageMask must be a valid combination of VkPipelineStageFlagBits values
dstStageMask must not be 0
dependencyFlags must be a valid combination of VkDependencyFlagBits values
If memoryBarrierCount is not 0, pMemoryBarriers must be a valid pointer to an array of memoryBarrierCount valid VkMemoryBarrier structures
If bufferMemoryBarrierCount is not 0, pBufferMemoryBarriers must be a valid pointer to an array of bufferMemoryBarrierCount valid VkBufferMemoryBarrier structures
If imageMemoryBarrierCount is not 0, pImageMemoryBarriers must be a valid pointer to an array of imageMemoryBarrierCount valid VkImageMemoryBarrier structures
commandBuffer must be in the recording state
The VkCommandPool that commandBuffer was allocated from must support transfer, graphics, or compute operations

Host Synchronization

Host access to commandBuffer must be externally synchronized
Host access to the VkCommandPool that commandBuffer was allocated from must be externally synchronized

Command Properties

Command Buffer Levels	Render Pass Scope	Supported Queue Types	Pipeline Type
Primary Secondary	Both	Transfer Graphics Compute

Primary
Secondary

Both

Transfer
Graphics
Compute

Bits which can be set in vkCmdPipelineBarrier::dependencyFlags, specifying how execution and memory dependencies are formed, are:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef enum VkDependencyFlagBits {
    VK_DEPENDENCY_BY_REGION_BIT = 0x00000001,
  // Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
    VK_DEPENDENCY_DEVICE_GROUP_BIT = 0x00000004,
  // Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
    VK_DEPENDENCY_VIEW_LOCAL_BIT = 0x00000002,
  // Provided by VK_KHR_multiview
    VK_DEPENDENCY_VIEW_LOCAL_BIT_KHR = VK_DEPENDENCY_VIEW_LOCAL_BIT,
  // Provided by VK_KHR_device_group
    VK_DEPENDENCY_DEVICE_GROUP_BIT_KHR = VK_DEPENDENCY_DEVICE_GROUP_BIT,
} VkDependencyFlagBits;

VK_DEPENDENCY_BY_REGION_BIT specifies that dependencies will be framebuffer-local.
VK_DEPENDENCY_VIEW_LOCAL_BIT specifies that a subpass has more than one view.
VK_DEPENDENCY_DEVICE_GROUP_BIT specifies that dependencies are non-device-local dependency.

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef VkFlags VkDependencyFlags;

VkDependencyFlags is a bitmask type for setting a mask of zero or more VkDependencyFlagBits.

6.6.1. Subpass Self-dependency

If vkCmdPipelineBarrier is called inside a render pass instance, the following restrictions apply. For a given subpass to allow a pipeline barrier, the render pass must declare a self-dependency from that subpass to itself. That is, there must exist a subpass dependency with srcSubpass and dstSubpass both equal to that subpass index. More than one self-dependency can be declared for each subpass.

Self-dependencies must only include pipeline stage bits that are graphics stages. If any of the stages in srcStages are framebuffer-space stages, dstStages must only contain framebuffer-space stages. This means that pseudo-stages like VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_ALL_COMMANDS_BIT which include the execution of both framebuffer-space stages and non-framebuffer-space stages must not be used.

If the source and destination stage masks both include framebuffer-space stages, then dependencyFlags must include VK_DEPENDENCY_BY_REGION_BIT. If the subpass has more than one view, then dependencyFlags must include VK_DEPENDENCY_VIEW_LOCAL_BIT.

Each of the synchronization scopes and access scopes of a vkCmdPipelineBarrier command inside a render pass instance must be a subset of the scopes of one of the self-dependencies for the current subpass.

If the self-dependency has VK_DEPENDENCY_BY_REGION_BIT or VK_DEPENDENCY_VIEW_LOCAL_BIT set, then so must the pipeline barrier. Pipeline barriers within a render pass instance must not include buffer memory barriers. Image memory barriers must only specify image subresources that are used as attachments within the subpass, and must not define an image layout transition or queue family ownership transfer.

6.7. Memory Barriers

Memory barriers are used to explicitly control access to buffer and image subresource ranges. Memory barriers are used to transfer ownership between queue families, change image layouts, and define availability and visibility operations. They explicitly define the access types and buffer and image subresource ranges that are included in the access scopes of a memory dependency that is created by a synchronization command that includes them.

6.7.1. Global Memory Barriers

Global memory barriers apply to memory accesses involving all memory objects that exist at the time of its execution.

The VkMemoryBarrier structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef struct VkMemoryBarrier {
    VkStructureType    sType;
    const void*        pNext;
    VkAccessFlags      srcAccessMask;
    VkAccessFlags      dstAccessMask;
} VkMemoryBarrier;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.
srcAccessMask is a bitmask of VkAccessFlagBits specifying a source access mask.
dstAccessMask is a bitmask of VkAccessFlagBits specifying a destination access mask.

The first access scope is limited to access types in the source access mask specified by srcAccessMask.

The second access scope is limited to access types in the destination access mask specified by dstAccessMask.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_MEMORY_BARRIER
pNext must be NULL
srcAccessMask must be a valid combination of VkAccessFlagBits values
dstAccessMask must be a valid combination of VkAccessFlagBits values

6.7.2. Buffer Memory Barriers

Buffer memory barriers only apply to memory accesses involving a specific buffer range. That is, a memory dependency formed from a buffer memory barrier is scoped to access via the specified buffer range. Buffer memory barriers can also be used to define a queue family ownership transfer for the specified buffer range.

The VkBufferMemoryBarrier structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef struct VkBufferMemoryBarrier {
    VkStructureType    sType;
    const void*        pNext;
    VkAccessFlags      srcAccessMask;
    VkAccessFlags      dstAccessMask;
    uint32_t           srcQueueFamilyIndex;
    uint32_t           dstQueueFamilyIndex;
    VkBuffer           buffer;
    VkDeviceSize       offset;
    VkDeviceSize       size;
} VkBufferMemoryBarrier;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.
srcAccessMask is a bitmask of VkAccessFlagBits specifying a source access mask.
dstAccessMask is a bitmask of VkAccessFlagBits specifying a destination access mask.
srcQueueFamilyIndex is the source queue family for a queue family ownership transfer.
dstQueueFamilyIndex is the destination queue family for a queue family ownership transfer.
buffer is a handle to the buffer whose backing memory is affected by the barrier.
offset is an offset in bytes into the backing memory for buffer; this is relative to the base offset as bound to the buffer (see vkBindBufferMemory).
size is a size in bytes of the affected area of backing memory for buffer, or VK_WHOLE_SIZE to use the range from offset to the end of the buffer.

The first access scope is limited to access to memory through the specified buffer range, via access types in the source access mask specified by srcAccessMask. If srcAccessMask includes VK_ACCESS_HOST_WRITE_BIT, memory writes performed by that access type are also made visible, as that access type is not performed through a resource.

The second access scope is limited to access to memory through the specified buffer range, via access types in the destination access mask specified by dstAccessMask. If dstAccessMask includes VK_ACCESS_HOST_WRITE_BIT or VK_ACCESS_HOST_READ_BIT, available memory writes are also made visible to accesses of those types, as those access types are not performed through a resource.

If srcQueueFamilyIndex is not equal to dstQueueFamilyIndex, and srcQueueFamilyIndex is equal to the current queue family, then the memory barrier defines a queue family release operation for the specified buffer range, and the second access scope includes no access, as if dstAccessMask was 0.

If dstQueueFamilyIndex is not equal to srcQueueFamilyIndex, and dstQueueFamilyIndex is equal to the current queue family, then the memory barrier defines a queue family acquire operation for the specified buffer range, and the first access scope includes no access, as if srcAccessMask was 0.

Valid Usage

offset must be less than the size of buffer
If size is not equal to VK_WHOLE_SIZE, size must be greater than 0
If size is not equal to VK_WHOLE_SIZE, size must be less than or equal to than the size of buffer minus offset
If buffer is non-sparse then it must be bound completely and contiguously to a single VkDeviceMemory object
If srcQueueFamilyIndex is not equal to dstQueueFamilyIndex, at least one must not be a special queue family reserved for external memory ownership transfers, as described in Queue Family Ownership Transfer
If buffer was created with a sharing mode of VK_SHARING_MODE_CONCURRENT, srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex are not equal, and one of srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex is a special queue family values reserved for external memory transfers, the other must be VK_QUEUE_FAMILY_IGNORED
If buffer was created with a sharing mode of VK_SHARING_MODE_EXCLUSIVE, and srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex are not equal, srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex must both be valid queue families, or one of the special queue family values reserved for external memory transfers, as described in Queue Family Ownership Transfer
If buffer was created with a sharing mode of VK_SHARING_MODE_CONCURRENT, at least one of srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex must be VK_QUEUE_FAMILY_IGNORED

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_BUFFER_MEMORY_BARRIER
pNext must be NULL
buffer must be a valid VkBuffer handle

6.7.3. Image Memory Barriers

Image memory barriers only apply to memory accesses involving a specific image subresource range. That is, a memory dependency formed from an image memory barrier is scoped to access via the specified image subresource range. Image memory barriers can also be used to define image layout transitions or a queue family ownership transfer for the specified image subresource range.

The VkImageMemoryBarrier structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef struct VkImageMemoryBarrier {
    VkStructureType            sType;
    const void*                pNext;
    VkAccessFlags              srcAccessMask;
    VkAccessFlags              dstAccessMask;
    VkImageLayout              oldLayout;
    VkImageLayout              newLayout;
    uint32_t                   srcQueueFamilyIndex;
    uint32_t                   dstQueueFamilyIndex;
    VkImage                    image;
    VkImageSubresourceRange    subresourceRange;
} VkImageMemoryBarrier;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.
srcAccessMask is a bitmask of VkAccessFlagBits specifying a source access mask.
dstAccessMask is a bitmask of VkAccessFlagBits specifying a destination access mask.
oldLayout is the old layout in an image layout transition.
newLayout is the new layout in an image layout transition.
srcQueueFamilyIndex is the source queue family for a queue family ownership transfer.
dstQueueFamilyIndex is the destination queue family for a queue family ownership transfer.
image is a handle to the image affected by this barrier.
subresourceRange describes the image subresource range within image that is affected by this barrier.

The first access scope is limited to access to memory through the specified image subresource range, via access types in the source access mask specified by srcAccessMask. If srcAccessMask includes VK_ACCESS_HOST_WRITE_BIT, memory writes performed by that access type are also made visible, as that access type is not performed through a resource.

The second access scope is limited to access to memory through the specified image subresource range, via access types in the destination access mask specified by dstAccessMask. If dstAccessMask includes VK_ACCESS_HOST_WRITE_BIT or VK_ACCESS_HOST_READ_BIT, available memory writes are also made visible to accesses of those types, as those access types are not performed through a resource.

If srcQueueFamilyIndex is not equal to dstQueueFamilyIndex, and srcQueueFamilyIndex is equal to the current queue family, then the memory barrier defines a queue family release operation for the specified image subresource range, and the second access scope includes no access, as if dstAccessMask was 0.

If dstQueueFamilyIndex is not equal to srcQueueFamilyIndex, and dstQueueFamilyIndex is equal to the current queue family, then the memory barrier defines a queue family acquire operation for the specified image subresource range, and the first access scope includes no access, as if srcAccessMask was 0.

oldLayout and newLayout define an image layout transition for the specified image subresource range.

If image has a multi-planar format and the image is disjoint, then including VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_COLOR_BIT in the aspectMask member of subresourceRange is equivalent to including VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_0_BIT, VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_1_BIT, and (for three-plane formats only) VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_2_BIT.

Valid Usage

subresourceRange.baseMipLevel must be less than the mipLevels specified in VkImageCreateInfo when image was created
If subresourceRange.levelCount is not VK_REMAINING_MIP_LEVELS, subresourceRange.baseMipLevel + subresourceRange.levelCount must be less than or equal to the mipLevels specified in VkImageCreateInfo when image was created
subresourceRange.baseArrayLayer must be less than the arrayLayers specified in VkImageCreateInfo when image was created
If subresourceRange.layerCount is not VK_REMAINING_ARRAY_LAYERS, subresourceRange.baseArrayLayer + subresourceRange.layerCount must be less than or equal to the arrayLayers specified in VkImageCreateInfo when image was created
If image is non-sparse then it must be bound completely and contiguously to a single VkDeviceMemory object
If srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex define a queue family ownership transfer or oldLayout and newLayout define a image layout transition, and oldLayout or newLayout is VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_OPTIMAL then image must have been created with VK_IMAGE_USAGE_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_BIT set
If srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex define a queue family ownership transfer or oldLayout and newLayout define a image layout transition, and oldLayout or newLayout is VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_DEPTH_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_OPTIMAL then image must have been created with VK_IMAGE_USAGE_DEPTH_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_BIT set
If srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex define a queue family ownership transfer or oldLayout and newLayout define a image layout transition, and oldLayout or newLayout is VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_DEPTH_STENCIL_READ_ONLY_OPTIMAL then image must have been created with VK_IMAGE_USAGE_DEPTH_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_BIT set
If srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex define a queue family ownership transfer or oldLayout and newLayout define a image layout transition, and oldLayout or newLayout is VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_SHADER_READ_ONLY_OPTIMAL then image must have been created with VK_IMAGE_USAGE_SAMPLED_BIT or VK_IMAGE_USAGE_INPUT_ATTACHMENT_BIT set
If srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex define a queue family ownership transfer or oldLayout and newLayout define a image layout transition, and oldLayout or newLayout is VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_TRANSFER_SRC_OPTIMAL then image must have been created with VK_IMAGE_USAGE_TRANSFER_SRC_BIT set
If srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex define a queue family ownership transfer or oldLayout and newLayout define a image layout transition, and oldLayout or newLayout is VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_TRANSFER_DST_OPTIMAL then image must have been created with VK_IMAGE_USAGE_TRANSFER_DST_BIT set
If srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex define a queue family ownership transfer or oldLayout and newLayout define a image layout transition, oldLayout must be VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_UNDEFINED or the current layout of the image subresources affected by the barrier
If srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex define a queue family ownership transfer or oldLayout and newLayout define a image layout transition, newLayout must not be VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_UNDEFINED or VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_PREINITIALIZED
If srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex define a queue family ownership transfer or oldLayout and newLayout define a image layout transition, and oldLayout or newLayout is VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_DEPTH_READ_ONLY_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_OPTIMAL then image must have been created with VK_IMAGE_USAGE_DEPTH_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_BIT set
If srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex define a queue family ownership transfer or oldLayout and newLayout define a image layout transition, and oldLayout or newLayout is VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_DEPTH_ATTACHMENT_STENCIL_READ_ONLY_OPTIMAL then image must have been created with VK_IMAGE_USAGE_DEPTH_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_BIT set
If srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex define a queue family ownership transfer or oldLayout and newLayout define a image layout transition, and oldLayout or newLayout is VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_DEPTH_READ_ONLY_OPTIMAL_KHR then image must have been created with at least one of VK_IMAGE_USAGE_DEPTH_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_BIT, VK_IMAGE_USAGE_SAMPLED_BIT, or VK_IMAGE_USAGE_INPUT_ATTACHMENT_BIT set
If srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex define a queue family ownership transfer or oldLayout and newLayout define a image layout transition, and oldLayout or newLayout is VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_DEPTH_ATTACHMENT_OPTIMAL_KHR then image must have been created with VK_IMAGE_USAGE_DEPTH_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_BIT set
If srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex define a queue family ownership transfer or oldLayout and newLayout define a image layout transition, and oldLayout or newLayout is VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_STENCIL_READ_ONLY_OPTIMAL_KHR then image must have been created with at least one of VK_IMAGE_USAGE_DEPTH_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_BIT, VK_IMAGE_USAGE_SAMPLED_BIT, or VK_IMAGE_USAGE_INPUT_ATTACHMENT_BIT set
If srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex define a queue family ownership transfer or oldLayout and newLayout define a image layout transition, and oldLayout or newLayout is VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_OPTIMAL_KHR then image must have been created with VK_IMAGE_USAGE_DEPTH_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_BIT set
If srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex define a queue family ownership transfer or oldLayout and newLayout define a image layout transition, and oldLayout or newLayout is VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_SHADING_RATE_OPTIMAL_NV then image must have been created with VK_IMAGE_USAGE_SHADING_RATE_IMAGE_BIT_NV set
If image has a single-plane color format or is not disjoint, then the aspectMask member of subresourceRange must be VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_COLOR_BIT
If image has a multi-planar format and the image is disjoint, then the aspectMask member of subresourceRange must include either at least one of VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_0_BIT, VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_1_BIT, and VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_2_BIT; or must include VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_COLOR_BIT
If image has a multi-planar format with only two planes, then the aspectMask member of subresourceRange must not include VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_2_BIT
If image has a depth/stencil format with both depth and stencil and the separateDepthStencilLayouts feature is enabled, then the aspectMask member of subresourceRange must include either or both VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_DEPTH_BIT and VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_STENCIL_BIT
If image has a depth/stencil format with both depth and stencil and the separateDepthStencilLayouts feature is not enabled, then the aspectMask member of subresourceRange must include both VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_DEPTH_BIT and VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_STENCIL_BIT
If srcQueueFamilyIndex is not equal to dstQueueFamilyIndex, at least one must not be a special queue family reserved for external memory ownership transfers, as described in Queue Family Ownership Transfer
If image was created with a sharing mode of VK_SHARING_MODE_CONCURRENT, srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex are not equal, and one of srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex is a special queue family values reserved for external memory transfers, the other must be VK_QUEUE_FAMILY_IGNORED
If image was created with a sharing mode of VK_SHARING_MODE_EXCLUSIVE, and srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex are not equal, srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex must both be valid queue families, or one of the special queue family values reserved for external memory transfers, as described in Queue Family Ownership Transfer
If image was created with a sharing mode of VK_SHARING_MODE_CONCURRENT, at least one of srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex must be VK_QUEUE_FAMILY_IGNORED

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_IMAGE_MEMORY_BARRIER
pNext must be NULL or a pointer to a valid instance of VkSampleLocationsInfoEXT
The sType value of each struct in the pNext chain must be unique
oldLayout must be a valid VkImageLayout value
newLayout must be a valid VkImageLayout value
image must be a valid VkImage handle
subresourceRange must be a valid VkImageSubresourceRange structure

6.7.4. Queue Family Ownership Transfer

Resources created with a VkSharingMode of VK_SHARING_MODE_EXCLUSIVE must have their ownership explicitly transferred from one queue family to another in order to access their content in a well-defined manner on a queue in a different queue family. Resources shared with external APIs or instances using external memory must also explicitly manage ownership transfers between local and external queues (or equivalent constructs in external APIs) regardless of the VkSharingMode specified when creating them. The special queue family index VK_QUEUE_FAMILY_EXTERNAL represents any queue external to the resource’s current Vulkan instance, as long as the queue uses the same underlying physical device or device group and uses the same driver version as the resource’s VkDevice, as indicated by VkPhysicalDeviceIDProperties::deviceUUID and VkPhysicalDeviceIDProperties::driverUUID. The special queue family index VK_QUEUE_FAMILY_FOREIGN_EXT represents any queue external to the resource’s current Vulkan instance, regardless of the queue’s underlying physical device or driver version. This includes, for example, queues for fixed-function image processing devices, media codec devices, and display devices, as well as all queues that use the same underlying physical device (or device group) and driver version as the resource’s VkDevice. If memory dependencies are correctly expressed between uses of such a resource between two queues in different families, but no ownership transfer is defined, the contents of that resource are undefined for any read accesses performed by the second queue family.

Note

If an application does not need the contents of a resource to remain valid when transferring from one queue family to another, then the ownership transfer should be skipped.

Note

Applications should expect transfers to/from VK_QUEUE_FAMILY_FOREIGN_EXT to be more expensive than transfers to/from VK_QUEUE_FAMILY_EXTERNAL_KHR.

A queue family ownership transfer consists of two distinct parts:

Release exclusive ownership from the source queue family
Acquire exclusive ownership for the destination queue family

An application must ensure that these operations occur in the correct order by defining an execution dependency between them, e.g. using a semaphore.

A release operation is used to release exclusive ownership of a range of a buffer or image subresource range. A release operation is defined by executing a buffer memory barrier (for a buffer range) or an image memory barrier (for an image subresource range) using vkCmdPipelineBarrier, on a queue from the source queue family. The srcQueueFamilyIndex parameter of the barrier must be set to the source queue family index, and the dstQueueFamilyIndex parameter to the destination queue family index. dstAccessMask is ignored for such a barrier, such that no visibility operation is executed - the value of this mask does not affect the validity of the barrier. The release operation happens-after the availability operation, and happens-before operations specified in the second synchronization scope of the calling command.

An acquire operation is used to acquire exclusive ownership of a range of a buffer or image subresource range. An acquire operation is defined by executing a buffer memory barrier (for a buffer range) or an image memory barrier (for an image subresource range) using vkCmdPipelineBarrier, on a queue from the destination queue family. The buffer range or image subresource range specified in an acquire operation must match exactly that of a previous release operation. The srcQueueFamilyIndex parameter of the barrier must be set to the source queue family index, and the dstQueueFamilyIndex parameter to the destination queue family index. srcAccessMask is ignored for such a barrier, such that no availability operation is executed - the value of this mask does not affect the validity of the barrier. The acquire operation happens-after operations in the first synchronization scope of the calling command, and happens-before the visibility operation.

Note

Whilst it is not invalid to provide destination or source access masks for memory barriers used for release or acquire operations, respectively, they have no practical effect. Access after a release operation has undefined results, and so visibility for those accesses has no practical effect. Similarly, write access before an acquire operation will produce undefined results for future access, so availability of those writes has no practical use. In an earlier version of the specification, these were required to match on both sides - but this was subsequently relaxed. These masks should be set to 0.

If the transfer is via an image memory barrier, and an image layout transition is desired, then the values of oldLayout and newLayout in the release operation's memory barrier must be equal to values of oldLayout and newLayout in the acquire operation's memory barrier. Although the image layout transition is submitted twice, it will only be executed once. A layout transition specified in this way happens-after the release operation and happens-before the acquire operation.

If the values of srcQueueFamilyIndex and dstQueueFamilyIndex are equal, no ownership transfer is performed, and the barrier operates as if they were both set to VK_QUEUE_FAMILY_IGNORED.

Queue family ownership transfers may perform read and write accesses on all memory bound to the image subresource or buffer range, so applications must ensure that all memory writes have been made available before a queue family ownership transfer is executed. Available memory is automatically made visible to queue family release and acquire operations, and writes performed by those operations are automatically made available.

Once a queue family has acquired ownership of a buffer range or image subresource range of a VK_SHARING_MODE_EXCLUSIVE resource, its contents are undefined to other queue families unless ownership is transferred. The contents of any portion of another resource which aliases memory that is bound to the transferred buffer or image subresource range are undefined after a release or acquire operation.

Note

Because events cannot be used directly for inter-queue synchronization, and because vkCmdSetEvent does not have the queue family index or memory barrier parameters needed by a release operation, the release and acquire operations of a queue family ownership transfer can only be performed using vkCmdPipelineBarrier.

6.8. Wait Idle Operations

To wait on the host for the completion of outstanding queue operations for a given queue, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
VkResult vkQueueWaitIdle(
    VkQueue                                     queue);

queue is the queue on which to wait.

vkQueueWaitIdle is equivalent to submitting a fence to a queue and waiting with an infinite timeout for that fence to signal.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

queue must be a valid VkQueue handle

Host Synchronization

Host access to queue must be externally synchronized

Command Properties

Command Buffer Levels	Render Pass Scope	Supported Queue Types	Pipeline Type
-	-	Any	-

Any

Return Codes

VK_SUCCESS

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST

To wait on the host for the completion of outstanding queue operations for all queues on a given logical device, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
VkResult vkDeviceWaitIdle(
    VkDevice                                    device);

device is the logical device to idle.

vkDeviceWaitIdle is equivalent to calling vkQueueWaitIdle for all queues owned by device.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle

Host Synchronization

Host access to all VkQueue objects created from device must be externally synchronized

Return Codes

VK_SUCCESS

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST

6.9. Host Write Ordering Guarantees

When batches of command buffers are submitted to a queue via a queue submission command, it defines a memory dependency with prior host operations, and execution of command buffers submitted to the queue.

The first synchronization scope is defined by the host execution model, but includes execution of vkQueueSubmit on the host and anything that happened-before it.

The second synchronization scope includes all commands submitted in the same queue submission, and all commands that occur later in submission order.

The first access scope includes all host writes to mappable device memory that are available to the host memory domain.

The second access scope includes all memory access performed by the device.

6.10. Synchronization and Multiple Physical Devices

If a logical device includes more than one physical device, then fences, semaphores, and events all still have a single instance of the signaled state.

A fence becomes signaled when all physical devices complete the necessary queue operations.

Semaphore wait and signal operations all include a device index that is the sole physical device that performs the operation. These indices are provided in the VkDeviceGroupSubmitInfo and VkDeviceGroupBindSparseInfo structures. Semaphores are not exclusively owned by any physical device. For example, a semaphore can be signaled by one physical device and then waited on by a different physical device.

An event can only be waited on by the same physical device that signaled it (or the host).

6.11. Calibrated timestamps

In order to be able to correlate the time a particular operation took place at on timelines of different time domains (e.g. a device operation vs a host operation), Vulkan allows querying calibrated timestamps from multiple time domains.

To query calibrated timestamps from a set of time domains, call:

// Provided by VK_EXT_calibrated_timestamps
VkResult vkGetCalibratedTimestampsEXT(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    uint32_t                                    timestampCount,
    const VkCalibratedTimestampInfoEXT*         pTimestampInfos,
    uint64_t*                                   pTimestamps,
    uint64_t*                                   pMaxDeviation);

device is the logical device used to perform the query.
timestampCount is the number of timestamps to query.
pTimestampInfos is a pointer to an array of timestampCount VkCalibratedTimestampInfoEXT structures, describing the time domains the calibrated timestamps should be captured from.
pTimestamps is a pointer to an array of timestampCount 64-bit unsigned integer values in which the requested calibrated timestamp values are returned.
pMaxDeviation is a pointer to a 64-bit unsigned integer value in which the strictly positive maximum deviation, in nanoseconds, of the calibrated timestamp values is returned.

Note

The maximum deviation may vary between calls to vkGetCalibratedTimestampsEXT even for the same set of time domains due to implementation and platform specific reasons. It is the application’s responsibility to assess whether the returned maximum deviation makes the timestamp values suitable for any particular purpose and can choose to re-issue the timestamp calibration call pursuing a lower devation value.

Calibrated timestamp values can be extrapolated to estimate future coinciding timestamp values, however, depending on the nature of the time domains and other properties of the platform extrapolating values over a sufficiently long period of time may no longer be accurate enough to fit any particular purpose so applications are expected to re-calibrate the timestamps on a regular basis.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
pTimestampInfos must be a valid pointer to an array of timestampCount valid VkCalibratedTimestampInfoEXT structures
pTimestamps must be a valid pointer to an array of timestampCount uint64_t values
pMaxDeviation must be a valid pointer to a uint64_t value
timestampCount must be greater than 0

Return Codes

VK_SUCCESS