Zed Editor Linux Renderer Migration: Replacing Blade Graphics Library with wgpu for Better Cross-Platform Compatibility
By
jpeeler
3mo ago· 1 min readenCode
38/100
Stale
Bagelometer↗
Day-old at best. Try it dunked in something stronger.
Score38TypeanalysisSentimentpositive
Summary
A GitHub pull request discussion about replacing the problematic 'blade' graphics library in the Zed editor with wgpu for Linux rendering. The discussion focuses on wgpu's advantages for cross-platform compatibility, particularly on Windows where it supports multiple backends (Vulkan, DirectX12, ANGLE-based OpenGL ES/DirectX9+), potentially maximizing device compatibility with minimal effort and enabling future WebGPU/WebGL possibilities.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledwouldn't wgpu not increase the range of supported devices, specifically on windows, given the different backends it supports?
On windows it supports vulkan, DirectX12 directly, and also has a ANGLE based backend, that, if I understand correctly, would support OpenGL ES and DirectX9 and up.
using wgpu would pretty much maximize device compatibility with minimum effort, with even WebGPU or WebGL becoming a possibility...
The blade graphics library is a mess and causes several issues for both Zed users as well as other 3rd party apps using GPUI.
The blade graphics library is a mess and causes several issues for both Zed users as well as other 3rd party apps using GPUI. This PR removes blade and implements the linux platform using wgpu whic...
