Why is volk.c so big?

[ewtoombs]

I was expecting to find just two lines:

#define VOLK_IMPLEMENTATION
#include <volk.h>

What is all of this other stuff in volk.c?

[zeux]

It's the actual implementation? volk is not a header only library.

[ewtoombs]

You can use volk in header-only fashion. Include volk.h wherever you want to use Vulkan functions. In exactly one source file, define VOLK_IMPLEMENTATION before including volk.h. Do not build volk.c at all in this case. This method of integrating volk makes it possible to set the platform defines mentioned above with arbitrary (preprocessor) logic in your code.

[zeux]

Yes, and the way that works is by volk.h including volk.c, not the other way around. This is because volk is not a header-only library, and the recommended way to use volk is to compile volk.c - the header-only mode is "special" and only activated via the use of VOLK_IMPLEMENTATION macro.

[ewtoombs]

Ohhh, so even if volk.h is being used header-only and volk.c is not being compiled on its own, it must still be in the same directory. This was not clear from the README.

It should be modified to read something like

You can use volk in header-only fashion. Include volk.h wherever you want to use Vulkan functions. In exactly one source file, define VOLK_IMPLEMENTATION before including volk.h. Do not build volk.c at all in this case. volk.c must still be in the same directory as volk.h. This method of integrating volk makes it possible to set the platform defines mentioned above with arbitrary (preprocessor) logic in your code.

[zeux]

Yup - that's a good suggestion, thanks!