Linux: WebGL not working in Chrome Browser — working fine in Firefox

[Darren Enns]

I opened a question on StackOverFlow (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/27445210/linux-webgl-not-working-in-chrome-browser-working-fine-in-firefox) and it was recommended that I ask here as well.

chrome://gpu is all 'green' suggesting WebGL should be working perfectly:

Graphics Feature Status
Canvas: Hardware accelerated
Flash: Hardware accelerated
Flash Stage3D: Hardware accelerated
Flash Stage3D Baseline profile: Hardware accelerated
Compositing: Hardware accelerated
Multiple Raster Threads: Force enabled
Rasterization: Hardware accelerated
Threaded Rasterization: Enabled
Video Decode: Hardware accelerated
Video Encode: Hardware accelerated
WebGL: Hardware accelerated

Command line args look reasonable:

--flag-switches-begin --enable-display-list-2d-canvas --ignore-gpu-blacklist --num-raster-threads=4 --flag-switches-end

...but http://webglreport.com/ doesn't like it:

This browser supports WebGL, but it is disabled or unavailable.

Platform:   Linux x86_64
Browser User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686 (x86_64)) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/39.0.2171.65 Safari/537.36

Any thoughts?  Thanks (my first post in this forum)!

[Kenneth Russell]

Please post the entire output of about:gpu. It contains important
information like exactly what kind of GPU is in your system and the
version of the graphics driver. Thanks.

-Ken

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[Darren Enns]

Will do!

Graphics Feature Status
Canvas: Hardware accelerated
Flash: Hardware accelerated
Flash Stage3D: Hardware accelerated
Flash Stage3D Baseline profile: Hardware accelerated
Compositing: Hardware accelerated
Multiple Raster Threads: Force enabled
Rasterization: Hardware accelerated
Threaded Rasterization: Enabled
Video Decode: Hardware accelerated
Video Encode: Hardware accelerated
WebGL: Hardware accelerated

Driver Bug Workarounds
clear_uniforms_before_first_program_use
disable_post_sub_buffers_for_onscreen_surfaces
scalarize_vec_and_mat_constructor_args

Problems Detected
Clear uniforms before first program use on all platforms: 124764, 349137
Applied Workarounds: clear_uniforms_before_first_program_use
Disable partial swaps on linux drivers: 339493
Applied Workarounds: disable_post_sub_buffers_for_onscreen_surfaces
Always rewrite vec/mat constructors to be consistent: 398694
Applied Workarounds: scalarize_vec_and_mat_constructor_args

Version Information
Data exported 12/12/2014 14:22:44
Chrome version Chrome/39.0.2171.65
Operating system Linux 3.11-2-amd64
Software rendering list version 0

Driver bug list version 7.7
ANGLE commit id 5af475edef3f
2D graphics backend Skia
Command Line Args --flag-switches-begin --enable-display-list-2d-canvas --ignore-gpu-blacklist --num-raster-threads=4 --flag-switches-end
Driver Information
Initialization time 335
Sandboxed true
GPU0 VENDOR = 0x0000, DEVICE= 0x0000
Optimus false
AMD switchable false
Driver vendor
Driver version
Driver date
Pixel shader version
Vertex shader version
Machine model name
Machine model version
GL_VENDOR Intel Open Source Technology Center
GL_RENDERER Mesa DRI Intel(R) G45/G43
GL_VERSION 1.4 (2.1 Mesa 9.2.2)
GL_EXTENSIONS GL_ARB_depth_texture GL_ARB_draw_buffers GL_ARB_fragment_program GL_ARB_fragment_program_shadow GL_ARB_multisample GL_ARB_multitexture GL_ARB_occlusion_query GL_ARB_point_parameters GL_ARB_point_sprite GL_ARB_shadow GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp GL_ARB_texture_compression GL_ARB_texture_cube_map GL_ARB_texture_env_add GL_ARB_texture_env_combine GL_ARB_texture_env_crossbar GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3 GL_ARB_texture_mirrored_repeat GL_ARB_texture_non_power_of_two GL_ARB_texture_rectangle GL_ARB_transpose_matrix GL_ARB_vertex_program GL_ARB_window_pos GL_EXT_abgr GL_EXT_bgra GL_EXT_blend_color GL_EXT_blend_equation_separate GL_EXT_blend_func_separate GL_EXT_blend_minmax GL_EXT_blend_subtract GL_EXT_copy_texture GL_EXT_draw_range_elements GL_EXT_fog_coord GL_EXT_framebuffer_object GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays GL_EXT_packed_pixels GL_EXT_point_parameters GL_EXT_polygon_offset GL_EXT_rescale_normal GL_EXT_secondary_color GL_EXT_separate_specular_color GL_EXT_shadow_funcs GL_EXT_stencil_two_side GL_EXT_stencil_wrap GL_EXT_subtexture GL_EXT_texture GL_EXT_texture3D GL_EXT_texture_compression_dxt1 GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc GL_EXT_texture_edge_clamp GL_EXT_texture_env_add GL_EXT_texture_env_combine GL_EXT_texture_env_dot3 GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias GL_EXT_texture_object GL_EXT_texture_rectangle GL_EXT_vertex_array GL_3DFX_texture_compression_FXT1 GL_APPLE_packed_pixels GL_ATI_draw_buffers GL_ATI_texture_env_combine3 GL_ATIX_texture_env_combine3 GL_IBM_texture_mirrored_repeat GL_INGR_blend_func_separate GL_MESA_pack_invert GL_MESA_ycbcr_texture GL_NV_blend_square GL_NV_depth_clamp GL_NV_light_max_exponent GL_NV_texgen_reflection GL_NV_texture_env_combine4 GL_NV_texture_rectangle GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap GL_SGIS_texture_border_clamp GL_SGIS_texture_edge_clamp GL_SGIS_texture_lod GL_SUN_multi_draw_arrays
Window system binding vendor SGI
Window system binding version 1.4
Window system binding extensions GLX_ARB_create_context GLX_ARB_create_context_profile GLX_ARB_multisample GLX_EXT_create_context_es2_profile GLX_EXT_import_context GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap GLX_EXT_visual_info GLX_EXT_visual_rating GLX_MESA_copy_sub_buffer GLX_OML_swap_method GLX_SGI_swap_control GLX_SGIS_multisample GLX_SGIX_fbconfig GLX_SGIX_pbuffer GLX_SGIX_visual_select_group GLX_INTEL_swap_event
Window manager Mutter (Muffin)
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP GNOME
GDMSESSION default
Compositing manager Yes
Direct rendering No
Reset notification strategy 0x0000
GPU process crash count 0

Log Messages
[6807:6807:1211/150545:ERROR:context_group.cc(150)] : ContextGroup::Initialize failed because too few texture units supported.
[6807:6807:1211/150545:ERROR:gles2_cmd_decoder.cc(2418)] : GpuScheduler::InitializeCommon failed because group failed to initialize.
...(many repeats)...

[Kenneth Russell]

I think you may be running into crbug.com/415681 . Please try the
workaround there of setting the environment variable
LIBGL_DRI3_DISABLE=1. Does that help?

-Ken

[Darren Enns]

Thanks for trying to help, Ken!  Nope, this does not appear to make any difference.  I don't see any 'crash' errors either.  When I start Chrome, lots of error messages are spouted to the console.  I have no idea if any are useful, but this one looked a bit 3D-ish to me:

[11965:11965:1212/171530:ERROR:webgraphicscontext3d_command_buffer_impl.cc(200)] CommandBufferProxy::Initialize failed.
[11965:11965:1212/171530:ERROR:webgraphicscontext3d_command_buffer_impl.cc(217)] Failed to initialize command buffer.

Dare

[Kenneth Russell]

Sorry that didn't help. I think you should upgrade either your Linux
distribution or graphics driver. It shouldn't be necessary to pass
--ignore-gpu-blacklist in order to get WebGL working on Intel GPUs on
Linux any more, but the older Mesa versions (including the one you're
using) are deliberately blacklisted because they're not stable enough.
I can't recommend you file a bug about this because it'll just be
closed; --ignore-gpu-blacklist isn't a supported configuration.

-Ken

[Darren Enns]

Thanks for your help and advise!  The strange thing is that I recall this working just fine (?) in earlier versions of Chrome on the same machine...

Dare

[Darren Enns]

Ken:

I thought I should let you know that, just for amusement, I tried to use WebGL on Chromium browsers (rather than Chrome) on my same machine -- and it works!  Should I be surprised by this?  

Dare

[Zhenyao Mo]

"ContextGroup::Initializefailed because too few texture units supported."

I don't remember we ever lift that limitation in chrome, so I can't
explain why chromium worked but not chrome.

Can you also share the about:gpu content on the chromium where WebGL works?

[Darren Enns]

Sure!

Graphics Feature Status
Canvas: Software only, hardware acceleration unavailable
Compositing: Hardware accelerated
3D CSS: Hardware accelerated
CSS Animation: Accelerated
WebGL: Hardware accelerated
WebGL multisampling: Hardware accelerated
Flash 3D: Hardware accelerated
Flash Stage3D: Unavailable. Hardware acceleration unavailable
Flash Stage3D Baseline profile: Unavailable. Hardware acceleration unavailable
Texture Sharing: Hardware accelerated
Video Decode: Software only, hardware acceleration unavailable
Video: Hardware accelerated

Problems Detected
Accelerated 2d canvas is unstable in Linux at the moment.
Stage3D is not supported on Linux.: 129848
Accelerated video decode is unavailable on Mac and Linux.: 137247, 133828
Force compositing mode is off, either disabled at the command line or not supported by the current system.

Driver Bug Workarounds
clear_alpha_in_readpixels
disable_ext_occlusion_query
set_texture_filter_before_generating_mipmap

Version Information
Data exported 12/19/2014 2:54:57 PM
Chrome version Chrome/31.0.1650.63
Operating system Linux 3.11-2-amd64
Software rendering list version 6.11
Driver bug list version 2.22
ANGLE revision 2446
2D graphics backend Skia

Driver Information
Initialization time 256
Sandboxed true
GPU0 VENDOR = 0x8086, DEVICE= 0x2e22

Optimus false
AMD switchable false

Driver vendor Mesa
Driver version 9.2.2
Driver date
Pixel shader version 1.20
Vertex shader version 1.20
Machine model
GL version 2.1

GL_VENDOR Intel Open Source Technology Center
GL_RENDERER Mesa DRI Intel(R) G45/

G43
GL_VERSION 2.1 Mesa 9.2.2
GL_EXTENSIONS GL_ARB_multisample GL_EXT_abgr GL_EXT_bgra GL_EXT_blend_color GL_EXT_blend_minmax GL_EXT_blend_subtract GL_EXT_copy_texture GL_EXT_polygon_offset GL_EXT_subtexture GL_EXT_texture_object GL_EXT_vertex_array GL_EXT_compiled_vertex_array GL_EXT_texture GL_EXT_texture3D GL_IBM_rasterpos_clip GL_ARB_point_parameters GL_EXT_draw_range_elements GL_EXT_packed_pixels GL_EXT_point_parameters GL_EXT_rescale_normal GL_EXT_separate_specular_color GL_EXT_texture_edge_clamp GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap GL_SGIS_texture_border_clamp GL_SGIS_texture_edge_clamp GL_SGIS_texture_lod GL_ARB_framebuffer_sRGB GL_ARB_multitexture GL_EXT_framebuffer_sRGB GL_IBM_multimode_draw_arrays GL_IBM_texture_mirrored_repeat GL_3DFX_texture_compression_FXT1 GL_ARB_texture_cube_map GL_ARB_texture_env_add GL_ARB_transpose_matrix GL_EXT_blend_func_separate GL_EXT_fog_coord GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays GL_EXT_secondary_color GL_EXT_texture_env_add GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias GL_INGR_blend_func_separate GL_NV_blend_square GL_NV_light_max_exponent GL_NV_texgen_reflection GL_NV_texture_env_combine4 GL_S3_s3tc GL_SUN_multi_draw_arrays GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp GL_ARB_texture_compression GL_EXT_framebuffer_object GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc GL_EXT_texture_env_combine GL_EXT_texture_env_dot3 GL_MESA_window_pos GL_NV_packed_depth_stencil GL_NV_texture_rectangle GL_ARB_depth_texture GL_ARB_occlusion_query GL_ARB_shadow GL_ARB_texture_env_combine GL_ARB_texture_env_crossbar GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3 GL_ARB_texture_mirrored_repeat GL_ARB_window_pos GL_ATI_envmap_bumpmap GL_EXT_stencil_two_side GL_EXT_texture_cube_map GL_NV_depth_clamp GL_APPLE_packed_pixels GL_APPLE_vertex_array_object GL_ARB_draw_buffers GL_ARB_fragment_program GL_ARB_fragment_shader GL_ARB_shader_objects GL_ARB_vertex_program GL_ARB_vertex_shader GL_ATI_draw_buffers GL_ATI_texture_env_combine3 GL_ATI_texture_float GL_EXT_shadow_funcs GL_EXT_stencil_wrap GL_MESA_pack_invert GL_MESA_ycbcr_texture GL_NV_primitive_restart GL_ARB_depth_clamp GL_ARB_fragment_program_shadow GL_ARB_half_float_pixel GL_ARB_occlusion_query2 GL_ARB_point_sprite GL_ARB_shading_language_100 GL_ARB_sync GL_ARB_texture_non_power_of_two GL_ARB_vertex_buffer_object GL_ATI_blend_equation_separate GL_EXT_blend_equation_separate GL_OES_read_format GL_ARB_color_buffer_float GL_ARB_pixel_buffer_object GL_ARB_texture_compression_rgtc GL_ARB_texture_float GL_ARB_texture_rectangle GL_EXT_packed_float GL_EXT_pixel_buffer_object GL_EXT_texture_compression_dxt1 GL_EXT_texture_compression_rgtc GL_EXT_texture_rectangle GL_EXT_texture_sRGB GL_EXT_texture_shared_exponent GL_ARB_framebuffer_object GL_EXT_framebuffer_blit GL_EXT_packed_depth_stencil GL_APPLE_object_purgeable GL_ARB_vertex_array_object GL_ATI_separate_stencil GL_EXT_draw_buffers2 GL_EXT_draw_instanced GL_EXT_gpu_program_parameters GL_EXT_texture_array GL_EXT_texture_integer GL_EXT_texture_sRGB_decode GL_OES_EGL_image GL_MESA_texture_array GL_ARB_copy_buffer GL_ARB_depth_buffer_float GL_ARB_draw_instanced GL_ARB_half_float_vertex GL_ARB_instanced_arrays GL_ARB_map_buffer_range GL_ARB_texture_rg GL_ARB_texture_swizzle GL_ARB_vertex_array_bgra GL_EXT_separate_shader_objects GL_EXT_texture_swizzle GL_EXT_vertex_array_bgra GL_NV_conditional_render GL_ARB_ES2_compatibility GL_ARB_debug_output GL_ARB_draw_elements_base_vertex GL_ARB_explicit_attrib_location GL_ARB_fragment_coord_conventions GL_ARB_provoking_vertex GL_ARB_sampler_objects GL_ARB_seamless_cube_map GL_ARB_shader_texture_lod GL_ARB_texture_rgb10_a2ui GL_ARB_vertex_type_2_10_10_10_rev GL_EXT_provoking_vertex GL_EXT_texture_snorm GL_MESA_texture_signed_rgba GL_ARB_get_program_binary GL_ARB_robustness GL_ARB_shader_bit_encoding GL_ANGLE_texture_compression_dxt3 GL_ANGLE_texture_compression_dxt5 GL_ARB_internalformat_query GL_ARB_texture_storage GL_ARB_invalidate_subdata

Window system binding vendor SGI
Window system binding version 1.4
Window system binding extensions GLX_ARB_create_context GLX_ARB_create_context_profile GLX_ARB_multisample GLX_EXT_create_context_es2_profile GLX_EXT_import_context GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap GLX_EXT_visual_info GLX_EXT_visual_rating GLX_MESA_copy_sub_buffer GLX_OML_swap_method GLX_SGI_swap_control GLX_SGIS_multisample GLX_SGIX_fbconfig GLX_SGIX_pbuffer GLX_SGIX_visual_select_group GLX_INTEL_swap_event

Reset notification strategy 0x8261

[Zhenyao Mo]

There are slight difference in the about:gpu content.

For one, with chrome, the GPU's PCI id collection failed. For two,
GL_VERSION strings are slightly different.

Honestly I have no idea what triggered the different behaviors.

[Zhenyao Mo]

So I noticed when you run chromium, you didn't pass in any commandline
switches. Have you tried no commandline switches with chrome?

[Darren Enns]

Hmmm...actually I do not know how to start Chrome without any commandline switches.  If I do this, it still seems to read them from somewhere:

/opt/google/chrome/chrome

Dare

[Kenneth Russell]

It's probably picking up about:flags settings from your user data
directory of ~/.config/google-chrome .

-Ken

[Darren Enns]

Ken, you are correct.  However running with no options provides no hardware acceleration at all -- and the appropriate (only?) way to fix this is to adjust the 'Override software rendering list' option, which then activates the '--ignore-gpu-blacklist ' option on the command line :(

Dare

[Darren Enns]

UPDATE: WebGL now works on my PC for the Chrome browser!

Platform: Linux x86_64

Browser User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/40.0.2214.111 Safari/537.36

So I guess there was more work being done to support my older GPU?  Or possibly my graphics drivers were updated?  In any case, I am pleased -- since I now have the same '3D' functionality that I desire in both Firefox and Chrome :)

[Kenneth Russell]

Glad it's working. A new graphics driver sounds likely. Not sure if
any changes went into Chrome that would have enabled your GPU.

-Ken