Vulkan 1.4 specification released with new Apple hardware support

The Khronos Group has released the Vulkan 1.4 specification for the standard graphics API. Following this release, the Asahi Linux project announced the first Vulkan 1.4 driver for Apple hardware via its Honeykrisp driver, which has been recognized as conformant to the new version.

Additionally, the Vulkan 1.4 update includes two extensions developed by Valve's Linux graphics team to improve compatibility. One extension, VK_KHR_pipeline_library_group_handles, was developed in collaboration with AMD, Intel, NVIDIA, and Igalia. This extension aims to improve DirectX Ray-Tracing (DXR 1.1) compatibility by allowing applications to reuse pre-compiled rendering states, thereby reducing real-time compilation times.