vkGetShaderBinaryDataEXT

Binary shader code can be retrieved from a shader object using the command:

VkResult vkGetShaderBinaryDataEXT(
    VkDevice device,
    VkShaderEXT shader,
    size_t* pDataSize,
    void* pData);

• device is the logical device that shader object was created from.
• shader is the shader object to retrieve binary shader code from.
• pDataSize is a pointer to a size_t value related to the size of the binary shader code, as described below.
• pData is either NULL or a pointer to a buffer.

If pData is NULL, then the size of the binary shader code of the shader object, in bytes, is returned in pDataSize. Otherwise, pDataSize must point to a variable set by the application to the size of the buffer, in bytes, pointed to by pData, and on return the variable is overwritten with the amount of data actually written to pData. If pDataSize is less than the size of the binary shader code, nothing is written to pData, and VK_INCOMPLETE will be returned instead of VK_SUCCESS.

Binary shader code retrieved using vkGetShaderBinaryDataEXT can be passed to a subsequent call to vkCreateShadersEXT on a compatible physical device by specifying VK_SHADER_CODE_TYPE_BINARY_EXT in the codeType member of VkShaderCreateInfoEXT.

The shader code returned by repeated calls to this function with the same VkShaderEXT is guaranteed to be invariant for the lifetime of the VkShaderEXT object.