3.10. Error Handling

Compilers accept some ill-formed programs because it is impossible to detect all ill-formed programs. For example, completely accurate detection of usage of an uninitialized variable is not possible. Such ill-formed shaders may execute differently on different platforms. Therefore, the OpenGL Shading Language specification states that portability is ensured only for well-formed programs.

OpenGL Shading Language compilers should detect ill-formed programs and issue diagnostic messages but are not required to do so for all cases. Compilers are required to return messages regarding shaders that are lexically, grammatically, or semantically incorrect. Shaders that generate such error messages cannot be executed. The OpenGL entry points for obtaining any diagnostic messages are discussed in Section 7.6.