C Specification

To create a pipe object, call the function

// Provided by CL_VERSION_2_0
cl_mem clCreatePipe(
    cl_context context,
    cl_mem_flags flags,
    cl_uint pipe_packet_size,
    cl_uint pipe_max_packets,
    const cl_pipe_properties* properties,
    cl_int* errcode_ret);
clCreatePipe is missing before version 2.0.

Parameters

  • context is a valid OpenCL context used to create the pipe object.

  • flags is a bit-field that is used to specify allocation and usage information such as the memory arena that should be used to allocate the pipe object and how it will be used. The Memory Flags table describes the possible values for flags. Only CL_MEM_READ_WRITE and CL_MEM_HOST_NO_ACCESS can be specified when creating a pipe object. If the value specified for flags is 0, the default is used which is CL_MEM_READ_WRITE | CL_MEM_HOST_NO_ACCESS.

  • pipe_packet_size is the size in bytes of a pipe packet.

  • pipe_max_packets specifies the pipe capacity by specifying the maximum number of packets the pipe can hold.

  • properties specifies a list of properties for the pipe and their corresponding values. Each property name is immediately followed by the corresponding desired value. The list is terminated with 0. Currently, in all OpenCL versions, properties must be NULL.

  • errcode_ret will return an appropriate error code. If errcode_ret is NULL, no error code is returned.

Description

clCreatePipe returns a valid non-zero pipe object and errcode_ret is set to CL_SUCCESS if the pipe object is created successfully. Otherwise, it returns a NULL value with one of the following error values returned in errcode_ret:

  • CL_INVALID_CONTEXT if context is not a valid context.

  • CL_INVALID_OPERATION if no devices in context support pipes.

  • CL_INVALID_VALUE if values specified in flags are not as defined above.

  • CL_INVALID_VALUE if properties is not NULL.

  • CL_INVALID_PIPE_SIZE if pipe_packet_size is 0 or the pipe_packet_size exceeds CL_DEVICE_PIPE_MAX_PACKET_SIZE value specified in the Device Queries table for all devices in context or if pipe_max_packets is 0.

  • CL_MEM_OBJECT_ALLOCATION_FAILURE if there is a failure to allocate memory for the pipe object.

  • CL_OUT_OF_RESOURCES if there is a failure to allocate resources required by the OpenCL implementation on the device.

  • CL_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY if there is a failure to allocate resources required by the OpenCL implementation on the host.

  • CL_INVALID_VALUE if CL_MEM_IMMUTABLE_EXT is set in flags.

Pipes follow the same memory consistency model as defined for buffer and image objects. The pipe state i.e. contents of the pipe across kernel-instances (on the same or different devices) is enforced at a synchronization point.

See Also

CL_VERSION_2_0, cl_context, cl_int, cl_mem_flags, cl_pipe_properties, cl_uint

Document Notes

For more information, see the OpenCL Specification

This page is extracted from the OpenCL Specification. Fixes and changes should be made to the Specification, not directly.

Copyright

Copyright 2014-2025 The Khronos Group Inc.

SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-4.0