libagl alphaPlaneWorkaround error messages in LogCat

Question

I have recently noticed, while debugging an app, that LogCat reports numerous error ("E") messages with pid=92, tag=libagl and Message="uses alphaPlaneWorkaround".

The messages appear when my app's screen is redrawn, for example when it is scrolled.

I am using Android 2.1. I realized that these messages started appearing after I had turned on Animations in the phone's Sound & Display settings, and testing indicates that they appear if either the "All animations" or the "Some animations" option is selected and that they do not appear if I choose "No animations."

What causes these messages? Do they indicate a bug in my app or are they caused by the operating system?

Answer 1

The message is more of a debug message than an error. Chances are that the developer simply used the wrong log level, or it is their practice to flag software workarounds to highlight hardware/driver issues.

I noticed that a recent firmware update on Samsung devices introduced a lot of new logcat messages including battery charge errors that weren't previously there. In fact the latest firmware appears to have introduced more errors than it solves so I am now considering rolling my own firmware (if I get time).

Unless you are spcifically calling other processes and it's not tagged with your application's PID then probably safe to ignore it.