[BUG] macOS - Shader error when drawing normals: "Uniform blocks may not have identifiers in GLSL 140"
Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2026 3:19 pm
Hello CloudCompare team,
I am reporting a shader compilation error on macOS (Apple Silicon) when enabling the "Draw normals as lines" feature in the latest beta. This issue makes the normals invisible and triggers a constant error popup.
System Specifications:
Thank you for your help!
I am reporting a shader compilation error on macOS (Apple Silicon) when enabling the "Draw normals as lines" feature in the latest beta. This issue makes the normals invisible and triggers a constant error popup.
System Specifications:
- OS: macOS 26.3 (Build 25D125)
Hardware: MacBook Pro - Apple M1 Pro (16 GB RAM)
CloudCompare Version: v2.14.beta (Jan 28 2026) - 64-bit
- Load a point cloud.
Compute normals for the cloud (Edit > Normals > Compute).
Select the cloud in the DB Tree.
In the Properties panel, under "Normals", check the box "Draw".
An error popup immediately appears and the console logs the following:
Code: Select all
ERROR: 0:8: ';': syntax error: Uniform blocks may not have identifiers in GLSL 140
[getGLDepth] OpenGL error: invalid operation
[Qt WARNING] [] QWidget::repaint: Recursive repaint detected
Technical Note:
The error Uniform blocks may not have identifiers in GLSL 140 suggests that the shader code is using named uniform blocks (e.g., layout(std140) uniform BlockName { ... } instanceName;), which is a syntax rejected by the Apple Silicon OpenGL driver for GLSL 140.