vkDestroyPipelineLayout

vkDestroyPipeline is a Vulkan API function used to release the resources associated with a previously created VkPipeline object. When a pipeline is no longer needed, it is essential to destroy it to prevent memory leaks and free up GPU resources. The function takes two arguments: a pointer to a VkDevice and the VkPipeline object to be destroyed.

The VkPipeline object represents a complete graphics or compute pipeline state. Creating pipelines can be a resource-intensive operation, involving the compilation of shaders, state setup, and other configurations. Therefore, it's important to manage these objects efficiently. vkDestroyPipeline deallocates the memory and releases any GPU-specific resources that were allocated for the pipeline.

It is crucial to ensure that a pipeline is not being used by any active command buffers when vkDestroyPipeline is called. Destroying a pipeline that is currently in use can lead to undefined behavior, including crashes or corrupted rendering. Applications should typically wait for all outstanding operations that might reference the pipeline to complete before attempting to destroy it.

The return value of vkDestroyPipeline is a VkResult, which indicates whether the operation was successful or if an error occurred. Common success codes include VK_SUCCESS. If the function fails, it will return an appropriate error code. Proper error handling is recommended to ensure application stability. Once vkDestroyPipeline is called, the VkPipeline handle becomes invalid and should not be used further.