How to install Vulkan API support on Linux?

Vulkan is a cross-platform API for developing applications with 3D graphics. It was first announced at the 2015 GDC by the Khronos Group. Initially, it was presented by Khronos as "the next generation OpenGL initiative", but later the name was dropped, leaving Vulkan as final.

Vulkan is based on Mantle, another API from the AMD company, whose code was given to Khronos with the intention of generating an open standard similar to OpenGL, but at a low level.

Its main feature is that it can take advantage of the number of cores present in the main processor of PCs, dramatically increasing graphics performance.

Vulkan is intended to provide a variety of advantages over other APIs, as well as its predecessor, OpenGL. Vulkan offers less overhead, more direct control over the GPU, and lower CPU usage. The general concept and feature set of Vulkan is similar to Directx 12, Metal, and Mantle.

Installing Vulkan on Linux

Before proceeding to the installation, It is important to do your research on Vulkan compatibility with your GPU as not all models are supported. This is at your own expense and you should head to your GPU manufacturer's website and look up the compatibility specs.

It is also necessary to have the latest stable video drivers in our distribution, where you can use both open and private controllers here, it's a matter of taste.

Installation on Debian

For those who are users of Debian or any other distribution based on it, You must run one of the following commands to install Vulkan to your system.

For those who are AMD GPU users:

sudo apt install libvulkan1 mesa-vulkan-drivers vulkan-utils

Now for those of you who are Nvidia GPU users:

sudo apt install vulkan-utils

Installation in Ubuntu and derivatives

Those who are users of Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Elementary OS or any other derivative of Ubuntu. They can perform the installation in a way that is quite similar to Debian, only here we will use repositories for it.

First for whoever they are AMD GPU users should add the following repository:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

I have installed later with:

sudo apt install libvulkan1 mesa-vulkan-drivers vulkan-utils

Now for whoever Nvidia GPU users just add this repository:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

And then we install with:

sudo apt install nvidia-graphics-drivers-396 nvidia-settings vulkan vulkan-utils

Installation on Fedora

For those who are Fedora users as well as distributions derived from it. You can install the Vulkan API on your system by following the instructions according to your GPU.
Those with AMD GPUs should run the following command:

sudo dnf install vulkan vulkan-info

Users with Nvidia GPUs should run the following in the terminal:

sudo dnf install https://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm https://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm

And later, to install the Vulkan graphics API, we are going to execute the following in the terminal:

sudo dnf install xorg-x11-drv-nvidia akmod-nvidia vulkan vulkan-tools

Installation in openSUSE

In the case of those who are users of any version of openSUSE, we are going to install the Vulkan API by executing the following in the terminal.
AMD GPU Users:

sudo zypper in vulkan libvulkan1 vulkan-utils mesa-vulkan-drivers

Nvidia GPU users:

sudo zypper in vulkan libvulkan1 vulkan-utils

Installation on Arch Linux and derivatives

Finally, for those who are users of Arch Linux, Manjaro Linux, Antergos or any other derivative of Arch Linux, they will be able to install this API in the following way.

In the specific case of this Linux distribution, you should know that the installation of the video drivers of your GPUs is a little different from what can be done in other distributions.

As you know, in the case of AMD GPUs, there are Radeon or AMDGPU Pro packages, so here we have several options for the Vulkan API.

First for those who have Intel GPUs they are going to install the following:

sudo pacman -S vulkan-intel

Now for AMD GPU users, but with Radeon drivers install the following:

sudo pacman -S vulkan-radeon

In the other case from AMD but using the AMDGPU Pro drivers, this will be done from AUR.

yay -S amdgpu-pro-vulkan

Finally, to verify the installation we execute:

glxinfo | grep -i vulkan