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[media] v4l2-framework.txt: Update the locking documentation

This documents the new queue->lock and how to use it. It also removes the
documentation of v4l2_disable_ioctl_locking: this is only used in gspca and
will be removed once gspca has been converted to vb2.

Signed-off-by: Hans Verkuil <hans.verkuil@cisco.com>
Signed-off-by: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@redhat.com>
Hans Verkuil 13 years ago
parent
commit
4a77a8361f
1 changed files with 39 additions and 34 deletions
  1. 39 34
      Documentation/video4linux/v4l2-framework.txt

+ 39 - 34
Documentation/video4linux/v4l2-framework.txt

@@ -594,6 +594,15 @@ You should also set these fields:
   unlocked_ioctl file operation is called this lock will be taken by the
   unlocked_ioctl file operation is called this lock will be taken by the
   core and released afterwards. See the next section for more details.
   core and released afterwards. See the next section for more details.
 
 
+- queue: a pointer to the struct vb2_queue associated with this device node.
+  If queue is non-NULL, and queue->lock is non-NULL, then queue->lock is
+  used for the queuing ioctls (VIDIOC_REQBUFS, CREATE_BUFS, QBUF, DQBUF,
+  QUERYBUF, PREPARE_BUF, STREAMON and STREAMOFF) instead of the lock above.
+  That way the vb2 queuing framework does not have to wait for other ioctls.
+  This queue pointer is also used by the vb2 helper functions to check for
+  queuing ownership (i.e. is the filehandle calling it allowed to do the
+  operation).
+
 - prio: keeps track of the priorities. Used to implement VIDIOC_G/S_PRIORITY.
 - prio: keeps track of the priorities. Used to implement VIDIOC_G/S_PRIORITY.
   If left to NULL, then it will use the struct v4l2_prio_state in v4l2_device.
   If left to NULL, then it will use the struct v4l2_prio_state in v4l2_device.
   If you want to have a separate priority state per (group of) device node(s),
   If you want to have a separate priority state per (group of) device node(s),
@@ -647,47 +656,43 @@ manually set the struct media_entity type and name fields.
 A reference to the entity will be automatically acquired/released when the
 A reference to the entity will be automatically acquired/released when the
 video device is opened/closed.
 video device is opened/closed.
 
 
-v4l2_file_operations and locking
---------------------------------
-
-You can set a pointer to a mutex_lock in struct video_device. Usually this
-will be either a top-level mutex or a mutex per device node. By default this
-lock will be used for unlocked_ioctl, but you can disable locking for
-selected ioctls by calling:
-
-	void v4l2_disable_ioctl_locking(struct video_device *vdev, unsigned int cmd);
-
-E.g.: v4l2_disable_ioctl_locking(vdev, VIDIOC_DQBUF);
+ioctls and locking
+------------------
 
 
-You have to call this before you register the video_device.
+The V4L core provides optional locking services. The main service is the
+lock field in struct video_device, which is a pointer to a mutex. If you set
+this pointer, then that will be used by unlocked_ioctl to serialize all ioctls.
 
 
-Particularly with USB drivers where certain commands such as setting controls
-can take a long time you may want to do your own locking for the buffer queuing
-ioctls.
+If you are using the videobuf2 framework, then there is a second lock that you
+can set: video_device->queue->lock. If set, then this lock will be used instead
+of video_device->lock to serialize all queuing ioctls (see the previous section
+for the full list of those ioctls).
 
 
-If you want still finer-grained locking then you have to set mutex_lock to NULL
-and do you own locking completely.
+The advantage of using a different lock for the queuing ioctls is that for some
+drivers (particularly USB drivers) certain commands such as setting controls
+can take a long time, so you want to use a separate lock for the buffer queuing
+ioctls. That way your VIDIOC_DQBUF doesn't stall because the driver is busy
+changing the e.g. exposure of the webcam.
 
 
-It is up to the driver developer to decide which method to use. However, if
-your driver has high-latency operations (for example, changing the exposure
-of a USB webcam might take a long time), then you might be better off with
-doing your own locking if you want to allow the user to do other things with
-the device while waiting for the high-latency command to finish.
+Of course, you can always do all the locking yourself by leaving both lock
+pointers at NULL.
 
 
-If a lock is specified then all ioctl commands will be serialized on that
-lock. If you use videobuf then you must pass the same lock to the videobuf
-queue initialize function: if videobuf has to wait for a frame to arrive, then
-it will temporarily unlock the lock and relock it afterwards. If your driver
-also waits in the code, then you should do the same to allow other processes
-to access the device node while the first process is waiting for something.
+If you use the old videobuf then you must pass the video_device lock to the
+videobuf queue initialize function: if videobuf has to wait for a frame to
+arrive, then it will temporarily unlock the lock and relock it afterwards. If
+your driver also waits in the code, then you should do the same to allow other
+processes to access the device node while the first process is waiting for
+something.
 
 
 In the case of videobuf2 you will need to implement the wait_prepare and
 In the case of videobuf2 you will need to implement the wait_prepare and
-wait_finish callbacks to unlock/lock if applicable. In particular, if you use
-the lock in struct video_device then you must unlock/lock this mutex in
-wait_prepare and wait_finish.
-
-The implementation of a hotplug disconnect should also take the lock before
-calling v4l2_device_disconnect.
+wait_finish callbacks to unlock/lock if applicable. If you use the queue->lock
+pointer, then you can use the helper functions vb2_ops_wait_prepare/finish.
+
+The implementation of a hotplug disconnect should also take the lock from
+video_device before calling v4l2_device_disconnect. If you are also using
+video_device->queue->lock, then you have to first lock video_device->queue->lock
+followed by video_device->lock. That way you can be sure no ioctl is running
+when you call v4l2_device_disconnect.
 
 
 video_device registration
 video_device registration
 -------------------------
 -------------------------