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authorDaniel Scally <dan.scally@ideasonboard.com>2024-08-20 14:07:37 +0100
committerLaurent Pinchart <laurent.pinchart@ideasonboard.com>2024-08-21 01:35:44 +0300
commit860a3e30319cbdb66700ceab1071dcec594b3313 (patch)
tree47e80b42a85746d0adb805aa88e83165ac3f46b1 /Documentation/docs.rst
parent3fe819eecfc6fce45aed35708affb3aa8fa1095e (diff)
Documentation: Rework docs.rst into introduction.rst
docs.rst is the landing page for the documentation from the libcamera website, but isn't particularly introductory. Move much of the content from guides/introduction.rst to docs.rst, which will serve as the new introductory page. Remove guides/introduction.rst. Reviewed-by: Laurent Pinchart <laurent.pinchart@ideasonboard.com> Signed-off-by: Daniel Scally <dan.scally@ideasonboard.com> Signed-off-by: Laurent Pinchart <laurent.pinchart@ideasonboard.com>
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-.. SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-SA-4.0
-
-.. contents::
- :local:
-
-.. include:: documentation-contents.rst
-
-*************
-Documentation
-*************
-
-.. toctree::
- :hidden:
-
- API <api-html/index>
-
-API
-===
-
-The libcamera API is extensively documented using Doxygen. The :ref:`API
-nightly build <api>` contains the most up-to-date API documentation, built from
-the latest master branch.
-
-Camera Stack
-============
-
-::
-
- a c / +-------------+ +-------------+ +-------------+ +-------------+
- p a | | Native | | Framework | | Native | | Android |
- p t | | V4L2 | | Application | | libcamera | | Camera |
- l i | | Application | | (gstreamer) | | Application | | Framework |
- i o \ +-------------+ +-------------+ +-------------+ +-------------+
- n ^ ^ ^ ^
- | | | |
- l a | | | |
- i d v v | v
- b a / +-------------+ +-------------+ | +-------------+
- c p | | V4L2 | | Camera | | | Android |
- a t | | Compat. | | Framework | | | Camera |
- m a | | | | (gstreamer) | | | HAL |
- e t \ +-------------+ +-------------+ | +-------------+
- r i ^ ^ | ^
- a o | | | |
- n | | | |
- / | ,................................................
- | | ! : Language : !
- l f | | ! : Bindings : !
- i r | | ! : (optional) : !
- b a | | \...............................................'
- c m | | | | |
- a e | | | | |
- m w | v v v v
- e o | +----------------------------------------------------------------+
- r r | | |
- a k | | libcamera |
- | | |
- \ +----------------------------------------------------------------+
- ^ ^ ^
- Userspace | | |
- ------------------------ | ---------------- | ---------------- | ---------------
- Kernel | | |
- v v v
- +-----------+ +-----------+ +-----------+
- | Media | <--> | Video | <--> | V4L2 |
- | Device | | Device | | Subdev |
- +-----------+ +-----------+ +-----------+
-
-The camera stack comprises four software layers. From bottom to top:
-
-* The kernel drivers control the camera hardware and expose a
- low-level interface to userspace through the Linux kernel V4L2
- family of APIs (Media Controller API, V4L2 Video Device API and
- V4L2 Subdev API).
-
-* The libcamera framework is the core part of the stack. It
- handles all control of the camera devices in its core component,
- libcamera, and exposes a native C++ API to upper layers. Optional
- language bindings allow interfacing to libcamera from other
- programming languages.
-
- Those components live in the same source code repository and
- all together constitute the libcamera framework.
-
-* The libcamera adaptation is an umbrella term designating the
- components that interface to libcamera in other frameworks.
- Notable examples are a V4L2 compatibility layer, a gstreamer
- libcamera element, and an Android camera HAL implementation based
- on libcamera.
-
- Those components can live in the libcamera project source code
- in separate repositories, or move to their respective project's
- repository (for instance the gstreamer libcamera element).
-
-* The applications and upper level frameworks are based on the
- libcamera framework or libcamera adaptation, and are outside of
- the scope of the libcamera project.
-
-V4L2 Compatibility Layer
- V4L2 compatibility is achieved through a shared library that traps all
- accesses to camera devices and routes them to libcamera to emulate high-level
- V4L2 camera devices. It is injected in a process address space through
- ``LD_PRELOAD`` and is completely transparent for applications.
-
- The compatibility layer exposes camera device features on a best-effort basis,
- and aims for the level of features traditionally available from a UVC camera
- designed for video conferencing.
-
-Android Camera HAL
- Camera support for Android is achieved through a generic Android camera HAL
- implementation on top of libcamera. The HAL implements features required by
- Android and out of scope from libcamera, such as JPEG encoding support.
-
- This component is used to provide support for ChromeOS platforms.
-
-GStreamer element (gstlibcamerasrc)
- A `GStreamer element`_ is provided to allow capture from libcamera supported
- devices through GStreamer pipelines, and connect to other elements for further
- processing.
-
-Native libcamera API
- Applications can make use of the libcamera API directly using the C++
- API. An example application and walkthrough using the libcamera API can be
- followed in the :doc:`Application writer's guide </guides/application-developer>`
-
-.. _GStreamer element: https://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/documentation/application-development/basics/elements.html