diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/conf.py | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/documentation-contents.rst | 1 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/guides/introduction.rst | 62 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/index.rst | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/introduction.rst (renamed from Documentation/docs.rst) | 112 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/mali-c55.dot | 25 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/meson.build | 4 |
7 files changed, 137 insertions, 73 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/conf.py b/Documentation/conf.py index 325f2759..089f114c 100644 --- a/Documentation/conf.py +++ b/Documentation/conf.py @@ -37,8 +37,11 @@ author = u'Kieran Bingham, Jacopo Mondi, Laurent Pinchart, Niklas Söderlund' # extensions coming with Sphinx (named 'sphinx.ext.*') or your custom # ones. extensions = [ + 'sphinx.ext.graphviz' ] +graphviz_output_format = 'svg' + # Add any paths that contain templates here, relative to this directory. templates_path = [] diff --git a/Documentation/documentation-contents.rst b/Documentation/documentation-contents.rst index c7b78c43..c14389bc 100644 --- a/Documentation/documentation-contents.rst +++ b/Documentation/documentation-contents.rst @@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ * :doc:`/environment_variables` * :doc:`/feature_requirements` * :doc:`/guides/application-developer` - * :doc:`/guides/introduction` * :doc:`/guides/ipa` * :doc:`/guides/pipeline-handler` * :doc:`/guides/tracing` diff --git a/Documentation/guides/introduction.rst b/Documentation/guides/introduction.rst deleted file mode 100644 index 12d1b7d4..00000000 --- a/Documentation/guides/introduction.rst +++ /dev/null @@ -1,62 +0,0 @@ -.. SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-SA-4.0 - -.. include:: ../documentation-contents.rst - -Developers guide to libcamera -============================= - -The Linux kernel handles multimedia devices through the 'Linux media' subsystem -and provides a set of APIs (application programming interfaces) known -collectively as V4L2 (`Video for Linux 2`_) and the `Media Controller`_ API -which provide an interface to interact and control media devices. - -Included in this subsystem are drivers for camera sensors, CSI2 (Camera -Serial Interface) receivers, and ISPs (Image Signal Processors) - -The usage of these drivers to provide a functioning camera stack is a -responsibility that lies in userspace which is commonly implemented separately -by vendors without a common architecture or API for application developers. - -libcamera provides a complete camera stack for Linux based systems to abstract -functionality desired by camera application developers and process the -configuration of hardware and image control algorithms required to obtain -desirable results from the camera. - -.. _Video for Linux 2: https://www.linuxtv.org/downloads/v4l-dvb-apis-new/userspace-api/v4l/v4l2.html -.. _Media Controller: https://www.linuxtv.org/downloads/v4l-dvb-apis-new/userspace-api/mediactl/media-controller.html - - -In this developers guide the `Licensing`_ requirements of the project are -detailed. - -This introduction is followed by a walkthrough tutorial to newcomers wishing to -support a new platform with the `Pipeline Handler Writers Guide`_ and for those -looking to make use of the libcamera native API an `Application Writers Guide`_ -provides a tutorial of the key APIs exposed by libcamera. - -.. _Pipeline Handler Writers Guide: pipeline-handler.html -.. _Application Writers Guide: application-developer.html - -.. TODO: Correctly link to the other articles of the guide - -Licensing ---------- - -The libcamera core, is covered by the `LGPL-2.1-or-later`_ license. Pipeline -Handlers are a part of the libcamera code base and need to be contributed -upstream by device vendors. IPA modules included in libcamera are covered by a -free software license, however third-parties may develop IPA modules outside of -libcamera and distribute them under a closed-source license, provided they do -not include source code from the libcamera project. - -The libcamera project itself contains multiple libraries, applications and -utilities. Licenses are expressed through SPDX tags in text-based files that -support comments, and through the .reuse/dep5 file otherwise. A copy of all -licenses are stored in the LICENSES directory, and a full summary of the -licensing used throughout the project can be found in the COPYING.rst document. - -Applications which link dynamically against libcamera and use only the public -API are an independent work of the authors and have no license restrictions -imposed upon them from libcamera. - -.. _LGPL-2.1-or-later: https://spdx.org/licenses/LGPL-2.1-or-later.html diff --git a/Documentation/index.rst b/Documentation/index.rst index 95c80b4e..3a790352 100644 --- a/Documentation/index.rst +++ b/Documentation/index.rst @@ -10,13 +10,12 @@ :caption: Contents: Home <self> - Docs <docs> + Introduction <introduction> Contribute <contributing> Getting Started <getting-started> Application Writer's Guide <guides/application-developer> Camera Sensor Model <camera-sensor-model> - Developer Guide <guides/introduction> Environment variables <environment_variables> Feature Requirements <feature_requirements> IPA Writer's guide <guides/ipa> diff --git a/Documentation/docs.rst b/Documentation/introduction.rst index 67875ac1..8f96c65f 100644 --- a/Documentation/docs.rst +++ b/Documentation/introduction.rst @@ -14,12 +14,90 @@ Documentation 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. +What is libcamera? +================== + +libcamera is an open source complex camera support library for Linux, Android +and ChromeOS. The library interfaces with Linux kernel device drivers and +provides an intuitive API to developers in order to simplify the complexity +involved in capturing images from complex cameras on Linux systems. + +What is a "complex camera"? +=========================== + +A modern "camera" tends to infact be several different pieces of hardware which +must all be controlled together in order to produce and capture images of +appropriate quality. A hardware pipeline typically consists of a camera sensor +that captures raw frames and transmits them on a bus, a receiver that decodes +the bus signals, and an image signal processor that processes raw frames to +produce usable images in a standard format. The Linux kernel handles these +multimedia devices through the 'Linux media' subsystem and provides a set of +application programming interfaces known collectively as the +V4L2 (`Video for Linux 2`_) and the `Media Controller`_ APIs, which provide an +interface to interact and control media devices. + +.. _Video for Linux 2: https://www.linuxtv.org/downloads/v4l-dvb-apis-new/userspace-api/v4l/v4l2.html +.. _Media Controller: https://www.linuxtv.org/downloads/v4l-dvb-apis-new/userspace-api/mediactl/media-controller.html + +Included in this subsystem are drivers for camera sensors, CSI2 (Camera +Serial Interface) receivers, and ISPs (Image Signal Processors). + +The usage of these drivers to provide a functioning camera stack is a +responsibility that lies in userspace, and is commonly implemented separately +by vendors without a common architecture or API for application developers. This +adds a lot of complexity to the task, particularly when considering that the +differences in hardware pipelines and their representation in the kernel's APIs +often necessitate bespoke handling. + +What is libcamera for? +====================== + +libcamera provides a complete camera stack for Linux-based systems to abstract +the configuration of hardware and image control algorithms required to obtain +desirable results from the camera through the kernel's APIs, reducing those +operations to a simple and consistent method for developers. In short instead of +having to deal with this: + +.. graphviz:: mali-c55.dot + +you can instead simply deal with: + +.. code-block:: python + + >>> import libcamera as lc + >>> camera_manager = lc.CameraManager.singleton() + [0:15:59.582029920] [504] INFO Camera camera_manager.cpp:313 libcamera v0.3.0+182-01e57380 + >>> for camera in camera_manager.cameras: + ... print(f' - {camera.id}') + ... + - mali-c55 tpg + - imx415 1-001a + +The library handles the rest for you. These documentary pages give more +information on the internal workings of libcamera (and the kernel camera stack +that lies behind it) as well as guidance on using libcamera in an application or +extending the library with support for your hardware (through the pipeline +handler and IPA module writer's guides). + +How should I use it? +==================== + +There are a few ways you might want to use libcamera, depending on your +application. It's always possible to use the library directly, and you can find +detailed information on how to do so in the +:doc:`application writer's guide <guides/application-developer>`. + +It is often more appropriate to use one of the frameworks with libcamera +support. For example an application powering an embedded media device +incorporating capture, encoding and streaming of both video and audio would +benefit from using `GStreamer`_, for which libcamera provides a plugin. +Similarly an application for user-facing devices like a laptop would likely +benefit accessing cameras through the XDG camera portal and `pipewire`_, which +brings the advantages of resource sharing (multiple applications accessing the +stream at the same time) and access control. + +.. _GStreamer: https://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/ +.. _pipewire: https://pipewire.org/ Camera Stack ============ @@ -124,3 +202,25 @@ Native libcamera API followed in the :doc:`Application writer's guide </guides/application-developer>` .. _GStreamer element: https://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/documentation/application-development/basics/elements.html + +Licensing +========= + +The libcamera core is covered by the `LGPL-2.1-or-later`_ license. Pipeline +Handlers are a part of the libcamera code base and need to be contributed +upstream by device vendors. IPA modules included in libcamera are covered by a +free software license, however third-parties may develop IPA modules outside of +libcamera and distribute them under a closed-source license, provided they do +not include source code from the libcamera project. + +The libcamera project itself contains multiple libraries, applications and +utilities. Licenses are expressed through SPDX tags in text-based files that +support comments, and through the .reuse/dep5 file otherwise. A copy of all +licenses are stored in the LICENSES directory, and a full summary of the +licensing used throughout the project can be found in the COPYING.rst document. + +Applications which link dynamically against libcamera and use only the public +API are an independent work of the authors and have no license restrictions +imposed upon them from libcamera. + +.. _LGPL-2.1-or-later: https://spdx.org/licenses/LGPL-2.1-or-later.html diff --git a/Documentation/mali-c55.dot b/Documentation/mali-c55.dot new file mode 100644 index 00000000..7bfc44c0 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/mali-c55.dot @@ -0,0 +1,25 @@ +/* SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-SA-4.0 */ + +digraph board { + rankdir=TB + n00000001 [label="{{} | mali-c55 tpg\n/dev/v4l-subdev0 | {<port0> 0}}", shape=Mrecord, style=filled, fillcolor=green] + n00000001:port0 -> n00000003:port0 [style=dashed] + n00000003 [label="{{<port0> 0 | <port4> 4} | mali-c55 isp\n/dev/v4l-subdev1 | {<port1> 1 | <port2> 2 | <port3> 3}}", shape=Mrecord, style=filled, fillcolor=green] + n00000003:port1 -> n00000009:port0 [style=bold] + n00000003:port2 -> n00000009:port2 [style=bold] + n00000003:port1 -> n0000000d:port0 [style=bold] + n00000003:port3 -> n0000001c + n00000009 [label="{{<port0> 0 | <port2> 2} | mali-c55 resizer fr\n/dev/v4l-subdev2 | {<port1> 1}}", shape=Mrecord, style=filled, fillcolor=green] + n00000009:port1 -> n00000010 + n0000000d [label="{{<port0> 0} | mali-c55 resizer ds\n/dev/v4l-subdev3 | {<port1> 1}}", shape=Mrecord, style=filled, fillcolor=green] + n0000000d:port1 -> n00000014 + n00000010 [label="mali-c55 fr\n/dev/video0", shape=box, style=filled, fillcolor=yellow] + n00000014 [label="mali-c55 ds\n/dev/video1", shape=box, style=filled, fillcolor=yellow] + n00000018 [label="mali-c55 3a params\n/dev/video2", shape=box, style=filled, fillcolor=yellow] + n00000018 -> n00000003:port4 + n0000001c [label="mali-c55 3a stats\n/dev/video3", shape=box, style=filled, fillcolor=yellow] + n00000030 [label="{{<port0> 0} | lte-csi2-rx\n/dev/v4l-subdev4 | {<port1> 1}}", shape=Mrecord, style=filled, fillcolor=green] + n00000030:port1 -> n00000003:port0 + n00000035 [label="{{} | imx415 1-001a\n/dev/v4l-subdev5 | {<port0> 0}}", shape=Mrecord, style=filled, fillcolor=green] + n00000035:port0 -> n00000030:port0 [style=bold] +} diff --git a/Documentation/meson.build b/Documentation/meson.build index 54788d6d..36ffae23 100644 --- a/Documentation/meson.build +++ b/Documentation/meson.build @@ -128,18 +128,18 @@ if sphinx.found() 'coding-style.rst', 'conf.py', 'contributing.rst', - 'docs.rst', 'documentation-contents.rst', 'environment_variables.rst', 'feature_requirements.rst', 'guides/application-developer.rst', - 'guides/introduction.rst', 'guides/ipa.rst', 'guides/pipeline-handler.rst', 'guides/tracing.rst', 'index.rst', + 'introduction.rst', 'lens_driver_requirements.rst', 'libcamera_architecture.rst', + 'mali-c55.dot', 'python-bindings.rst', 'sensor_driver_requirements.rst', 'software-isp-benchmarking.rst', |