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diff --git a/Documentation/introduction.rst b/Documentation/introduction.rst new file mode 100644 index 00000000..82aa11a3 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/introduction.rst @@ -0,0 +1,224 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-SA-4.0 + +.. include:: documentation-contents.rst + +************ +Introduction +************ + +.. toctree:: + :hidden: + + API <api-html/index> + Internal API <internal-api-html/index> + +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 +============ + +:: + + 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 + +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 |