267 lines
9.4 KiB
ReStructuredText
Executable file
267 lines
9.4 KiB
ReStructuredText
Executable file
Media Controller devices
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------------------------
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Media Controller
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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The media controller userspace API is documented in
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:ref:`the Media Controller uAPI book <media_controller>`. This document focus
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on the kernel-side implementation of the media framework.
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Abstract media device model
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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Discovering a device internal topology, and configuring it at runtime, is one
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of the goals of the media framework. To achieve this, hardware devices are
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modelled as an oriented graph of building blocks called entities connected
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through pads.
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An entity is a basic media hardware building block. It can correspond to
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a large variety of logical blocks such as physical hardware devices
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(CMOS sensor for instance), logical hardware devices (a building block
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in a System-on-Chip image processing pipeline), DMA channels or physical
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connectors.
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A pad is a connection endpoint through which an entity can interact with
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other entities. Data (not restricted to video) produced by an entity
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flows from the entity's output to one or more entity inputs. Pads should
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not be confused with physical pins at chip boundaries.
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A link is a point-to-point oriented connection between two pads, either
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on the same entity or on different entities. Data flows from a source
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pad to a sink pad.
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Media device
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^^^^^^^^^^^^
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A media device is represented by a struct :c:type:`media_device`
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instance, defined in ``include/media/media-device.h``.
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Allocation of the structure is handled by the media device driver, usually by
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embedding the :c:type:`media_device` instance in a larger driver-specific
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structure.
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Drivers register media device instances by calling
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:c:func:`__media_device_register()` via the macro ``media_device_register()``
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and unregistered by calling :c:func:`media_device_unregister()`.
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Entities
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^^^^^^^^
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Entities are represented by a struct :c:type:`media_entity`
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instance, defined in ``include/media/media-entity.h``. The structure is usually
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embedded into a higher-level structure, such as
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:c:type:`v4l2_subdev` or :c:type:`video_device`
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instances, although drivers can allocate entities directly.
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Drivers initialize entity pads by calling
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:c:func:`media_entity_pads_init()`.
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Drivers register entities with a media device by calling
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:c:func:`media_device_register_entity()`
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and unregistred by calling
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:c:func:`media_device_unregister_entity()`.
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Interfaces
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^^^^^^^^^^
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Interfaces are represented by a
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struct :c:type:`media_interface` instance, defined in
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``include/media/media-entity.h``. Currently, only one type of interface is
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defined: a device node. Such interfaces are represented by a
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struct :c:type:`media_intf_devnode`.
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Drivers initialize and create device node interfaces by calling
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:c:func:`media_devnode_create()`
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and remove them by calling:
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:c:func:`media_devnode_remove()`.
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Pads
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^^^^
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Pads are represented by a struct :c:type:`media_pad` instance,
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defined in ``include/media/media-entity.h``. Each entity stores its pads in
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a pads array managed by the entity driver. Drivers usually embed the array in
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a driver-specific structure.
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Pads are identified by their entity and their 0-based index in the pads
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array.
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Both information are stored in the struct :c:type:`media_pad`,
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making the struct :c:type:`media_pad` pointer the canonical way
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to store and pass link references.
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Pads have flags that describe the pad capabilities and state.
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``MEDIA_PAD_FL_SINK`` indicates that the pad supports sinking data.
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``MEDIA_PAD_FL_SOURCE`` indicates that the pad supports sourcing data.
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.. note::
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One and only one of ``MEDIA_PAD_FL_SINK`` or ``MEDIA_PAD_FL_SOURCE`` must
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be set for each pad.
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Links
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^^^^^
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Links are represented by a struct :c:type:`media_link` instance,
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defined in ``include/media/media-entity.h``. There are two types of links:
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**1. pad to pad links**:
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Associate two entities via their PADs. Each entity has a list that points
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to all links originating at or targeting any of its pads.
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A given link is thus stored twice, once in the source entity and once in
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the target entity.
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Drivers create pad to pad links by calling:
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:c:func:`media_create_pad_link()` and remove with
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:c:func:`media_entity_remove_links()`.
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**2. interface to entity links**:
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Associate one interface to a Link.
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Drivers create interface to entity links by calling:
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:c:func:`media_create_intf_link()` and remove with
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:c:func:`media_remove_intf_links()`.
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.. note::
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Links can only be created after having both ends already created.
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Links have flags that describe the link capabilities and state. The
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valid values are described at :c:func:`media_create_pad_link()` and
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:c:func:`media_create_intf_link()`.
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Graph traversal
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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The media framework provides APIs to iterate over entities in a graph.
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To iterate over all entities belonging to a media device, drivers can use
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the media_device_for_each_entity macro, defined in
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``include/media/media-device.h``.
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.. code-block:: c
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struct media_entity *entity;
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media_device_for_each_entity(entity, mdev) {
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// entity will point to each entity in turn
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...
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}
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Drivers might also need to iterate over all entities in a graph that can be
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reached only through enabled links starting at a given entity. The media
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framework provides a depth-first graph traversal API for that purpose.
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.. note::
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Graphs with cycles (whether directed or undirected) are **NOT**
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supported by the graph traversal API. To prevent infinite loops, the graph
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traversal code limits the maximum depth to ``MEDIA_ENTITY_ENUM_MAX_DEPTH``,
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currently defined as 16.
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Drivers initiate a graph traversal by calling
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:c:func:`media_graph_walk_start()`
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The graph structure, provided by the caller, is initialized to start graph
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traversal at the given entity.
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Drivers can then retrieve the next entity by calling
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:c:func:`media_graph_walk_next()`
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When the graph traversal is complete the function will return ``NULL``.
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Graph traversal can be interrupted at any moment. No cleanup function call
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is required and the graph structure can be freed normally.
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Helper functions can be used to find a link between two given pads, or a pad
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connected to another pad through an enabled link
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:c:func:`media_entity_find_link()` and
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:c:func:`media_entity_remote_pad()`.
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Use count and power handling
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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Due to the wide differences between drivers regarding power management
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needs, the media controller does not implement power management. However,
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the struct :c:type:`media_entity` includes a ``use_count``
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field that media drivers
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can use to track the number of users of every entity for power management
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needs.
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The :c:type:`media_entity<media_entity>`.\ ``use_count`` field is owned by
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media drivers and must not be
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touched by entity drivers. Access to the field must be protected by the
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:c:type:`media_device`.\ ``graph_mutex`` lock.
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Links setup
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^^^^^^^^^^^
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Link properties can be modified at runtime by calling
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:c:func:`media_entity_setup_link()`.
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Pipelines and media streams
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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When starting streaming, drivers must notify all entities in the pipeline to
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prevent link states from being modified during streaming by calling
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:c:func:`media_pipeline_start()`.
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The function will mark all entities connected to the given entity through
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enabled links, either directly or indirectly, as streaming.
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The struct :c:type:`media_pipeline` instance pointed to by
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the pipe argument will be stored in every entity in the pipeline.
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Drivers should embed the struct :c:type:`media_pipeline`
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in higher-level pipeline structures and can then access the
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pipeline through the struct :c:type:`media_entity`
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pipe field.
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Calls to :c:func:`media_pipeline_start()` can be nested.
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The pipeline pointer must be identical for all nested calls to the function.
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:c:func:`media_pipeline_start()` may return an error. In that case,
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it will clean up any of the changes it did by itself.
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When stopping the stream, drivers must notify the entities with
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:c:func:`media_pipeline_stop()`.
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If multiple calls to :c:func:`media_pipeline_start()` have been
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made the same number of :c:func:`media_pipeline_stop()` calls
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are required to stop streaming.
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The :c:type:`media_entity`.\ ``pipe`` field is reset to ``NULL`` on the last
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nested stop call.
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Link configuration will fail with ``-EBUSY`` by default if either end of the
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link is a streaming entity. Links that can be modified while streaming must
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be marked with the ``MEDIA_LNK_FL_DYNAMIC`` flag.
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If other operations need to be disallowed on streaming entities (such as
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changing entities configuration parameters) drivers can explicitly check the
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media_entity stream_count field to find out if an entity is streaming. This
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operation must be done with the media_device graph_mutex held.
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Link validation
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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Link validation is performed by :c:func:`media_pipeline_start()`
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for any entity which has sink pads in the pipeline. The
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:c:type:`media_entity`.\ ``link_validate()`` callback is used for that
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purpose. In ``link_validate()`` callback, entity driver should check
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that the properties of the source pad of the connected entity and its own
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sink pad match. It is up to the type of the entity (and in the end, the
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properties of the hardware) what matching actually means.
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Subsystems should facilitate link validation by providing subsystem specific
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helper functions to provide easy access for commonly needed information, and
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in the end provide a way to use driver-specific callbacks.
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.. kernel-doc:: include/media/media-device.h
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.. kernel-doc:: include/media/media-devnode.h
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.. kernel-doc:: include/media/media-entity.h
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.. kernel-doc:: include/media/media-request.h
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