Re: [PATCH] media/v4l2-ctrls: Always run s_ctrl on volatile ctrls

From: Jacek Anaszewski
Date: Tue Feb 17 2015 - 10:14:27 EST


On 02/17/2015 03:35 PM, Sakari Ailus wrote:
Jacek Anaszewski wrote:
On 02/17/2015 03:06 PM, Sakari Ailus wrote:
Hi Jacek,

Jacek Anaszewski wrote:
Hi Hans, Sakari,

On 02/17/2015 12:32 PM, Sakari Ailus wrote:
Hi Hans,

Hans Verkuil wrote:
...
Unfortunately, it only works one time, because the next time the
user writes
a zero to the control cluster_changed returns false.

I think on volatile controls it is safer to run s_ctrl twice than
missing a
valid s_ctrl.

I know I am abusing a bit the API for this :P, but I also believe
that the
semantic here is a bit confusing.

The reason for that is that I have yet to see a convincing argument
for
allowing s_ctrl for a volatile control.

Well, one example are LED flash class devices which implement V4L2
flash
API through a wrapper. The user may use the LED flash class API to
change the values of the controls, and V4L2 framework has no clue about
this. The V4L2 controls are volatile, and the real values of the
settings are stored in the LED flash class.

This is the current implementation (not merged yet); an alternative, a
more correct one, would be to use callbacks to tell about the
changes in
control values. I haven't pushed for that, primarily because the
patchset is already quite complex and I've seen this as something that
can be always implemented later if it bothers someone.

Cc Jacek.


Actually this will be not an issue for v4l2-flash sub-device anymore.
In the next version of the patch set the v4l2-flash sub-device
will be synchronizing the flash device registers with the
state of the controls on open.

Ah, right --- you're preventing the use of the LED flash class whilst
the V4L2 sub-device is opened?

Yes.

I'm not fully certain whether that'd be
really useful, as the V4L2 sub-device can also be opened by multiple
users at the same time.

We also prevent from this using v4l2_fh_is_singular on open.

I'm not fully certain if I'd do that --- no other flash chip driver
does. It might be good to think about how does one acquire the ownership
of media devices or parts of media devices, or whether it's something
that's needed at all.


Well, it was your remark from the review to add this :)

Regarding locking the LED subsystem sysfs interface - it is required for
preventing reconfiguration of the device from the sysfs level. Without
this the V4L2 flash device couldn't be certain about the flash LED
device state.

The patch adding the locking mechanism to the LED subsystem has been
merged few months ago.

--
Best Regards,
Jacek Anaszewski
--
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/