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What to do with videodev.h

DISCUSSION Hans de Goede 4 participants 5 messages Jan 26, 2011 Media (V4L/DVB)

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#0 lore raw

Hi All,

With v4l1 support going completely away, the question is raised what to do with linux/videodev.h .

Since v4l1 apps can still use the old API through libv4l1, these apps will still need linux/videodev.h to compile.

So I see 3 options:
1) Keep videodev.h in the kernel tree even after we've dropped the API support at the kernel level (seems like a bad idea to me)
2) Copy videodev.h over to v4l-utils as is (under a different name) and modify the #include in libv4l1.h to include it under the new name
3) Copy the (needed) contents of videodev.h over to libv4l1.h

I'm not sure where I stand wrt 2 versus 3. Comments anyone?

Regards,

Hans

#1 lore raw

Hi Hans,

Em 26-01-2011 06:26, Hans de Goede escreveu:

Quoted 11 lines

Hi All,

With v4l1 support going completely away, the question is raised what to do with linux/videodev.h .

Since v4l1 apps can still use the old API through libv4l1, these apps will still need linux/videodev.h to compile.

So I see 3 options:
1) Keep videodev.h in the kernel tree even after we've dropped the API support at the kernel level (seems like a bad idea to me)

That's a bad idea.

Quoted 4 lines

2) Copy videodev.h over to v4l-utils as is (under a different name) and modify the #include in libv4l1.h to include it under the new name
3) Copy the (needed) contents of videodev.h over to libv4l1.h

I would do (3). This provides a clearer signal that V4L1-only apps need to use libv4l1, or otherwise will stop working.

Of course, the better is to remove V4L1 support from those old apps. There are a number of applications that support both API's. So, it is time to remove V4L1 support from them.

Quoted 1 line

I'm not sure where I stand wrt 2 versus 3. Comments anyone?

Cheers,
Mauro

#2 lore raw
Quoted 17 lines

Hi Hans,

Em 26-01-2011 06:26, Hans de Goede escreveu:

Quoted 11 lines

Hi All,

With v4l1 support going completely away, the question is raised what to do with linux/videodev.h .

Since v4l1 apps can still use the old API through libv4l1, these apps will still need linux/videodev.h to compile.

So I see 3 options:
1) Keep videodev.h in the kernel tree even after we've dropped the API support at the kernel level (seems like a bad idea to me)

That's a bad idea.

Quoted 7 lines
Quoted 4 lines

2) Copy videodev.h over to v4l-utils as is (under a different name) and modify the #include in libv4l1.h to include it under the new name
3) Copy the (needed) contents of videodev.h over to libv4l1.h

I would do (3). This provides a clearer signal that V4L1-only apps need to use libv4l1, or otherwise will stop working.

I agree with this.

Quoted 3 lines

Of course, the better is to remove V4L1 support from those old apps. There are a number of applications that support both API's. So, it is time to remove V4L1 support from them.

So who is going to do that work? That's the problem...

But ensuring that they no longer compile is a good start :-)

Although most have a private copy of videodev.h as part of their sources.

Regards,

Hans

Quoted 9 lines
Quoted 1 line

I'm not sure where I stand wrt 2 versus 3. Comments anyone?

Cheers,
Mauro
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Signature · 1 line
Hans Verkuil - video4linux developer - sponsored by Cisco
#3 lore raw

Em 26-01-2011 07:47, Hans Verkuil escreveu:

Quoted 31 lines
Quoted 17 lines

Hi Hans,

Em 26-01-2011 06:26, Hans de Goede escreveu:

Quoted 11 lines

Hi All,

With v4l1 support going completely away, the question is raised what to do with linux/videodev.h .

Since v4l1 apps can still use the old API through libv4l1, these apps will still need linux/videodev.h to compile.

So I see 3 options:
1) Keep videodev.h in the kernel tree even after we've dropped the API support at the kernel level (seems like a bad idea to me)

That's a bad idea.

Quoted 7 lines
Quoted 4 lines

2) Copy videodev.h over to v4l-utils as is (under a different name) and modify the #include in libv4l1.h to include it under the new name
3) Copy the (needed) contents of videodev.h over to libv4l1.h

I would do (3). This provides a clearer signal that V4L1-only apps need to use libv4l1, or otherwise will stop working.

I agree with this.

Quoted 3 lines

Of course, the better is to remove V4L1 support from those old apps. There are a number of applications that support both API's. So, it is time to remove V4L1 support from them.

Quoted 5 lines

So who is going to do that work? That's the problem...

But ensuring that they no longer compile is a good start :-)

Although most have a private copy of videodev.h as part of their sources.

The ones that don't have videodev.h will compile-break on distros. So distros will need to do something to keep it working, or they'll just drop those pre-historic beasts. It is the Evolution Theory working for software:
to adapt or to be extinguished ;)

The ones that are shipped with videodev.h and weren't converted to libv4l might eventually stay there for a longer time, as people will only notice when a bug will be reported. If we know what are those apps, then we can add a blacklist at linuxtv and/or contact interested parties on fixing/removing them.

We should touch the tools that we care of. Maybe Devin could change tvtime, we should remove V4L1 driver from xawtv3/xawtv4.

Regards,
Mauro

#4 lore raw
Quoted 2 lines · Mauro Carvalho Chehab

We should touch the tools that we care of. Maybe Devin could change tvtime, we should remove V4L1 driver from xawtv3/xawtv4.

Yeah, I have some tvtime work planned, and dropping v4l1 was definitely on the list. I actually dropped the private versions of videodev.h/videodev2.h from my repo, so I won't have much choice.

Devin

Signature · 2 lines
Devin J. Heitmueller - Kernel Labs
http://www.kernellabs.com