[PATCH v8 2/7] media: open.rst: better document device node naming

From: Mauro Carvalho Chehab
Date: Tue Oct 10 2017 - 07:46:53 EST


Right now, only kAPI documentation describes the device naming.
However, such description is needed at the uAPI too. Add it,
and describe how to get an unique identify for a given device.

Signed-off-by: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Acked-by: Hans Verkuil <hans.verkuil@xxxxxxxxx>
Acked-by: Sakari Ailus <sakari.ailus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
Documentation/media/uapi/v4l/open.rst | 53 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----
1 file changed, 46 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/media/uapi/v4l/open.rst b/Documentation/media/uapi/v4l/open.rst
index afd116edb40d..de2144277f55 100644
--- a/Documentation/media/uapi/v4l/open.rst
+++ b/Documentation/media/uapi/v4l/open.rst
@@ -7,14 +7,16 @@ Opening and Closing Devices
***************************


-Device Naming
-=============
+.. _v4l2_device_naming:

-V4L2 drivers are implemented as kernel modules, loaded manually by the
-system administrator or automatically when a device is first discovered.
-The driver modules plug into the "videodev" kernel module. It provides
-helper functions and a common application interface specified in this
-document.
+V4L2 Device Node Naming
+=======================
+
+V4L2 :term:`drivers <driver>` are implemented as kernel modules, loaded
+manually by the system administrator or automatically when a device is
+first discovered. The driver modules plug into the ``videodev`` kernel
+module. It provides helper functions and a common application interface
+specified in this document.

Each driver thus loaded registers one or more device nodes with major
number 81 and a minor number between 0 and 255. Minor numbers are
@@ -23,6 +25,43 @@ option CONFIG_VIDEO_FIXED_MINOR_RANGES. In that case minor numbers
are allocated in ranges depending on the device node type (video, radio,
etc.).

+The existing :term:`device node` types defined at V4L2 spec are:
+
+======================== ======================================================
+Default device node name Usage
+======================== ======================================================
+``/dev/videoX`` Video input/output devices
+``/dev/vbiX`` Vertical blank data (i.e. closed captions, teletext)
+``/dev/radioX`` Radio tuners and modulators
+``/dev/swradioX`` Software Defined Radio tuners and modulators
+``/dev/v4l-touchX`` Touch sensors
+======================== ======================================================
+
+Where ``X`` is a non-negative number.
+
+.. note::
+
+ 1. The actual device node name is system-dependent, as udev rules may apply.
+ 2. There is no guarantee that ``X`` will remain the same for the same
+ device, as the number depends on the device driver's probe order.
+ If you need an unique name, udev default rules produce
+ ``/dev/v4l/by-id/`` and ``/dev/v4l/by-path/`` directories containing
+ links that can be used uniquely to identify a V4L2 device node::
+
+ $ tree /dev/v4l
+ /dev/v4l
+ ??? by-id
+ ?ÂÂ ??? usb-OmniVision._USB_Camera-B4.04.27.1-video-index0 -> ../../video0
+ ??? by-path
+ ??? pci-0000:00:14.0-usb-0:2:1.0-video-index0 -> ../../video0
+
+ 3. :term:`V4L2 sub-device` nodes (e. g. ``/dev/v4l-sudevX``) provide a
+ different API and aren't considered as
+ :term:`V4L2 device nodes <v4l2 device node>`.
+
+ They are covered at :ref:`subdev`.
+
+
Many drivers support "video_nr", "radio_nr" or "vbi_nr" module
options to select specific video/radio/vbi node numbers. This allows the
user to request that the device node is named e.g. /dev/video5 instead
--
2.13.6