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-rw-r--r--Documentation/media-framework.txt42
1 files changed, 42 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/media-framework.txt b/Documentation/media-framework.txt
index 0257bad2a10..ab17f33dded 100644
--- a/Documentation/media-framework.txt
+++ b/Documentation/media-framework.txt
@@ -216,3 +216,45 @@ Links have flags that describe the link capabilities and state.
modified at runtime. If MEDIA_LNK_FL_IMMUTABLE is set, then
MEDIA_LNK_FL_ENABLED must also be set since an immutable link is always
enabled.
+
+
+Graph traversal
+---------------
+
+The media framework provides APIs to iterate over entities in a graph.
+
+To iterate over all entities belonging to a media device, drivers can use the
+media_device_for_each_entity macro, defined in include/media/media-device.h.
+
+ struct media_entity *entity;
+
+ media_device_for_each_entity(entity, mdev) {
+ /* entity will point to each entity in turn */
+ ...
+ }
+
+Drivers might also need to iterate over all entities in a graph that can be
+reached only through enabled links starting at a given entity. The media
+framework provides a depth-first graph traversal API for that purpose.
+
+Note that graphs with cycles (whether directed or undirected) are *NOT*
+supported by the graph traversal API. To prevent infinite loops, the graph
+traversal code limits the maximum depth to MEDIA_ENTITY_ENUM_MAX_DEPTH,
+currently defined as 16.
+
+Drivers initiate a graph traversal by calling
+
+ media_entity_graph_walk_start(struct media_entity_graph *graph,
+ struct media_entity *entity);
+
+The graph structure, provided by the caller, is initialized to start graph
+traversal at the given entity.
+
+Drivers can then retrieve the next entity by calling
+
+ media_entity_graph_walk_next(struct media_entity_graph *graph);
+
+When the graph traversal is complete the function will return NULL.
+
+Graph traversal can be interrupted at any moment. No cleanup function call is
+required and the graph structure can be freed normally.