Documentation: Rework docs.rst into introduction.rst

docs.rst is the landing page for the documentation from the libcamera
website, but isn't particularly introductory. Move much of the content
from guides/introduction.rst to docs.rst, which will serve as the new
introductory page. Remove guides/introduction.rst.

Reviewed-by: Laurent Pinchart <laurent.pinchart@ideasonboard.com>
Signed-off-by: Daniel Scally <dan.scally@ideasonboard.com>
Signed-off-by: Laurent Pinchart <laurent.pinchart@ideasonboard.com>

Documentation/conf.py

@@ -37,8 +37,11 @@ author = u'Kieran Bingham, Jacopo Mondi, Laurent Pinchart, Niklas Söderlund'
 # extensions coming with Sphinx (named 'sphinx.ext.*') or your custom
 # ones.
 extensions = [
+    'sphinx.ext.graphviz'
 ]
 
+graphviz_output_format = 'svg'
+
 # Add any paths that contain templates here, relative to this directory.
 templates_path = []
 

Documentation/documentation-contents.rst

@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@
    * :doc:`/environment_variables`
    * :doc:`/feature_requirements`
    * :doc:`/guides/application-developer`
-   * :doc:`/guides/introduction`
    * :doc:`/guides/ipa`
    * :doc:`/guides/pipeline-handler`
    * :doc:`/guides/tracing`

Documentation/guides/introduction.rst

@@ -1,62 +0,0 @@
-.. SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-SA-4.0
-
-.. include:: ../documentation-contents.rst
-
-Developers guide to libcamera
-=============================
-
-The Linux kernel handles multimedia devices through the 'Linux media' subsystem
-and provides a set of APIs (application programming interfaces) known
-collectively as V4L2 (`Video for Linux 2`_) and the `Media Controller`_ API
-which provide an interface to interact and control media devices.
-
-Included in this subsystem are drivers for camera sensors, CSI2 (Camera
-Serial Interface) receivers, and ISPs (Image Signal Processors)
-
-The usage of these drivers to provide a functioning camera stack is a
-responsibility that lies in userspace which is commonly implemented separately
-by vendors without a common architecture or API for application developers.
-
-libcamera provides a complete camera stack for Linux based systems to abstract
-functionality desired by camera application developers and process the
-configuration of hardware and image control algorithms required to obtain
-desirable results from the camera.
-
-.. _Video for Linux 2: https://www.linuxtv.org/downloads/v4l-dvb-apis-new/userspace-api/v4l/v4l2.html
-.. _Media Controller: https://www.linuxtv.org/downloads/v4l-dvb-apis-new/userspace-api/mediactl/media-controller.html
-
-
-In this developers guide the `Licensing`_ requirements of the project are
-detailed.
-
-This introduction is followed by a walkthrough tutorial to newcomers wishing to
-support a new platform with the `Pipeline Handler Writers Guide`_ and for those
-looking to make use of the libcamera native API an `Application Writers Guide`_
-provides a tutorial of the key APIs exposed by libcamera.
-
-.. _Pipeline Handler Writers Guide: pipeline-handler.html
-.. _Application Writers Guide: application-developer.html
-
-.. TODO: Correctly link to the other articles of the guide
-
-Licensing
----------
-
-The libcamera core, is covered by the `LGPL-2.1-or-later`_ license. Pipeline
-Handlers are a part of the libcamera code base and need to be contributed
-upstream by device vendors. IPA modules included in libcamera are covered by a
-free software license, however third-parties may develop IPA modules outside of
-libcamera and distribute them under a closed-source license, provided they do
-not include source code from the libcamera project.
-
-The libcamera project itself contains multiple libraries, applications and
-utilities. Licenses are expressed through SPDX tags in text-based files that
-support comments, and through the .reuse/dep5 file otherwise. A copy of all
-licenses are stored in the LICENSES directory, and a full summary of the
-licensing used throughout the project can be found in the COPYING.rst document.
-
-Applications which link dynamically against libcamera and use only the public
-API are an independent work of the authors and have no license restrictions
-imposed upon them from libcamera.
-
-.. _LGPL-2.1-or-later: https://spdx.org/licenses/LGPL-2.1-or-later.html

Documentation/index.rst

@@ -10,13 +10,12 @@
    :caption: Contents:
 
    Home <self>
-   Docs <docs>
+   Introduction <introduction>
    Contribute <contributing>
    Getting Started <getting-started>
 
    Application Writer's Guide <guides/application-developer>
    Camera Sensor Model <camera-sensor-model>
-   Developer Guide <guides/introduction>
    Environment variables <environment_variables>
    Feature Requirements <feature_requirements>
    IPA Writer's guide <guides/ipa>

Documentation/introduction.rst

@@ -14,12 +14,90 @@ Documentation
 
    API <api-html/index>
 
-API
+What is libcamera?
-===
+==================
 
-The libcamera API is extensively documented using Doxygen. The :ref:`API
+libcamera is an open source complex camera support library for Linux, Android
-nightly build <api>` contains the most up-to-date API documentation, built from
+and ChromeOS. The library interfaces with Linux kernel device drivers and
-the latest master branch.
+provides an intuitive API to developers in order to simplify the complexity
+involved in capturing images from complex cameras on Linux systems.
+
+What is a "complex camera"?
+===========================
+
+A modern "camera" tends to infact be several different pieces of hardware which
+must all be controlled together in order to produce and capture images of
+appropriate quality. A hardware pipeline typically consists of a camera sensor
+that captures raw frames and transmits them on a bus, a receiver that decodes
+the bus signals, and an image signal processor that processes raw frames to
+produce usable images in a standard format. The Linux kernel handles these
+multimedia devices through the 'Linux media' subsystem and provides a set of
+application programming interfaces known collectively as the
+V4L2 (`Video for Linux 2`_) and the `Media Controller`_ APIs, which provide an
+interface to interact and control media devices.
+
+.. _Video for Linux 2: https://www.linuxtv.org/downloads/v4l-dvb-apis-new/userspace-api/v4l/v4l2.html
+.. _Media Controller: https://www.linuxtv.org/downloads/v4l-dvb-apis-new/userspace-api/mediactl/media-controller.html
+
+Included in this subsystem are drivers for camera sensors, CSI2 (Camera
+Serial Interface) receivers, and ISPs (Image Signal Processors).
+
+The usage of these drivers to provide a functioning camera stack is a
+responsibility that lies in userspace, and is commonly implemented separately
+by vendors without a common architecture or API for application developers. This
+adds a lot of complexity to the task, particularly when considering that the
+differences in hardware pipelines and their representation in the kernel's APIs
+often necessitate bespoke handling.
+
+What is libcamera for?
+======================
+
+libcamera provides a complete camera stack for Linux-based systems to abstract
+the configuration of hardware and image control algorithms required to obtain
+desirable results from the camera through the kernel's APIs, reducing those
+operations to a simple and consistent method for developers. In short instead of
+having to deal with this:
+
+.. graphviz:: mali-c55.dot
+
+you can instead simply deal with:
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+  >>> import libcamera as lc
+  >>> camera_manager = lc.CameraManager.singleton()
+  [0:15:59.582029920] [504]  INFO Camera camera_manager.cpp:313 libcamera v0.3.0+182-01e57380
+  >>> for camera in camera_manager.cameras:
+  ...     print(f' - {camera.id}')
+  ...
+   - mali-c55 tpg
+   - imx415 1-001a
+
+The library handles the rest for you. These documentary pages give more
+information on the internal workings of libcamera (and the kernel camera stack
+that lies behind it) as well as guidance on using libcamera in an application or
+extending the library with support for your hardware (through the pipeline
+handler and IPA module writer's guides).
+
+How should I use it?
+====================
+
+There are a few ways you might want to use libcamera, depending on your
+application. It's always possible to use the library directly, and you can find
+detailed information on how to do so in the
+:doc:`application writer's guide <guides/application-developer>`.
+
+It is often more appropriate to use one of the frameworks with libcamera
+support. For example an application powering an embedded media device
+incorporating capture, encoding and streaming of both video and audio would
+benefit from using `GStreamer`_, for which libcamera provides a plugin.
+Similarly an application for user-facing devices like a laptop would likely
+benefit accessing cameras through the XDG camera portal and `pipewire`_, which
+brings the advantages of resource sharing (multiple applications accessing the
+stream at the same time) and access control.
+
+.. _GStreamer: https://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/
+.. _pipewire: https://pipewire.org/
 
 Camera Stack
 ============
@@ -124,3 +202,25 @@ Native libcamera API
   followed in the :doc:`Application writer's guide </guides/application-developer>`
 
 .. _GStreamer element: https://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/documentation/application-development/basics/elements.html
+
+Licensing
+=========
+
+The libcamera core is covered by the `LGPL-2.1-or-later`_ license. Pipeline
+Handlers are a part of the libcamera code base and need to be contributed
+upstream by device vendors. IPA modules included in libcamera are covered by a
+free software license, however third-parties may develop IPA modules outside of
+libcamera and distribute them under a closed-source license, provided they do
+not include source code from the libcamera project.
+
+The libcamera project itself contains multiple libraries, applications and
+utilities. Licenses are expressed through SPDX tags in text-based files that
+support comments, and through the .reuse/dep5 file otherwise. A copy of all
+licenses are stored in the LICENSES directory, and a full summary of the
+licensing used throughout the project can be found in the COPYING.rst document.
+
+Applications which link dynamically against libcamera and use only the public
+API are an independent work of the authors and have no license restrictions
+imposed upon them from libcamera.
+
+.. _LGPL-2.1-or-later: https://spdx.org/licenses/LGPL-2.1-or-later.html

Documentation/mali-c55.dot

@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+/* SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-SA-4.0 */
+
+digraph board {
+        rankdir=TB
+        n00000001 [label="{{} | mali-c55 tpg\n/dev/v4l-subdev0 | {<port0> 0}}", shape=Mrecord, style=filled, fillcolor=green]
+        n00000001:port0 -> n00000003:port0 [style=dashed]
+        n00000003 [label="{{<port0> 0 | <port4> 4} | mali-c55 isp\n/dev/v4l-subdev1 | {<port1> 1 | <port2> 2 | <port3> 3}}", shape=Mrecord, style=filled, fillcolor=green]
+        n00000003:port1 -> n00000009:port0 [style=bold]
+        n00000003:port2 -> n00000009:port2 [style=bold]
+        n00000003:port1 -> n0000000d:port0 [style=bold]
+        n00000003:port3 -> n0000001c
+        n00000009 [label="{{<port0> 0 | <port2> 2} | mali-c55 resizer fr\n/dev/v4l-subdev2 | {<port1> 1}}", shape=Mrecord, style=filled, fillcolor=green]
+        n00000009:port1 -> n00000010
+        n0000000d [label="{{<port0> 0} | mali-c55 resizer ds\n/dev/v4l-subdev3 | {<port1> 1}}", shape=Mrecord, style=filled, fillcolor=green]
+        n0000000d:port1 -> n00000014
+        n00000010 [label="mali-c55 fr\n/dev/video0", shape=box, style=filled, fillcolor=yellow]
+        n00000014 [label="mali-c55 ds\n/dev/video1", shape=box, style=filled, fillcolor=yellow]
+        n00000018 [label="mali-c55 3a params\n/dev/video2", shape=box, style=filled, fillcolor=yellow]
+        n00000018 -> n00000003:port4
+        n0000001c [label="mali-c55 3a stats\n/dev/video3", shape=box, style=filled, fillcolor=yellow]
+        n00000030 [label="{{<port0> 0} | lte-csi2-rx\n/dev/v4l-subdev4 | {<port1> 1}}", shape=Mrecord, style=filled, fillcolor=green]
+        n00000030:port1 -> n00000003:port0
+        n00000035 [label="{{} | imx415 1-001a\n/dev/v4l-subdev5 | {<port0> 0}}", shape=Mrecord, style=filled, fillcolor=green]
+        n00000035:port0 -> n00000030:port0 [style=bold]
+}

Documentation/meson.build

@@ -128,18 +128,18 @@ if sphinx.found()
         'coding-style.rst',
         'conf.py',
         'contributing.rst',
-        'docs.rst',
         'documentation-contents.rst',
         'environment_variables.rst',
         'feature_requirements.rst',
         'guides/application-developer.rst',
-        'guides/introduction.rst',
         'guides/ipa.rst',
         'guides/pipeline-handler.rst',
         'guides/tracing.rst',
         'index.rst',
+        'introduction.rst',
         'lens_driver_requirements.rst',
         'libcamera_architecture.rst',
+        'mali-c55.dot',
         'python-bindings.rst',
         'sensor_driver_requirements.rst',
         'software-isp-benchmarking.rst',