[libcamera-devel] [PATCH] README.rst: Add FAQ section.

[Kieran Bingham]

Provide an initial set of Questions and Answers.

Hopefully these will provide quick insights to the project from the
README, and can be incorporated into the website.

Signed-off-by: Kieran Bingham <kieran.bingham at ideasonboard.com>
---
 README.rst | 65 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 65 insertions(+)

diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 40d45196c7d6..af44686b969c 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -89,3 +89,68 @@ default video display element on your system.
   gst-launch-1.0 libcamerasrc camera-name="Camera 1" ! videoconvert ! autovideosink
 
 .. section-end-getting-started
+.. section-begin-faq
+
+Frequently Asked Questions
+--------------------------
+
+What is libcamera?
+  libcamera is an open source camera stack implemented entirely in user space.
+  It aims to encourage the development of new embedded camera applications by
+  limiting the complexity that developers have to deal with.  The interface is
+  designed around the way that modern embedded camera hardware works.
+
+What is the correct way to display the name 'libcamera'
+  libcamera, is always in lowercase; in titles, or at the beginning of
+  sentences.
+
+How is libcamera different from V4L2?
+  We see libcamera as a continuation of V4L2. One that can more easily handle
+  the recent advances in hardware design. As embedded cameras have developed,
+  all of the complexity has been pushed on to the developers. With libcamera,
+  all of that complexity is simplified and a single model is presented to
+  application developers.
+
+Does this mean the camera stack is completely open?
+  libcamera is open-source friendly which means all of libcamera itself is open
+  source. Because vendors are reluctant to open-source their Image Processing
+  Algorithms, libcamera can support closed-source Image Processing Algorithm
+  modules (IPAs) which will be sandboxed to minimise the exposure of binary
+  blobs.
+
+libcamera has been described as “the MESA of the camera stack”. What does that mean?
+  Mesa provides powerful high-level APIs to applications and implements
+  device-specific code in userspace to support the implementation. libcamera
+  provides high-level APIs that handle device-specific code in userspace to
+  simplify development for application developers.
+
+Which cameras SoCs (pipelines) are supported?
+  Currently supported pipelines include the Intel IPU3, RockChip RK3399, UVC,
+  and VIMC/VIVID test drivers
+
+Which camera protocols are supported?
+  libcamera supports cameras that use MIPI/CSI2 protocols.
+
+Can I use libcamera to access photos on digital cameras?
+  No, libcamera is a library for controlling embedded camera hardware, it’s not
+  an application for accessing photos and has no relationship to gphoto2.
+  libcamera supports internal cameras designed for point-and-shoot still image
+  and video capture and external UVC cameras designed for video conferencing.
+
+Can libcamera handle multiple cameras simultaneously?
+  libcamera can support multiple cameras within a system, and allows only a
+  single application to consume each stream. An application must ‘acquire’ a
+  Camera to start operations on it, and should release it when finished.
+  Logical cameras where multiple cameras are treated as a single camera is a
+  pipeline and hardware specific extension that will be supported in the
+  future.
+
+Does libcamera do format conversion and debayering?
+  Format conversion and debayering operations are dependent upon the Image
+  Signal Processor (ISP) and hardware available. Our demonstration application,
+  QCam, does basic software format conversions to handle display but we aim to
+  move to using OpenGL to improve real time conversion performance. Where
+  possible, QCam will request formats that can be displayed natively without
+  requiring software conversions.
+
+.. section-end-faq
-- 
2.25.1