[PATCH] apps: cam: Try raw role if default viewfinder role fails

Kieran Bingham kieran.bingham at ideasonboard.com
Wed May 7 22:42:11 CEST 2025


Quoting Niklas Söderlund (2025-05-07 20:34:16)
> Hi Paul,
> 
> Thanks for your work that is now now commit ee2b011b65c6 ("apps: cam: 
> Try raw role if default viewfinder role fails").
> 
> I'm afraid this seems to breaks qcam for me.

Eeep - I just tested here and found the same too.

There's an easy fix that I've just tested.

I'll write a commit message and send after dinner ;-)

--
Kieran


> 
>     arm64 ~ # ./ktool/build/src/apps/qcam/qcam -c 'imx219 1-0010'
>     qt.qpa.xcb: XKeyboard extension not present on the X server
>     There is no XRandR 1.2 and later version available. There will be only fake screen(s) to use.
>     [0:31:31.233222393] [794]  INFO IPAManager ipa_manager.cpp:137 libcamera is not installed. Adding '/root/ktool/build/src/ipa' to the IPA search path
>     [0:31:31.237485661] [794]  WARN IPAManager ipa_manager.cpp:148 No IPA found in '/usr/local/lib/libcamera'
>     [0:31:31.238603349] [794]  INFO Camera camera_manager.cpp:326 libcamera v0.5.0
>     /usr/include/c++/14.2.1/bits/stl_vector.h:1130: std::vector<_Tp, _Alloc>::reference std::vector<_Tp, _Alloc>::operator[](size_type) [with _Tp = libcamera::StreamRole; _Alloc = std::allocator<libcamera::StreamRole>; reference = libcamera::StreamRole&; size_type = long unsigned int]: Assertion '__n < this->size()' failed.
>     Aborted (core dumped)
> 
> The gdb tracenack points to MainWindow::startCapture() and if I revert 
> the commit it seems to solve the problem.
> 
>     arm64 ~ # ./ktool/build/src/apps/qcam/qcam -c 'imx219 1-0010'
>     qt.qpa.xcb: XKeyboard extension not present on the X server
>     There is no XRandR 1.2 and later version available. There will be only fake screen(s) to use.
>     [0:28:16.505731015] [746]  INFO IPAManager ipa_manager.cpp:137 libcamera is not installed. Adding '/root/ktool/build/src/ipa' to the IPA search path
>     [0:28:16.509698783] [746]  WARN IPAManager ipa_manager.cpp:148 No IPA found in '/usr/local/lib/libcamera'
>     [0:28:16.510769671] [746]  INFO Camera camera_manager.cpp:326 libcamera v0.5.0
>     [0:28:16.689332683] [746]  INFO Camera camera.cpp:1205 configuring streams: (0) 3280x2464-XRGB8888/Rec709/Rec709/None/Full
>     Zero-copy enabled
> 
>       .... viewfinder displays live images ....
> 
> I have tested without the -c 'camera' option too, I then get the GUI to 
> select a camera. And then the same crash as reported above with -c 
> 'camera' provided.
> 
> If I however force a viewfinder role as such,
> 
>     arm64 ~ # ./ktool/build/src/apps/qcam/qcam -c 'imx219 1-0010' -s role=viewfinder
> 
> I get a functional viewfinder again.
> 
> On 2025-04-23 18:12:08 +0900, Paul Elder wrote:
> > cam currently defaults to the viewfinder role when no role is specified.
> > This means that on platforms that only support the raw role (such as a
> > raw sensor with no softISP on a simple pipeline platform),
> > generateConfiguration() would return nullptr and cam would bail out.
> > 
> > At least this is what is supposed to happen based on the little
> > documentation that we have written regarding generateConfiguration(),
> > specifically in the application writer's guide, which is probably the
> > most influential piece of documentation:
> > 
> >   The ``Camera::generateConfiguration()`` function accepts a list of
> >   desired roles and generates a ``CameraConfiguration`` with the best
> >   stream parameters configuration for each of the requested roles. If the
> >   camera can handle the requested roles, it returns an initialized
> >   ``CameraConfiguration`` and a null pointer if it can't.
> > 
> > Currently the simple pipeline handler will return a raw configuration
> > anyway (if it only supports raw) even if a non-raw role was requested.
> > Thus cam receives a raw configuration instead of a nullptr when no role
> > is specified and viewfinder is requested.
> > 
> > However, in the near future, support for raw streams with softISP on the
> > simple pipeline handler will be merged. This will notably change the
> > behavior of the simple pipeline handler to return nullptr if a non-raw
> > role was requested on a platform that only supports raw. This is proper
> > behavior according to documentation, but changes cam's behavior as it
> > used to capture fine with no parameters but will no longer be able to.
> > 
> > Technically this is an issue with the roles API, as we are mixing
> > roles in the sense of "configuration hints" (eg. viewfinder vs recording
> > vs still capture) with roles in the sense of "platform capabilities"
> > (raw vs everything else). In the long term the proper solution is to
> > rework the roles API.
> > 
> > In the meantime, fix cam so that it will try the raw role if the default
> > viewfinder role returns no configuration. cam is an app that is capable
> > of using the raw stream, so this is appropriate behavior. If roles are
> > specified, then do not retry, as in this situation the user knows what
> > streams they can use and what they want.
> > 
> > Signed-off-by: Paul Elder <paul.elder at ideasonboard.com>
> > ---
> >  src/apps/cam/camera_session.cpp    | 29 +++++++++++++++++++++++++----
> >  src/apps/common/stream_options.cpp |  3 +--
> >  src/apps/qcam/main_window.cpp      |  3 +++
> >  3 files changed, 29 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)
> > 
> > diff --git a/src/apps/cam/camera_session.cpp b/src/apps/cam/camera_session.cpp
> > index 97c1ae44995e..f63fcb228519 100644
> > --- a/src/apps/cam/camera_session.cpp
> > +++ b/src/apps/cam/camera_session.cpp
> > @@ -62,11 +62,32 @@ CameraSession::CameraSession(CameraManager *cm,
> >               return;
> >       }
> >  
> > -     std::vector<StreamRole> roles = StreamKeyValueParser::roles(options_[OptStream]);
> > +     std::vector<StreamRole> roles =
> > +             StreamKeyValueParser::roles(options_[OptStream]);
> > +     std::vector<std::vector<StreamRole>> tryRoles;
> > +     if (!roles.empty()) {
> > +             /*
> > +              * If the roles are explicitly specified then there's no need
> > +              * to try other roles
> > +              */
> > +             tryRoles.push_back(roles);
> > +     } else {
> > +             tryRoles.push_back({ StreamRole::Viewfinder });
> > +             tryRoles.push_back({ StreamRole::Raw });
> > +     }
> > +
> > +     std::unique_ptr<CameraConfiguration> config;
> > +     bool valid = false;
> > +     for (std::vector<StreamRole> &rolesIt : tryRoles) {
> > +             config = camera_->generateConfiguration(rolesIt);
> > +             if (config && config->size() == rolesIt.size()) {
> > +                     roles = rolesIt;
> > +                     valid = true;
> > +                     break;
> > +             }
> > +     }
> >  
> > -     std::unique_ptr<CameraConfiguration> config =
> > -             camera_->generateConfiguration(roles);
> > -     if (!config || config->size() != roles.size()) {
> > +     if (!valid) {
> >               std::cerr << "Failed to get default stream configuration"
> >                         << std::endl;
> >               return;
> > diff --git a/src/apps/common/stream_options.cpp b/src/apps/common/stream_options.cpp
> > index 99239e07e302..288f86530351 100644
> > --- a/src/apps/common/stream_options.cpp
> > +++ b/src/apps/common/stream_options.cpp
> > @@ -42,9 +42,8 @@ KeyValueParser::Options StreamKeyValueParser::parse(const char *arguments)
> >  
> >  std::vector<StreamRole> StreamKeyValueParser::roles(const OptionValue &values)
> >  {
> > -     /* If no configuration values to examine default to viewfinder. */
> >       if (values.empty())
> > -             return { StreamRole::Viewfinder };
> > +             return {};
> >  
> >       const std::vector<OptionValue> &streamParameters = values.toArray();
> >  
> > diff --git a/src/apps/qcam/main_window.cpp b/src/apps/qcam/main_window.cpp
> > index d2ccbd2318fa..224a7e5a693a 100644
> > --- a/src/apps/qcam/main_window.cpp
> > +++ b/src/apps/qcam/main_window.cpp
> > @@ -356,6 +356,9 @@ int MainWindow::startCapture()
> >  
> >       /* Verify roles are supported. */
> >       switch (roles.size()) {
> > +     case 0:
> > +             roles[0] = StreamRole::Viewfinder;
> > +             break;
> >       case 1:
> >               if (roles[0] != StreamRole::Viewfinder) {
> >                       qWarning() << "Only viewfinder supported for single stream";
> > -- 
> > 2.47.2
> > 
> 
> -- 
> Kind Regards,
> Niklas Söderlund


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