H.264 streams with B-frames showed visibly pair-swapped output in
mpv / Firefox playback through the libva → daedalus_v4l2 path —
"frames went 2 1 4 3 6 5 instead of 1 2 3 4 5 6". Reproduced in mpv
with --hwdec=vaapi-copy at 720p (bypassing Firefox's compositor),
confirming the bug was in this daemon pipeline, not downstream.
Root cause
----------
libavcodec's H.264 decoder internally reorders output to DISPLAY
order before returning from avcodec_receive_frame. The daemon
previously called send_packet → receive_frame ONCE per REQ_DECODE
and shipped the resulting pixels in a RESP_FRAME tagged with the
SAME cookie. For B-frames this is wrong: the frame returned from
receive_frame may belong to an EARLIER bitstream (libavcodec held
it for display-order release). Cookie N's CAPTURE buffer therefore
got cookie N-2's pixels, while cookie N-2's CAPTURE buffer got
silently marked VB2_BUF_STATE_ERROR (the daemon returned
DAEDALUS_DECODE_NO_FRAME for the cookie whose pixels were held).
Fix shape
---------
Decouple kernel cookie identity (decode-order routing) from
libavcodec's display-ordered output. Wire-protocol changes:
REQ_DECODE + __u64 src_pts (= src_buf->vb2_buf.timestamp)
RESP_FRAME + __u32 flags (HAS_PIXELS | SRC_CONSUMED)
+ __u64 output_src_pts (= frame->pts on drain)
PROTO_VERSION bumped 0 → 1. Lock-step rebuild required.
Kernel
------
device_run now mirrors src_buf->vb2_buf.timestamp into req->src_pts
before sending REQ_DECODE, and stores it on the inflight item so
the completion path can stamp dst_buf.timestamp explicitly when
src/dst lifecycles decouple (V4L2_BUF_FLAG_TIMESTAMP_COPY's auto-
pairing no longer applies).
daedalus_complete_resp_frame splits into:
HAS_PIXELS: pack pixels into THIS cookie's CAPTURE buffer,
stamp dst timestamp from inflight->src_pts,
v4l2_m2m_buf_done(dst, DONE/ERROR).
No job_finish here.
SRC_CONSUMED: release the bound media_request, run
v4l2_m2m_buf_done(src) + v4l2_m2m_job_finish so
the scheduler can dispatch the next REQ. dst_buf
may still be parked at this point.
Inflight entry is removed and freed only when BOTH src_buf and
dst_buf have been cleared. Combined HAS_PIXELS|SRC_CONSUMED RESPs
(steady-state VP9/AV1 with no reorder lag) collapse to the prior
1:1 behaviour for free.
Daemon
------
daedalus_decoder_run_request split into three primitives:
daedalus_decoder_submit — set pkt->pts = req->src_pts,
avcodec_send_packet.
daedalus_decoder_drain_one — avcodec_receive_frame, populate
resp meta + output_src_pts (= the
frame's pts, carried back from
the bitstream that produced it).
daedalus_decoder_pack_current — pack current AVFrame into the
caller-mapped CAPTURE planes.
chardev_client maintains a small (src_pts → cookie, cached_req)
table indexed linearly (≤64 entries; bounded by V4L2 client buffer
pool depth). On each REQ_DECODE:
1. Register (src_pts → cookie) in the table.
2. submit().
3. Drain loop: for each frame returned, look up its owner cookie
via pending_lookup(frame->pts), GET_DMABUF for THAT cookie,
pack pixels, emit RESP_FRAME(owner_cookie, HAS_PIXELS,
output_src_pts=frame->pts). Combine with SRC_CONSUMED when
owner_cookie equals the current REQ's cookie.
4. If the current REQ's cookie wasn't drained inside the loop
(libavcodec held the frame), emit a standalone SRC_CONSUMED
RESP so the kernel runs job_finish + dispatches the next REQ;
dst_buf for this cookie stays parked until a future drain
produces its pixels.
VP9 / AV1 paths are unchanged in behaviour: one frame per REQ,
HAS_PIXELS|SRC_CONSUMED in one combined RESP.
Verified
--------
Builds clean cross-compiled on higgs against 6.18.29+rpt-rpi-2712
(Pi CM5). Frame-size warning in device_run is pre-existing
(unchanged by this commit).
claude-noether
15fc2aba14