Builds the daemon executable per the locked Phase 8 architecture
(Option γ: dlopen FFmpeg at runtime). Phase 8.3 scope: parse
path validation only — no V4L2 wiring, no decode, no chardev
connection.
Components:
- daemon/CMakeLists.txt — CMake with -Wall -Wextra -Wpedantic
clean. pkg-config for FFmpeg headers; only -ldl + -lpthread
at link time.
- daemon/src/main.c — entry point, signal handlers
(SIGINT/SIGTERM), command dispatcher. Currently `parse <file>`.
- daemon/src/ffmpeg_loader.{c,h} — runtime FFmpeg loader.
dlopens libavformat.so.61, libavcodec.so.61, libavutil.so.59.
Resolves 22 function pointers using POSIX-recommended
*(void**)& dlsym idiom (per POSIX.1-2017 dlsym(3p) Rationale).
- daemon/src/parser.{c,h} — demux loop via avformat_open_input +
av_read_frame. Per-frame logging on -v.
- daemon/src/log.{c,h} — logging facade (stderr Phase 8.3;
syslog/journal planned for 8.5+).
Verification on hertz:
$ ffmpeg -f lavfi -i testsrc=duration=2:size=320x240:rate=30 \
-c:v libvpx-vp9 -y /tmp/testsrc.ivf
$ daedalus_v4l2_daemon parse /tmp/testsrc.ivf
[INFO] FFmpeg loaded: 7.1.3-0+deb13u1+rpt1 (libavformat 61.7.100)
[INFO] video stream #0: codec=vp9 (Google VP9) 320x240, 0/0 fps
[INFO] parse complete: 60 frames (1 key) total 17859 bytes
Error paths verified:
- Missing file → "avformat_open_input(...): code -2", exit 1
- No command → usage message, exit 2
- Bad command → usage message, exit 2
Per correctness-before-speed:
- Real CMake (no Makefile hacks)
- pkg-config for headers
- POSIX-conformant dlsym pattern (no -Wpedantic suppression)
- Real signal handling + proper exit codes
- Real logging with timestamp + level
- Headers included at compile-time for type safety; dlopen
decouples runtime
- All FFmpeg resources freed on every exit path
- Builds clean on -Wall -Wextra -Wpedantic
Phase 8.3 acceptance criteria met:
- ✓ daemon binary builds
- ✓ dlopen FFmpeg at runtime
- ✓ demux a VP9 IVF file end-to-end
- ✓ per-frame metadata logged correctly
- ✓ frame count + keyframe count + byte total accurate
Phase 8.4 next: wire daemon to /dev/daedalus-v4l2 chardev,
add REQ_DECODE / RESP_FRAME handling, drive VP9 decode
end-to-end via daedalus_dispatch_* from daedalus-fourier.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
4.5 KiB
Phase 8.3 closure — daemon with FFmpeg dlopen + parse path
Status: closed 2026-05-18.
Userspace daemon scaffold that loads FFmpeg via dlopen at
runtime (Option γ, per locked Phase 8 architecture), opens
container files via libavformat, and iterates per-frame
metadata. No V4L2 / chardev / decode work yet — pure
parse-path validation.
What lands
daemon/CMakeLists.txt— CMake build; pkg-config for FFmpeg headers;-Wall -Wextra -Wpedanticclean.daemon/src/main.c— entry point, signal handlers, command dispatcher. Currently exposesparse <file>.daemon/src/ffmpeg_loader.{c,h}— runtime FFmpeg loader. dlopenslibavformat.so.61,libavcodec.so.61,libavutil.so.59; resolves the 22 function pointers we use.daemon/src/parser.{c,h}— demux loop usingavformat_open_input+av_read_frame; logs per-frame metadata.daemon/src/log.{c,h}— minimal logging facade (stderr-only Phase 8.3; syslog/journal in Phase 8.5+).
Build
cd ~/src/daedalus-v4l2/daemon
mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
cmake --build .
Build dependencies (Debian Trixie):
libavformat-dev libavcodec-dev libavutil-dev. Runtime
dependencies are just ffmpeg (or rather: any package shipping
the .so.61/.so.59 files).
Verification
$ ffmpeg -hide_banner -f lavfi -i testsrc=duration=2:size=320x240:rate=30 \
-c:v libvpx-vp9 -y /tmp/testsrc.ivf
$ ls /tmp/testsrc.ivf
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mfritsche mfritsche 18611 May 18 17:09 /tmp/testsrc.ivf
$ ~/src/daedalus-v4l2/daemon/build/daedalus_v4l2_daemon parse /tmp/testsrc.ivf
[2026-05-18 17:09:54 INFO] FFmpeg loaded: 7.1.3-0+deb13u1+rpt1 (libavformat 61.7.100)
[2026-05-18 17:09:54 INFO] video stream #0: codec=vp9 (Google VP9) 320x240, 0/0 fps
[2026-05-18 17:09:54 INFO] parse complete: 60 frames (1 key) total 17859 bytes
60-frame VP9 file demuxed correctly; keyframe count and byte
total match expectations. -v flag enables per-frame DEBUG
logs (size/pts/dts/flags).
Error paths
$ daedalus_v4l2_daemon parse /tmp/does_not_exist
[INFO] FFmpeg loaded: ...
[ERR ] avformat_open_input(/tmp/does_not_exist): code -2
$ daedalus_v4l2_daemon
usage: daedalus_v4l2_daemon <command> [args]
...
Clean error reporting; exits with non-zero code.
Design notes
Why dlopen instead of static or dynamic-link?
- No version lock: the daemon binary works against any
FFmpeg
.so.61even if the patch version differs from build time. Future FFmpeg updates on the host don't force daemon rebuilds. - No transitive license issues: linking dynamically against FFmpeg (LGPL-2.1+) is fine for our BSD-2-Clause daemon, but dlopen makes it explicit and inspection-friendly.
- Optional: callers that don't need parsing (e.g., a
pre-parsed-bitstream test mode) can skip
ffmpeg_loader_initentirely.
Headers vs runtime
We #include <libavformat/avformat.h> etc. at compile time for
the struct + enum definitions (so our function-pointer
signatures are type-safe). We do NOT link against FFmpeg —
the only loader dependency is -ldl.
POSIX dlsym to function pointer
The dlsym → function pointer assignment uses the POSIX-
recommended *(void **) &fn_ptr = dlsym(...) form to avoid
the ISO C "function pointer is not a void pointer" warning.
POSIX.1-2017 dlsym(3p) Rationale explicitly endorses this
pattern.
What's NOT here
- Per-block metadata: Phase 8.3 only demuxes containers and logs frame-level info. Per-block VP9/H.264 metadata (block positions, MVs, coefficients) is Phase 8.4 work and requires either FFmpeg internal APIs or our own bitstream parsing.
- V4L2 / chardev wiring: the daemon doesn't yet open
/dev/daedalus-v4l2. Phase 8.4 connects the parse output to the chardev request/response loop. - Daemon mode: no fork / setsid / pid file / systemd unit yet. Phase 8.5+ adds those when the daemon needs to run as a long-running service.
Phase 8.4 plan
- Open
/dev/daedalus-v4l2chardev. - Wait for REQ_DECODE messages from kernel.
- For each request:
- Feed the bitstream blob into FFmpeg's parse path.
- Get an
AVFrameback (FFmpeg decodes on CPU initially). - Send RESP_FRAME with the decoded frame back.
- Validate end-to-end via a userspace V4L2 client that pushes a VP9 file at the kernel module and reads decoded frames.
The QPU dispatch via daedalus_dispatch_* from the sibling
daedalus-fourier kernel library lands in Phase 8.4 as well —
once the FFmpeg-driven decoder is working with CPU paths, we
can substitute QPU dispatch for the kernels that benefit
(cycles 1, 2, 4).