doc: uapi: Add document describing dma-buf semantics

Since there's a lot of confusion around this, document both the rules
and the best practices around negotiating, allocating, importing, and
using buffers when crossing context/process/device/subsystem boundaries.

This ties up all of dma-buf, formats and modifiers, and their usage.

Signed-off-by: Daniel Stone <daniels@collabora.com>
Signed-off-by: Simon Ser <contact@emersion.fr>
Reviewed-by: Simon Ser <contact@emersion.fr>
Reviewed-by: Sui Jingfeng <suijingfeng@loongson.cn>
Acked-by: Daniel Vetter <daniel.vetter@ffwll.ch>
Link: https://patchwork.freedesktop.org/patch/msgid/20230803154908.105124-4-daniels@collabora.com

2 files changed, 390 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/userspace-api/dma-buf-alloc-exchange.rst b/Documentation/userspace-api/dma-buf-alloc-exchange.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..fdff19fce13e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/userspace-api/dma-buf-alloc-exchange.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,389 @@
+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+.. Copyright 2021-2023 Collabora Ltd.
+
+========================
+Exchanging pixel buffers
+========================
+
+As originally designed, the Linux graphics subsystem had extremely limited
+support for sharing pixel-buffer allocations between processes, devices, and
+subsystems. Modern systems require extensive integration between all three
+classes; this document details how applications and kernel subsystems should
+approach this sharing for two-dimensional image data.
+
+It is written with reference to the DRM subsystem for GPU and display devices,
+V4L2 for media devices, and also to Vulkan, EGL and Wayland, for userspace
+support, however any other subsystems should also follow this design and advice.
+
+
+Glossary of terms
+=================
+
+.. glossary::
+
+    image:
+      Conceptually a two-dimensional array of pixels. The pixels may be stored
+      in one or more memory buffers. Has width and height in pixels, pixel
+      format and modifier (implicit or explicit).
+
+    row:
+      A span along a single y-axis value, e.g. from co-ordinates (0,100) to
+      (200,100).
+
+    scanline:
+      Synonym for row.
+
+    column:
+      A span along a single x-axis value, e.g. from co-ordinates (100,0) to
+      (100,100).
+
+    memory buffer:
+      A piece of memory for storing (parts of) pixel data. Has stride and size
+      in bytes and at least one handle in some API. May contain one or more
+      planes.
+
+    plane:
+      A two-dimensional array of some or all of an image's color and alpha
+      channel values.
+
+    pixel:
+      A picture element. Has a single color value which is defined by one or
+      more color channels values, e.g. R, G and B, or Y, Cb and Cr. May also
+      have an alpha value as an additional channel.
+
+    pixel data:
+      Bytes or bits that represent some or all of the color/alpha channel values
+      of a pixel or an image. The data for one pixel may be spread over several
+      planes or memory buffers depending on format and modifier.
+
+    color value:
+      A tuple of numbers, representing a color. Each element in the tuple is a
+      color channel value.
+
+    color channel:
+      One of the dimensions in a color model. For example, RGB model has
+      channels R, G, and B. Alpha channel is sometimes counted as a color
+      channel as well.
+
+    pixel format:
+      A description of how pixel data represents the pixel's color and alpha
+      values.
+
+    modifier:
+      A description of how pixel data is laid out in memory buffers.
+
+    alpha:
+      A value that denotes the color coverage in a pixel. Sometimes used for
+      translucency instead.
+
+    stride:
+      A value that denotes the relationship between pixel-location co-ordinates
+      and byte-offset values. Typically used as the byte offset between two
+      pixels at the start of vertically-consecutive tiling blocks. For linear
+      layouts, the byte offset between two vertically-adjacent pixels. For
+      non-linear formats the stride must be computed in a consistent way, which
+      usually is done as-if the layout was linear.
+
+    pitch:
+      Synonym for stride.
+
+
+Formats and modifiers
+=====================
+
+Each buffer must have an underlying format. This format describes the color
+values provided for each pixel. Although each subsystem has its own format
+descriptions (e.g. V4L2 and fbdev), the ``DRM_FORMAT_*`` tokens should be reused
+wherever possible, as they are the standard descriptions used for interchange.
+These tokens are described in the ``drm_fourcc.h`` file, which is a part of
+DRM's uAPI.
+
+Each ``DRM_FORMAT_*`` token describes the translation between a pixel
+co-ordinate in an image, and the color values for that pixel contained within
+its memory buffers. The number and type of color channels are described:
+whether they are RGB or YUV, integer or floating-point, the size of each channel
+and their locations within the pixel memory, and the relationship between color
+planes.
+
+For example, ``DRM_FORMAT_ARGB8888`` describes a format in which each pixel has
+a single 32-bit value in memory. Alpha, red, green, and blue, color channels are
+available at 8-bit precision per channel, ordered respectively from most to
+least significant bits in little-endian storage. ``DRM_FORMAT_*`` is not
+affected by either CPU or device endianness; the byte pattern in memory is
+always as described in the format definition, which is usually little-endian.
+
+As a more complex example, ``DRM_FORMAT_NV12`` describes a format in which luma
+and chroma YUV samples are stored in separate planes, where the chroma plane is
+stored at half the resolution in both dimensions (i.e. one U/V chroma
+sample is stored for each 2x2 pixel grouping).
+
+Format modifiers describe a translation mechanism between these per-pixel memory
+samples, and the actual memory storage for the buffer. The most straightforward
+modifier is ``DRM_FORMAT_MOD_LINEAR``, describing a scheme in which each plane
+is laid out row-sequentially, from the top-left to the bottom-right corner.
+This is considered the baseline interchange format, and most convenient for CPU
+access.
+
+Modern hardware employs much more sophisticated access mechanisms, typically
+making use of tiled access and possibly also compression. For example, the
+``DRM_FORMAT_MOD_VIVANTE_TILED`` modifier describes memory storage where pixels
+are stored in 4x4 blocks arranged in row-major ordering, i.e. the first tile in
+a plane stores pixels (0,0) to (3,3) inclusive, and the second tile in a plane
+stores pixels (4,0) to (7,3) inclusive.
+
+Some modifiers may modify the number of planes required for an image; for
+example, the ``I915_FORMAT_MOD_Y_TILED_CCS`` modifier adds a second plane to RGB
+formats in which it stores data about the status of every tile, notably
+including whether the tile is fully populated with pixel data, or can be
+expanded from a single solid color.
+
+These extended layouts are highly vendor-specific, and even specific to
+particular generations or configurations of devices per-vendor. For this reason,
+support of modifiers must be explicitly enumerated and negotiated by all users
+in order to ensure a compatible and optimal pipeline, as discussed below.
+
+
+Dimensions and size
+===================
+
+Each pixel buffer must be accompanied by logical pixel dimensions. This refers
+to the number of unique samples which can be extracted from, or stored to, the
+underlying memory storage. For example, even though a 1920x1080
+``DRM_FORMAT_NV12`` buffer has a luma plane containing 1920x1080 samples for the Y
+component, and 960x540 samples for the U and V components, the overall buffer is
+still described as having dimensions of 1920x1080.
+
+The in-memory storage of a buffer is not guaranteed to begin immediately at the
+base address of the underlying memory, nor is it guaranteed that the memory
+storage is tightly clipped to either dimension.
+
+Each plane must therefore be described with an ``offset`` in bytes, which will be
+added to the base address of the memory storage before performing any per-pixel
+calculations. This may be used to combine multiple planes into a single memory
+buffer; for example, ``DRM_FORMAT_NV12`` may be stored in a single memory buffer
+where the luma plane's storage begins immediately at the start of the buffer
+with an offset of 0, and the chroma plane's storage follows within the same buffer
+beginning from the byte offset for that plane.
+
+Each plane must also have a ``stride`` in bytes, expressing the offset in memory
+between two contiguous row. For example, a ``DRM_FORMAT_MOD_LINEAR`` buffer
+with dimensions of 1000x1000 may have been allocated as if it were 1024x1000, in
+order to allow for aligned access patterns. In this case, the buffer will still
+be described with a width of 1000, however the stride will be ``1024 * bpp``,
+indicating that there are 24 pixels at the positive extreme of the x axis whose
+values are not significant.
+
+Buffers may also be padded further in the y dimension, simply by allocating a
+larger area than would ordinarily be required. For example, many media decoders
+are not able to natively output buffers of height 1080, but instead require an
+effective height of 1088 pixels. In this case, the buffer continues to be
+described as having a height of 1080, with the memory allocation for each buffer
+being increased to account for the extra padding.
+
+
+Enumeration
+===========
+
+Every user of pixel buffers must be able to enumerate a set of supported formats
+and modifiers, described together. Within KMS, this is achieved with the
+``IN_FORMATS`` property on each DRM plane, listing the supported DRM formats, and
+the modifiers supported for each format. In userspace, this is supported through
+the `EGL_EXT_image_dma_buf_import_modifiers`_ extension entrypoints for EGL, the
+`VK_EXT_image_drm_format_modifier`_ extension for Vulkan, and the
+`zwp_linux_dmabuf_v1`_ extension for Wayland.
+
+Each of these interfaces allows users to query a set of supported
+format+modifier combinations.
+
+
+Negotiation
+===========
+
+It is the responsibility of userspace to negotiate an acceptable format+modifier
+combination for its usage. This is performed through a simple intersection of
+lists. For example, if a user wants to use Vulkan to render an image to be
+displayed on a KMS plane, it must:
+
+ - query KMS for the ``IN_FORMATS`` property for the given plane
+ - query Vulkan for the supported formats for its physical device, making sure
+   to pass the ``VkImageUsageFlagBits`` and ``VkImageCreateFlagBits``
+   corresponding to the intended rendering use
+ - intersect these formats to determine the most appropriate one
+ - for this format, intersect the lists of supported modifiers for both KMS and
+   Vulkan, to obtain a final list of acceptable modifiers for that format
+
+This intersection must be performed for all usages. For example, if the user
+also wishes to encode the image to a video stream, it must query the media API
+it intends to use for encoding for the set of modifiers it supports, and
+additionally intersect against this list.
+
+If the intersection of all lists is an empty list, it is not possible to share
+buffers in this way, and an alternate strategy must be considered (e.g. using
+CPU access routines to copy data between the different uses, with the
+corresponding performance cost).
+
+The resulting modifier list is unsorted; the order is not significant.
+
+
+Allocation
+==========
+
+Once userspace has determined an appropriate format, and corresponding list of
+acceptable modifiers, it must allocate the buffer. As there is no universal
+buffer-allocation interface available at either kernel or userspace level, the
+client makes an arbitrary choice of allocation interface such as Vulkan, GBM, or
+a media API.
+
+Each allocation request must take, at a minimum: the pixel format, a list of
+acceptable modifiers, and the buffer's width and height. Each API may extend
+this set of properties in different ways, such as allowing allocation in more
+than two dimensions, intended usage patterns, etc.
+
+The component which allocates the buffer will make an arbitrary choice of what
+it considers the 'best' modifier within the acceptable list for the requested
+allocation, any padding required, and further properties of the underlying
+memory buffers such as whether they are stored in system or device-specific
+memory, whether or not they are physically contiguous, and their cache mode.
+These properties of the memory buffer are not visible to userspace, however the
+``dma-heaps`` API is an effort to address this.
+
+After allocation, the client must query the allocator to determine the actual
+modifier selected for the buffer, as well as the per-plane offset and stride.
+Allocators are not permitted to vary the format in use, to select a modifier not
+provided within the acceptable list, nor to vary the pixel dimensions other than
+the padding expressed through offset, stride, and size.
+
+Communicating additional constraints, such as alignment of stride or offset,
+placement within a particular memory area, etc, is out of scope of dma-buf,
+and is not solved by format and modifier tokens.
+
+
+Import
+======
+
+To use a buffer within a different context, device, or subsystem, the user
+passes these parameters (format, modifier, width, height, and per-plane offset
+and stride) to an importing API.
+
+Each memory buffer is referred to by a buffer handle, which may be unique or
+duplicated within an image. For example, a ``DRM_FORMAT_NV12`` buffer may have
+the luma and chroma buffers combined into a single memory buffer by use of the
+per-plane offset parameters, or they may be completely separate allocations in
+memory. For this reason, each import and allocation API must provide a separate
+handle for each plane.
+
+Each kernel subsystem has its own types and interfaces for buffer management.
+DRM uses GEM buffer objects (BOs), V4L2 has its own references, etc. These types
+are not portable between contexts, processes, devices, or subsystems.
+
+To address this, ``dma-buf`` handles are used as the universal interchange for
+buffers. Subsystem-specific operations are used to export native buffer handles
+to a ``dma-buf`` file descriptor, and to import those file descriptors into a
+native buffer handle. dma-buf file descriptors can be transferred between
+contexts, processes, devices, and subsystems.
+
+For example, a Wayland media player may use V4L2 to decode a video frame into a
+``DRM_FORMAT_NV12`` buffer. This will result in two memory planes (luma and
+chroma) being dequeued by the user from V4L2. These planes are then exported to
+one dma-buf file descriptor per plane, these descriptors are then sent along
+with the metadata (format, modifier, width, height, per-plane offset and stride)
+to the Wayland server. The Wayland server will then import these file
+descriptors as an EGLImage for use through EGL/OpenGL (ES), a VkImage for use
+through Vulkan, or a KMS framebuffer object; each of these import operations
+will take the same metadata and convert the dma-buf file descriptors into their
+native buffer handles.
+
+Having a non-empty intersection of supported modifiers does not guarantee that
+import will succeed into all consumers; they may have constraints beyond those
+implied by modifiers which must be satisfied.
+
+
+Implicit modifiers
+==================
+
+The concept of modifiers post-dates all of the subsystems mentioned above. As
+such, it has been retrofitted into all of these APIs, and in order to ensure
+backwards compatibility, support is needed for drivers and userspace which do
+not (yet) support modifiers.
+
+As an example, GBM is used to allocate buffers to be shared between EGL for
+rendering and KMS for display. It has two entrypoints for allocating buffers:
+``gbm_bo_create`` which only takes the format, width, height, and a usage token,
+and ``gbm_bo_create_with_modifiers`` which extends this with a list of modifiers.
+
+In the latter case, the allocation is as discussed above, being provided with a
+list of acceptable modifiers that the implementation can choose from (or fail if
+it is not possible to allocate within those constraints). In the former case
+where modifiers are not provided, the GBM implementation must make its own
+choice as to what is likely to be the 'best' layout. Such a choice is entirely
+implementation-specific: some will internally use tiled layouts which are not
+CPU-accessible if the implementation decides that is a good idea through
+whatever heuristic. It is the implementation's responsibility to ensure that
+this choice is appropriate.
+
+To support this case where the layout is not known because there is no awareness
+of modifiers, a special ``DRM_FORMAT_MOD_INVALID`` token has been defined. This
+pseudo-modifier declares that the layout is not known, and that the driver
+should use its own logic to determine what the underlying layout may be.
+
+.. note::
+
+  ``DRM_FORMAT_MOD_INVALID`` is a non-zero value. The modifier value zero is
+  ``DRM_FORMAT_MOD_LINEAR``, which is an explicit guarantee that the image
+  has the linear layout. Care and attention should be taken to ensure that
+  zero as a default value is not mixed up with either no modifier or the linear
+  modifier. Also note that in some APIs the invalid modifier value is specified
+  with an out-of-band flag, like in ``DRM_IOCTL_MODE_ADDFB2``.
+
+There are four cases where this token may be used:
+  - during enumeration, an interface may return ``DRM_FORMAT_MOD_INVALID``, either
+    as the sole member of a modifier list to declare that explicit modifiers are
+    not supported, or as part of a larger list to declare that implicit modifiers
+    may be used
+  - during allocation, a user may supply ``DRM_FORMAT_MOD_INVALID``, either as the
+    sole member of a modifier list (equivalent to not supplying a modifier list
+    at all) to declare that explicit modifiers are not supported and must not be
+    used, or as part of a larger list to declare that an allocation using implicit
+    modifiers is acceptable
+  - in a post-allocation query, an implementation may return
+    ``DRM_FORMAT_MOD_INVALID`` as the modifier of the allocated buffer to declare
+    that the underlying layout is implementation-defined and that an explicit
+    modifier description is not available; per the above rules, this may only be
+    returned when the user has included ``DRM_FORMAT_MOD_INVALID`` as part of the
+    list of acceptable modifiers, or not provided a list
+  - when importing a buffer, the user may supply ``DRM_FORMAT_MOD_INVALID`` as the
+    buffer modifier (or not supply a modifier) to indicate that the modifier is
+    unknown for whatever reason; this is only acceptable when the buffer has
+    not been allocated with an explicit modifier
+
+It follows from this that for any single buffer, the complete chain of operations
+formed by the producer and all the consumers must be either fully implicit or fully
+explicit. For example, if a user wishes to allocate a buffer for use between
+GPU, display, and media, but the media API does not support modifiers, then the
+user **must not** allocate the buffer with explicit modifiers and attempt to
+import the buffer into the media API with no modifier, but either perform the
+allocation using implicit modifiers, or allocate the buffer for media use
+separately and copy between the two buffers.
+
+As one exception to the above, allocations may be 'upgraded' from implicit
+to explicit modifiers. For example, if the buffer is allocated with
+``gbm_bo_create`` (taking no modifiers), the user may then query the modifier with
+``gbm_bo_get_modifier`` and then use this modifier as an explicit modifier token
+if a valid modifier is returned.
+
+When allocating buffers for exchange between different users and modifiers are
+not available, implementations are strongly encouraged to use
+``DRM_FORMAT_MOD_LINEAR`` for their allocation, as this is the universal baseline
+for exchange. However, it is not guaranteed that this will result in the correct
+interpretation of buffer content, as implicit modifier operation may still be
+subject to driver-specific heuristics.
+
+Any new users - userspace programs and protocols, kernel subsystems, etc -
+wishing to exchange buffers must offer interoperability through dma-buf file
+descriptors for memory planes, DRM format tokens to describe the format, DRM
+format modifiers to describe the layout in memory, at least width and height for
+dimensions, and at least offset and stride for each memory plane.
+
+.. _zwp_linux_dmabuf_v1: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/wayland/wayland-protocols/-/blob/main/unstable/linux-dmabuf/linux-dmabuf-unstable-v1.xml
+.. _VK_EXT_image_drm_format_modifier: https://registry.khronos.org/vulkan/specs/1.3-extensions/man/html/VK_EXT_image_drm_format_modifier.html
+.. _EGL_EXT_image_dma_buf_import_modifiers: https://registry.khronos.org/EGL/extensions/EXT/EGL_EXT_image_dma_buf_import_modifiers.txt
diff --git a/Documentation/userspace-api/index.rst b/Documentation/userspace-api/index.rst
index 72a65db0c498..031df47a7c19 100644
--- a/Documentation/userspace-api/index.rst
+++ b/Documentation/userspace-api/index.rst
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ place where this information is gathered.
    unshare
    spec_ctrl
    accelerators/ocxl
+   dma-buf-alloc-exchange
    ebpf/index
    ELF
    ioctl/index