1 <refentry id="vidioc-querycap">
3 <refentrytitle>ioctl VIDIOC_QUERYCAP</refentrytitle>
8 <refname>VIDIOC_QUERYCAP</refname>
9 <refpurpose>Query device capabilities</refpurpose>
15 <funcdef>int <function>ioctl</function></funcdef>
16 <paramdef>int <parameter>fd</parameter></paramdef>
17 <paramdef>int <parameter>request</parameter></paramdef>
18 <paramdef>struct v4l2_capability *<parameter>argp</parameter></paramdef>
24 <title>Arguments</title>
28 <term><parameter>fd</parameter></term>
34 <term><parameter>request</parameter></term>
36 <para>VIDIOC_QUERYCAP</para>
40 <term><parameter>argp</parameter></term>
49 <title>Description</title>
51 <para>All V4L2 devices support the
52 <constant>VIDIOC_QUERYCAP</constant> ioctl. It is used to identify
53 kernel devices compatible with this specification and to obtain
54 information about driver and hardware capabilities. The ioctl takes a
55 pointer to a &v4l2-capability; which is filled by the driver. When the
56 driver is not compatible with this specification the ioctl returns an
59 <table pgwide="1" frame="none" id="v4l2-capability">
60 <title>struct <structname>v4l2_capability</structname></title>
66 <entry><structfield>driver</structfield>[16]</entry>
67 <entry><para>Name of the driver, a unique NUL-terminated
68 ASCII string. For example: "bttv". Driver specific applications can
69 use this information to verify the driver identity. It is also useful
70 to work around known bugs, or to identify drivers in error reports.</para>
71 <para>Storing strings in fixed sized arrays is bad
72 practice but unavoidable here. Drivers and applications should take
73 precautions to never read or write beyond the end of the array and to
74 make sure the strings are properly NUL-terminated.</para></entry>
78 <entry><structfield>card</structfield>[32]</entry>
79 <entry>Name of the device, a NUL-terminated ASCII string.
80 For example: "Yoyodyne TV/FM". One driver may support different brands
81 or models of video hardware. This information is intended for users,
82 for example in a menu of available devices. Since multiple TV cards of
83 the same brand may be installed which are supported by the same
84 driver, this name should be combined with the character device file
85 name (⪚ <filename>/dev/video2</filename>) or the
86 <structfield>bus_info</structfield> string to avoid
91 <entry><structfield>bus_info</structfield>[32]</entry>
92 <entry>Location of the device in the system, a
93 NUL-terminated ASCII string. For example: "PCI Slot 4". This
94 information is intended for users, to distinguish multiple
95 identical devices. If no such information is available the field may
96 simply count the devices controlled by the driver, or contain the
97 empty string (<structfield>bus_info</structfield>[0] = 0).<!-- XXX pci_dev->slot_name example --></entry>
101 <entry><structfield>version</structfield></entry>
102 <entry><para>Version number of the driver.</para>
103 <para>Starting on kernel 3.1, the version reported is provided per
104 V4L2 subsystem, following the same Kernel numberation scheme. However, it
105 should not always return the same version as the kernel, if, for example,
106 an stable or distribution-modified kernel uses the V4L2 stack from a
108 <para>The version number is formatted using the
109 <constant>KERNEL_VERSION()</constant> macro:</para></entry>
112 <entry spanname="hspan"><para>
114 #define KERNEL_VERSION(a,b,c) (((a) << 16) + ((b) << 8) + (c))
116 __u32 version = KERNEL_VERSION(0, 8, 1);
118 printf ("Version: %u.%u.%u\n",
119 (version >> 16) & 0xFF,
120 (version >> 8) & 0xFF,
122 </programlisting></para></entry>
126 <entry><structfield>capabilities</structfield></entry>
127 <entry>Device capabilities, see <xref
128 linkend="device-capabilities" />.</entry>
132 <entry><structfield>reserved</structfield>[4]</entry>
133 <entry>Reserved for future extensions. Drivers must set
134 this array to zero.</entry>
140 <table pgwide="1" frame="none" id="device-capabilities">
141 <title>Device Capabilities Flags</title>
146 <entry><constant>V4L2_CAP_VIDEO_CAPTURE</constant></entry>
147 <entry>0x00000001</entry>
148 <entry>The device supports the single-planar API through the <link
149 linkend="capture">Video Capture</link> interface.</entry>
152 <entry><constant>V4L2_CAP_VIDEO_CAPTURE_MPLANE</constant></entry>
153 <entry>0x00001000</entry>
154 <entry>The device supports the
155 <link linkend="planar-apis">multi-planar API</link> through the
156 <link linkend="capture">Video Capture</link> interface.</entry>
159 <entry><constant>V4L2_CAP_VIDEO_OUTPUT</constant></entry>
160 <entry>0x00000002</entry>
161 <entry>The device supports the single-planar API through the <link
162 linkend="output">Video Output</link> interface.</entry>
165 <entry><constant>V4L2_CAP_VIDEO_OUTPUT_MPLANE</constant></entry>
166 <entry>0x00002000</entry>
167 <entry>The device supports the
168 <link linkend="planar-apis">multi-planar API</link> through the
169 <link linkend="output">Video Output</link> interface.</entry>
172 <entry><constant>V4L2_CAP_VIDEO_OVERLAY</constant></entry>
173 <entry>0x00000004</entry>
174 <entry>The device supports the <link
175 linkend="overlay">Video Overlay</link> interface. A video overlay device
176 typically stores captured images directly in the video memory of a
177 graphics card, with hardware clipping and scaling.</entry>
180 <entry><constant>V4L2_CAP_VBI_CAPTURE</constant></entry>
181 <entry>0x00000010</entry>
182 <entry>The device supports the <link linkend="raw-vbi">Raw
183 VBI Capture</link> interface, providing Teletext and Closed Caption
187 <entry><constant>V4L2_CAP_VBI_OUTPUT</constant></entry>
188 <entry>0x00000020</entry>
189 <entry>The device supports the <link linkend="raw-vbi">Raw VBI Output</link> interface.</entry>
192 <entry><constant>V4L2_CAP_SLICED_VBI_CAPTURE</constant></entry>
193 <entry>0x00000040</entry>
194 <entry>The device supports the <link linkend="sliced">Sliced VBI Capture</link> interface.</entry>
197 <entry><constant>V4L2_CAP_SLICED_VBI_OUTPUT</constant></entry>
198 <entry>0x00000080</entry>
199 <entry>The device supports the <link linkend="sliced">Sliced VBI Output</link> interface.</entry>
202 <entry><constant>V4L2_CAP_RDS_CAPTURE</constant></entry>
203 <entry>0x00000100</entry>
204 <entry>The device supports the <link linkend="rds">RDS</link> capture interface.</entry>
207 <entry><constant>V4L2_CAP_VIDEO_OUTPUT_OVERLAY</constant></entry>
208 <entry>0x00000200</entry>
209 <entry>The device supports the <link linkend="osd">Video
210 Output Overlay</link> (OSD) interface. Unlike the <wordasword>Video
211 Overlay</wordasword> interface, this is a secondary function of video
212 output devices and overlays an image onto an outgoing video signal.
213 When the driver sets this flag, it must clear the
214 <constant>V4L2_CAP_VIDEO_OVERLAY</constant> flag and vice
215 versa.<footnote><para>The &v4l2-framebuffer; lacks an
216 &v4l2-buf-type; field, therefore the type of overlay is implied by the
217 driver capabilities.</para></footnote></entry>
220 <entry><constant>V4L2_CAP_HW_FREQ_SEEK</constant></entry>
221 <entry>0x00000400</entry>
222 <entry>The device supports the &VIDIOC-S-HW-FREQ-SEEK; ioctl for
223 hardware frequency seeking.</entry>
226 <entry><constant>V4L2_CAP_RDS_OUTPUT</constant></entry>
227 <entry>0x00000800</entry>
228 <entry>The device supports the <link linkend="rds">RDS</link> output interface.</entry>
231 <entry><constant>V4L2_CAP_TUNER</constant></entry>
232 <entry>0x00010000</entry>
233 <entry>The device has some sort of tuner to
234 receive RF-modulated video signals. For more information about
235 tuner programming see
236 <xref linkend="tuner" />.</entry>
239 <entry><constant>V4L2_CAP_AUDIO</constant></entry>
240 <entry>0x00020000</entry>
241 <entry>The device has audio inputs or outputs. It may or
242 may not support audio recording or playback, in PCM or compressed
243 formats. PCM audio support must be implemented as ALSA or OSS
244 interface. For more information on audio inputs and outputs see <xref
245 linkend="audio" />.</entry>
248 <entry><constant>V4L2_CAP_RADIO</constant></entry>
249 <entry>0x00040000</entry>
250 <entry>This is a radio receiver.</entry>
253 <entry><constant>V4L2_CAP_MODULATOR</constant></entry>
254 <entry>0x00080000</entry>
255 <entry>The device has some sort of modulator to
256 emit RF-modulated video/audio signals. For more information about
257 modulator programming see
258 <xref linkend="tuner" />.</entry>
261 <entry><constant>V4L2_CAP_READWRITE</constant></entry>
262 <entry>0x01000000</entry>
263 <entry>The device supports the <link
264 linkend="rw">read()</link> and/or <link linkend="rw">write()</link>
268 <entry><constant>V4L2_CAP_ASYNCIO</constant></entry>
269 <entry>0x02000000</entry>
270 <entry>The device supports the <link
271 linkend="async">asynchronous</link> I/O methods.</entry>
274 <entry><constant>V4L2_CAP_STREAMING</constant></entry>
275 <entry>0x04000000</entry>
276 <entry>The device supports the <link
277 linkend="mmap">streaming</link> I/O method.</entry>