[v1] libcamera: base: event_dispatcher_poll: Dispatch `POLLPRI` first
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Message ID 20260107195537.2180637-1-barnabas.pocze@ideasonboard.com
State New
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  • [v1] libcamera: base: event_dispatcher_poll: Dispatch `POLLPRI` first
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Commit Message

Barnabás Pőcze Jan. 7, 2026, 7:55 p.m. UTC
When `poll()` returns multiple events for a given file descriptor, it is better
to service priority events first. So dispatch those first, and not last.

For example, a v4l2 capture device might be a source of v4l2 events (e.g. frame
start) as well as a source of dequeue-able buffers. In such cases, given the
appropriate scheduling, it is possible with the current event dispatch order
that dequeueing the buffer happens before processing the corresponding frame
start event. Such occurrence will most likely trip up any internal state machine.

The above is suspected to contribute to [0], however, that is not confirmed.

[0]: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/camera/libcamera/-/issues/267

Signed-off-by: Barnabás Pőcze <barnabas.pocze@ideasonboard.com>
---
 src/libcamera/base/event_dispatcher_poll.cpp | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

Comments

Laurent Pinchart Jan. 7, 2026, 11:54 p.m. UTC | #1
Hi Barnabás,

Thank you for the patch.

On Wed, Jan 07, 2026 at 08:55:37PM +0100, Barnabás Pőcze wrote:
> When `poll()` returns multiple events for a given file descriptor, it is better
> to service priority events first. So dispatch those first, and not last.
> 
> For example, a v4l2 capture device might be a source of v4l2 events (e.g. frame

s/v4l2/V4L2/g

> start) as well as a source of dequeue-able buffers. In such cases, given the
> appropriate scheduling, it is possible with the current event dispatch order
> that dequeueing the buffer happens before processing the corresponding frame
> start event. Such occurrence will most likely trip up any internal state machine.

Hmmm... This is a tricky one. I think this patch is fine for now, but we
may later need to make the order configurable per file descriptor.
Despite the name, there's no universal rule that I'm aware of that
indicates POLLPRI events always need to be processed first in all use
cases.

For V4L2 devices and our usage patterns I think this is fine. We don't
use POLLPRI for any other device type at the moment, so I think we can
just merge this and hope it won't come to bite us back. And when it
will, we'll see how to address the issues.

Reviewed-by: Laurent Pinchart <laurent.pinchart@ideasonboard.com>

> The above is suspected to contribute to [0], however, that is not confirmed.
> 
> [0]: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/camera/libcamera/-/issues/267
> 
> Signed-off-by: Barnabás Pőcze <barnabas.pocze@ideasonboard.com>
> ---
>  src/libcamera/base/event_dispatcher_poll.cpp | 2 +-
>  1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
> 
> diff --git a/src/libcamera/base/event_dispatcher_poll.cpp b/src/libcamera/base/event_dispatcher_poll.cpp
> index 52bfb34e2..006e223f8 100644
> --- a/src/libcamera/base/event_dispatcher_poll.cpp
> +++ b/src/libcamera/base/event_dispatcher_poll.cpp
> @@ -244,9 +244,9 @@ void EventDispatcherPoll::processNotifiers(const std::vector<struct pollfd> &pol
>  		EventNotifier::Type type;
>  		short events;
>  	} events[] = {
> +		{ EventNotifier::Exception, POLLPRI },
>  		{ EventNotifier::Read, POLLIN },
>  		{ EventNotifier::Write, POLLOUT },
> -		{ EventNotifier::Exception, POLLPRI },
>  	};
>  
>  	processingEvents_ = true;

Patch
diff mbox series

diff --git a/src/libcamera/base/event_dispatcher_poll.cpp b/src/libcamera/base/event_dispatcher_poll.cpp
index 52bfb34e2..006e223f8 100644
--- a/src/libcamera/base/event_dispatcher_poll.cpp
+++ b/src/libcamera/base/event_dispatcher_poll.cpp
@@ -244,9 +244,9 @@  void EventDispatcherPoll::processNotifiers(const std::vector<struct pollfd> &pol
 		EventNotifier::Type type;
 		short events;
 	} events[] = {
+		{ EventNotifier::Exception, POLLPRI },
 		{ EventNotifier::Read, POLLIN },
 		{ EventNotifier::Write, POLLOUT },
-		{ EventNotifier::Exception, POLLPRI },
 	};
 
 	processingEvents_ = true;