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FFmpeg/doc/multithreading.txt
Anton Khirnov a83098ab03 avcodec: deprecate thread_safe_callbacks
They add considerable complexity to frame-threading implementation,
which includes an unavoidably leaking error path, while the advantages
of this option to the users are highly dubious.

It should be always possible and desirable for the callers to make their
get_buffer2() implementation thread-safe, so deprecate this option.
2020-11-27 15:46:50 +01:00

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FFmpeg multithreading methods
==============================================
FFmpeg provides two methods for multithreading codecs.
Slice threading decodes multiple parts of a frame at the same time, using
AVCodecContext execute() and execute2().
Frame threading decodes multiple frames at the same time.
It accepts N future frames and delays decoded pictures by N-1 frames.
The later frames are decoded in separate threads while the user is
displaying the current one.
Restrictions on clients
==============================================
Slice threading -
* The client's draw_horiz_band() must be thread-safe according to the comment
in avcodec.h.
Frame threading -
* Restrictions with slice threading also apply.
* Custom get_buffer2() and get_format() callbacks must be thread-safe.
* There is one frame of delay added for every thread beyond the first one.
Clients must be able to handle this; the pkt_dts and pkt_pts fields in
AVFrame will work as usual.
Restrictions on codec implementations
==============================================
Slice threading -
None except that there must be something worth executing in parallel.
Frame threading -
* Codecs can only accept entire pictures per packet.
* Codecs similar to ffv1, whose streams don't reset across frames,
will not work because their bitstreams cannot be decoded in parallel.
* The contents of buffers must not be read before ff_thread_await_progress()
has been called on them. reget_buffer() and buffer age optimizations no longer work.
* The contents of buffers must not be written to after ff_thread_report_progress()
has been called on them. This includes draw_edges().
Porting codecs to frame threading
==============================================
Find all context variables that are needed by the next frame. Move all
code changing them, as well as code calling get_buffer(), up to before
the decode process starts. Call ff_thread_finish_setup() afterwards. If
some code can't be moved, have update_thread_context() run it in the next
thread.
Add AV_CODEC_CAP_FRAME_THREADS to the codec capabilities. There will be very little
speed gain at this point but it should work.
If there are inter-frame dependencies, so the codec calls
ff_thread_report/await_progress(), set FF_CODEC_CAP_ALLOCATE_PROGRESS in
AVCodec.caps_internal and use ff_thread_get_buffer() to allocate frames. The
frames must then be freed with ff_thread_release_buffer().
Otherwise decode directly into the user-supplied frames.
Call ff_thread_report_progress() after some part of the current picture has decoded.
A good place to put this is where draw_horiz_band() is called - add this if it isn't
called anywhere, as it's useful too and the implementation is trivial when you're
doing this. Note that draw_edges() needs to be called before reporting progress.
Before accessing a reference frame or its MVs, call ff_thread_await_progress().