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Title: Unofficial ALSA API documentation |
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Author: Alessandro Mauri |
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# Unofficial ALSA API documentation |
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# Unofficial ALSA API documentation |
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ALSA has to be the **worst** documented API in the whole FOSS world, so since I |
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ALSA has to be the **worst** documented API in the whole FOSS world, so since I |
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had to go trough the pain of reverse-engineering other programs I thought to save |
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had to go trough the pain of reverse-engineering other programs I thought to save |
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you form the same pain. So I present to you the most half-hassed description of |
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you form the same pain. So I present to you the most half-hassed description of |
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the ALSA API on the interweb. |
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the ALSA API on the interweb. |
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Official links: |
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* ALSA documentation [main page](https://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/alsa-lib/index.html) |
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- The [PCM interface](https://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/alsa-lib/pcm.html) |
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Unofficial links: |
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* [Userspace documentaion](https://alsa.opensrc.org/) |
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## Functions |
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## Functions |
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All the functions I encountered and some documentation / explanation |
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--- |
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### Interfaces |
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### Interfaces |
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TODO |
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[//]: # (TODO explain what interfaces are) |
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--- |
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### Streams |
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In ALSA a stream is the collection of audio data flowing from an application to |
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a card (playback), or from a card to an application (capture). |
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ALSA uses the ring buffer to store outgoing (playback) and incoming (capture, |
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record) samples. There are two pointers being maintained to allow a precise |
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communication between application and device; pointing to current processed |
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sample by hardware and last processed sample by application. |
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The modern audio chips allow to program the transfer time periods. It means that |
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the stream of samples is divided to small chunks. Device acknowledges to |
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application when the transfer of a chunk is complete. |
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The type of stream (or the direction in which sound is flowing) can be either |
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capture or playback and is determined by `snd_pcm_stream_t` which is defined as: |
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```c |
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typedef enum _snd_pcm_stream { |
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SND_PCM_STREAM_PLAYBACK = 0, // Playback stream |
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SND_PCM_STREAM_CAPTURE, // Capture stream |
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SND_PCM_STREAM_LAST = SND_PCM_STREAM_CAPTURE |
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} snd_pcm_stream_t; |
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``` |
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--- |
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### Hints |
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### Hints |
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Hints are names, descriptions and other information about sound cards, interfaces |
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Hints are names, descriptions and other information about sound cards, interfaces |
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@ -112,3 +153,123 @@ int main (int argc, char *argv[]) |
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return 0; |
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return 0; |
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} |
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} |
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``` |
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``` |
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--- |
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### PCMs |
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PCM is an abbreviation for "Pulse Code Modulation". PCM is how digital audio is |
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typically represented in a computer. The audio signal is represented by samples |
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of its instantaneous amplitude taken at regular intervals the representation of |
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each sample can take several forms. |
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In ALSA we usually use the term PCM to refer to a **PCM device**, a PCM device |
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is something like an abstract soundcard. It can either be a hardware device or a |
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PCM plugin layer device (like dmix, softvol, etc). |
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#### Open modes |
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**Blocking mode (0)**: when opening a PCM in blocked (which is the default mode) |
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the behaviour is that if the resources are already in use with another |
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application, then it blocks the caller, until resources are free. |
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**Non blocking mode (SND_PCM_NONBLOCK)**: the non-blocked mode doesn't block the |
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caller in any way and instead returns `-EBUSY` (that is `EBUSY * -1`) error when |
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the resources are not available. |
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**Asynchronous mode (SND_PCM_ASYNC)**: |
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The opening modes affect all the standard I/O operations (such as writing), in |
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the same way the options operate with `open(2)` and `write(2)`, so instead of |
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making the calling process wait when the resource is not available, operations |
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return `-EAGAIN /* EAGAIN * -1 */`, which literally means resource temporarly |
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unavailable. The operation mode for successive (to opening) I/O calls can be |
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changed with the `snd_pcm_nonblock()` function. |
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In ALSA PCM devices are controlled trough handles, which are basically pointers |
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to a data structure `snd_pcm_t` that defines it |
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```c |
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typedef struct _snd_pcm { |
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char *name; |
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snd_pcm_type_t type; |
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int stream; |
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int mode; |
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int poll_fd; |
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int setup; |
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unsigned int access; /* access mode */ |
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unsigned int format; /* SND_PCM_FORMAT_* */ |
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unsigned int subformat; /* subformat */ |
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unsigned int rate; /* rate in Hz */ |
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unsigned int channels; /* channels */ |
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size_t fragment_size; /* fragment size */ |
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unsigned int fragments; /* fragments */ |
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unsigned int start_mode; /* start mode */ |
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unsigned int ready_mode; /* ready detection mode */ |
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unsigned int xrun_mode; /* xrun detection mode */ |
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size_t avail_min; /* min avail frames for wakeup */ |
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size_t xfer_min; /* xfer min size */ |
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size_t xfer_align; /* xfer size need to be a multiple */ |
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unsigned int time: 1; /* timestamp switch */ |
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size_t boundary; /* pointers wrap point */ |
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unsigned int info; /* Info for returned setup */ |
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unsigned int msbits; /* used most significant bits */ |
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unsigned int rate_master; /* Exact rate is rate_master / */ |
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unsigned int rate_divisor; /* rate_divisor */ |
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size_t fifo_size; /* chip FIFO size in frames */ |
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size_t buffer_size; |
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size_t bits_per_sample; |
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size_t bits_per_frame; |
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size_t *appl_ptr; |
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volatile size_t *hw_ptr; |
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int mmap_rw; |
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snd_pcm_channel_info_t *mmap_channels; |
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snd_pcm_channel_area_t *running_areas; |
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snd_pcm_channel_area_t *stopped_areas; |
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void *stopped; |
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snd_pcm_ops_t *ops; |
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snd_pcm_fast_ops_t *fast_ops; |
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snd_pcm_t *op_arg; |
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snd_pcm_t *fast_op_arg; |
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void *private; |
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} snd_pcm_t; |
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``` |
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That's a lot of stuff but luckly we have functions to operate on this struct. |
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#### `snd_pcm_open` |
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Open a pcm returning it's handle that is pointer to it's defining data structure, |
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`snd_pcm_t` |
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```c |
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int snd_pcm_open (snd_pcm_t **pcmp, const char *name, snd_pcm_stream_t stream, int mode); |
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``` |
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ARGS: |
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* `(const char)name`: PCM name identifier |
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* `(snd_pcm_stream_t)stream`: wanted stream |
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* `(int)mode`: mode of opening, valid modes are |
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- 0: blocking mode |
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- SND_PCM_NONBLOCK: non blocking mode |
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- SND_PCM_ASYNC: async notification mode |
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RESULT: |
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* `(snd_pcm_t)pcmp`: PCM handle, link to the PCM's defining struct. After use |
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the handle should be passed to `snd_pcm_close()` to close and free the resources. |
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RETURN: `(int)` 0 on success or negative code on error |
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#### `snd_pcm_close` |
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Close a PCM handle freeing the allocated resources |
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```c |
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int snd_pcm_close (snd_pcm_t *pcm); |
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``` |
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ARGS: |
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* `(snd_pcm_t *)pcm`: the PCM handle to close |
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RESULT: RETURN: `(int)` 0 on success or negative code on error |
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#### `snd_pcm_nonblock` |
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