Broadcom DirectFB-1.4.17 Version 1.5 Reference Software Release Notes

Release Date:

October 18th, 2012

Version No:

DirectFB Version 1.4.17

Broadcom Version 1.5

NOTE: This release caters for bug-fixes in the reference software from the previous DirectFB-1.4.17 Version 1.0/1.2 release.  These are outlined below.

Overview:

DirectFB stands for Direct Frame Buffer. "DirectFB is a thin library that provides hardware graphics acceleration, input device handling and abstraction, integrated windowing system with support for translucent windows and multiple display layers, on top of not only the Linux Framebuffer Device.

It is a complete hardware abstraction layer with software fallbacks for every graphics operation that is not supported by the underlying hardware.  DirectFB adds graphical power to embedded systems and sets a new standard for graphics under Linux. (see http://www.directfb.org for more details).

Licensing requirements:

DirectFB is an open-source project using a LGPL license for all core software components.  Broadcom proprietary code is part of the official release, but come under the normal Broadcom Software License Agreement (SLA).  For customers who do have not or do not want to sign the SLA, then a “limited” release is available whereby the proprietary code is omitted, but pre-built libraries are available to still allow the user to run DirectFB on Broadcom hardware.

Documentation Deliverables:

Features in this Release:

Systems Driver

·         Nexus Surface Compositor Stereoscopic 3D support added

Input Devices

·         Nexus Input Router support (Build with the flag “DIRECTFB_NIR_SUPPORT=y”)

Image Provider

·         Nexus Picture Decoder image provider with improved behaviour for broken images

Other

·         Some performance improvements for single application builds

·         Updated to use latest versions of open source libraries (JPEG, PNG, ZLIB, FFMEPG, FreeType)

·         Updated to Linux-Fusion version 8.10.4

·         Build process improved to add flexibility to reference software parser for alternate locations of key Magnum/Nexus source files

·         Testing data has been improved and benchmark scores are now stored in the release testing spreadsheet

Test Applications

·         Playback_dfb extended to add graphics detailing current file

Where To Start:

Read the “DirectFB-1.4.17_User_Guide_Version1.5_.pdf” to get started with understanding what DirectFB is and how to build it for your platform.

Build Instructions:

For detailed information about all available build options, please refer to “DirectFB-1.4.17_ User_Guide_Version1.5_.pdf”.

For quick build instructions, please follow the steps below:

1)      Ensure the following environment variables have been setup:

PLATFORM, BCHP_VER, LINUX

2)      Change into the “/AppLibs/opensource/directfb/build” directory and issue “make” followed by “make tarball” to create a tarball that can be untared on the target platform.

NOTE: This will build DirectFB in single-application mode.

NOTE2: To build in multi-application mode, please ensure you use the “DIRECTFB_MULTI=y” flag with each “make” command.

NOTE3: To build DirectFB-XS, ensure you use the “DIRECTFB_NSC_SUPPORT=y” flag with each “make” command.

NOTE4: To build with Nexus Input Router support, ensure you use the “DIRECTFB_NIR_SUPPORT=y” flag with each “make” command.

Special Notes:

To run a DirectFB application such as the Penguins demo (df_andi), please follow the instructions below:

1)      On the target platform make sure you have untared the DirectFB target platform tarball to create the “/usr/local” directory structure.  For more information about how to do this, please refer to the “DirectFB-1.4.17_Version1.0_User_Guide.pdf”.

2)      Change into the “/usr/local/bin/directfb/1.4” directory and issue “./rundfb.sh install”

3)      Now run the application you want by entering “./rundfb.sh <name of application>” (e.g. ./rundfb.sh df_andi)

NOTE: DirectFB run-time configuration options can be passed on the command line using the “--dfb:” option or setting the envar “DFBARGS” appropriately.

Core DirectFB changes or bug fixes from DirectFB-1.4.17 Version 1.0:

1)      Removed redundant calls to “Core_Push/Pop/GetCalling()” for single application build, giving a slight performance gain

2)      Moved to version 8.10.4 of the linux-fusion driver

3)      Fixed memory leak in SaWMan in update_region4()

4)      Various bugfixes backported from SaWMan 1.6

4)      SaWMan Fix to allow hardware based smooth scaling with strectch blits

Broadcom driver improvements and bug fixes since DirectFB-1.4.17 Version 1.0:

1)      Restored segmented decode support in the hardware picture decoder image provider

2)      Fixed various issues found during a pass of Klockwork (Static analysis tool) over the code

3)      Removed unused LVDS/Panel code from platform initialization code

4)      Nxsmaster shuts downs cleanly on exit

5)      FFMPEG based image provider configured to decode MPEG2 frames

6)      Removal and addition of HDMI with screen encoder API behavior restored

7)      Heap usage of the hardware picture decoder reduced by default

8)      Removed framebuffer thread from single application builds, giving a performance a slight gain.

9)      Additional digital resolutions added to screen encoder API

10)  Build process improved to add flexibility to reference software parser for alternate locations of key Magnum/Nexus source files

11)  Memory allocation for palette adjusted to avoid memory checker errors

12)  Various fixes to hardware picture decoder image provider to improve robustness

13)  Nexus Surface Compositor platform code generally improved

14)  Support for Stereoscopic 3D with Nexus Surface Compositor added

15)  Graphics2d handle now closed on exit

16)  Removed hybrid Stagecraft graphics driver cache flush code from graphics driver

17)  Improved playback_dfb example application with added graphics

18)  Usage of pthread_cond_wait() made more robust in layer code

19)  Added support for 7429 / 7421 B0 & 7358A1 parts

20)  Improved NIR platform driver

21)  USB device hotplug now works

Known Issues in DirectFB-1.4.17 Version 1.5:

1)      Color keying in Big-Endian mode doesn’t work.

2)      The Nexus Picture Decoder image provider produces garbled images when running in Big-Endian mode.

3)      When using 7346 RefSW Phase 5.5 and power management, the Still Image Decoder (SID) hardware doesn’t wake from standby. Work around the issue by disabling SID support.

Known Issues:

1)      df_dok stretch blit tests fail on 7409 platform when using RefSW Phase 6.5, due to a bug in the GRC code.

2)      Insignia tests which involve a format change from RGB32 to RGB16 will fail unless the hardware dithering is disabled.

DirectFB-1.4.17 Version 1.5 Changes from DirectFB-1.4.17 Version 1.0 release:

Add Private Examples to repository

534989

Add Insignia and Tacho tests to private directory

535360

Modify refsw parser code

534610

Need DFB automated unit tests target build

Klocwork reports possible uninitialized heap, deref of NULL-ptr, buffer overflow: bcmnexus_pool.c

537509

Klocwork reports possible memory-leak, array index out of bounds, derefs in file bcmnexus_layer.c

537569

Klocwork reports possible memory lead in file bcmnexus.c

537524

 Klocwork reports possible memory-leaks in file bcmnexus_video.c

537209

Make release broken

538274

SID image provider code doesn't free buffer cleanly

538704

jpeg-clean rule causing EC build failures.

539141

Nexus Input Router improvements

539524

Backport 1.6.0 changes to DirectFB-Broadcom package

539159

Require update_region3 code to work optimally (update_region_4)

521082

FFMPEG image provider isn't configured to decode MPEG2 stills

541735

nxsmaster application fails to run with 7425 Phase 6.0 RefSW

542390

nxsmater fails to shutdown cleanly

542871

Remove un-supported test app videoAndGfxLayerTest

547122

Add support for compliation with ccache

545837

Removing and Adding HDMI with screen encoder API has stopped working.

547682

Update DirectFB NIR as per review comments

547149

Reduce heap usage for SID driver

548425

Remove Core_*Calling() functions from single app build

548475

Add additional modes to screen encoder driver

551688

USB hotplug no longer working

548421

Remove the framebuffer thread in non-multi app builds

552614

Update NSC support to use partial regions

548419

Current DirectFB releases doesn't support blending of overlapping blits

The reference software parser code is out of date

553058

Build fails when DIRECTFB_PREFIX is not set

553791

BMRC errors when blitting from a source with LUT8

553895

Row buffer left locked in Nexus image provider

556130

Broken error handling code in image providers

556128

DirectFB cube example no longer runs - "DirectFBError [buffer->surface->Lock]: Not supported!"

JPEG decoding regression in DirectFB 1.4.17-1.1

556822

Add stereoscopic NSC support

534608

IDataBuffer_Requestor__PeekData failed when decoded a PNG image

App fails to load zlib when built with option DIRECTFB_SHARED=n

563627

Update DirectFB test app df_input

563810

typo in DFB_Platform_Init_tagged() causes NEXUS_Graphics2D_Uninit() to not be called

569523

Add support and test 7429 / 7241 B0 parts

569883

Remove hybrid Stagecraft graphics driver cache flush code

569889

Review mainline SaWMan changes

529796

Upgrade linux-fusion to 8.10.4

572115

Fix build rules for Broadcom package tools

572170

Make playback_dfb more useful in single app mode

572212

Cannot override SID build flag.

574056

pthread_cond_wait() usage in bcmSetLayerFrameBuffer

556902

Memory leak in sawman_updates.c in update_region4_r

574464

Re-Implement DirectFB NIR driver with stateless approach

576099

Update DirectFB test app df_input

576873

Import Sawman fixes from the latest in direcfb.org git repo

577353

Review secondary encoder code and tests

529415

Allow window managers to pass partial region for update

554215

Create DirectFB 1.4.17 v1.5 release

579234

USB device hotplug no longer working

580062

Fix DirectFB-Broadcom mrproper rule to remove dep files.

580912

SaWMan fix to allow HW smooth scaling with stretch blits.

580396