<refentry id="vidioc-prepare-buf">
  <refmeta>
    <refentrytitle>ioctl VIDIOC_PREPARE_BUF</refentrytitle>
    &manvol;
  </refmeta>

  <refnamediv>
    <refname>VIDIOC_PREPARE_BUF</refname>
    <refpurpose>Prepare a buffer for I/O</refpurpose>
  </refnamediv>

  <refsynopsisdiv>
    <funcsynopsis>
      <funcprototype>
	<funcdef>int <function>ioctl</function></funcdef>
	<paramdef>int <parameter>fd</parameter></paramdef>
	<paramdef>int <parameter>request</parameter></paramdef>
	<paramdef>struct v4l2_buffer *<parameter>argp</parameter></paramdef>
      </funcprototype>
    </funcsynopsis>
  </refsynopsisdiv>

  <refsect1>
    <title>Arguments</title>

    <variablelist>
      <varlistentry>
	<term><parameter>fd</parameter></term>
	<listitem>
	  <para>&fd;</para>
	</listitem>
      </varlistentry>
      <varlistentry>
	<term><parameter>request</parameter></term>
	<listitem>
	  <para>VIDIOC_PREPARE_BUF</para>
	</listitem>
      </varlistentry>
      <varlistentry>
	<term><parameter>argp</parameter></term>
	<listitem>
	  <para></para>
	</listitem>
      </varlistentry>
    </variablelist>
  </refsect1>

  <refsect1>
    <title>Description</title>

    <note>
      <title>Experimental</title>
      <para>This is an <link linkend="experimental"> experimental </link>
      interface and may change in the future.</para>
    </note>

    <para>Applications can optionally call the
<constant>VIDIOC_PREPARE_BUF</constant> ioctl to pass ownership of the buffer
to the driver before actually enqueuing it, using the
<constant>VIDIOC_QBUF</constant> ioctl, and to prepare it for future I/O.
Such preparations may include cache invalidation or cleaning. Performing them
in advance saves time during the actual I/O. In case such cache operations are
not required, the application can use one of
<constant>V4L2_BUF_FLAG_NO_CACHE_INVALIDATE</constant> and
<constant>V4L2_BUF_FLAG_NO_CACHE_CLEAN</constant> flags to skip the respective
step.</para>

    <para>The <structname>v4l2_buffer</structname> structure is
specified in <xref linkend="buffer" />.</para>
  </refsect1>

  <refsect1>
    &return-value;

    <variablelist>
      <varlistentry>
	<term><errorcode>EBUSY</errorcode></term>
	<listitem>
	  <para>File I/O is in progress.</para>
	</listitem>
      </varlistentry>
      <varlistentry>
	<term><errorcode>EINVAL</errorcode></term>
	<listitem>
	  <para>The buffer <structfield>type</structfield> is not
supported, or the <structfield>index</structfield> is out of bounds,
or no buffers have been allocated yet, or the
<structfield>userptr</structfield> or
<structfield>length</structfield> are invalid.</para>
	</listitem>
      </varlistentry>
    </variablelist>
  </refsect1>
</refentry>