frontend_scan(3)

📦

version 1.32.0 · 2 versions

1.32.0 · fedora 43 (latest)
1.30.1 · fedora 43

🌸 frontend_scan(3) 🌸

okay so bestie, welcome to the frontend_scan(3) glow-up — it's a Library Functions Manual situation and it's literally about Digital TV frontend scan. Grab a strawberry drink, we're doing DVB together 🍓💖

✨ NAME ✨

frontend_scan — Digital TV frontend scan. that's it, that's the name, short and iconic 👑

💅 SYNOPSIS 💅

📁 Files

dvb-scan.h — provides interfaces to scan programs inside MPEG-TS digital TV streams. the little entry point, the moment, the vibe 🦋

🧱 Data Structures

struct dvb_v5_descriptors_program — associates PMT with PAT tables. they're besties, they come as a pair 🫶
struct dvb_v5_descriptors — contains the descriptors needed to scan the Service ID and other relevant info at a MPEG-TS Digital TV stream. the main character fr 💅
struct dvb_table_filter — describes the PES filters used by DVB scan.

🏷️ Typedefs

typedef int check_frontend_t(void *args, struct dvb_v5_fe_parms *parms) — callback for the application to show the frontend status. it's giving "hey app, tell everyone how the frontend is doing" ✨

🛠️ Functions

dvb_dev_scan() — scans a DVB dvb_add_scaned_transponder.

struct dvb_v5_descriptors * dvb_dev_scan (struct dvb_open_descriptor *open_dev, struct dvb_entry *entry, check_frontend_t *check_frontend, void *args, unsigned other_nit, unsigned timeout_multiply)

dvb_table_filter_free() — deallocates all data associated with a table filter. bye bye, clean up after yourself bestie 🧹

void dvb_table_filter_free (struct dvb_table_filter *sect)

dvb_read_section() — read MPEG-TS tables that comes from a DTV card.

int dvb_read_section (struct dvb_v5_fe_parms *parms, int dmx_fd, unsigned char tid, uint16_t pid, void **table, unsigned timeout)

dvb_read_section_with_id() — read MPEG-TS tables that comes from a DTV card with an specific table section ID. the ✨picky✨ version, it knows exactly which section ID it wants.

int dvb_read_section_with_id (struct dvb_v5_fe_parms *parms, int dmx_fd, unsigned char tid, uint16_t pid, int ts_id, void **table, unsigned timeout)

dvb_read_sections() — read MPEG-TS tables that comes from a DTV card.

int dvb_read_sections (struct dvb_v5_fe_parms *parms, int dmx_fd, struct dvb_table_filter *sect, unsigned timeout)

dvb_scan_alloc_handler_table() — allocates a struct dvb_v5_descriptors.

struct dvb_v5_descriptors * dvb_scan_alloc_handler_table (uint32_t delivery_system)

dvb_scan_free_handler_table() — frees a struct dvb_v5_descriptors.

void dvb_scan_free_handler_table (struct dvb_v5_descriptors *dvb_scan_handler)

dvb_get_ts_tables() — scans a DVB stream, looking for the tables needed to identify the programs inside a MPEG-TS. it's on a lil scavenger hunt for tables 🔍

struct dvb_v5_descriptors * dvb_get_ts_tables (struct dvb_v5_fe_parms *parms, int dmx_fd, uint32_t delivery_system, unsigned other_nit, unsigned timeout_multiply)

dvb_free_ts_tables() — frees a struct dvb_v5_descriptors.

void dvb_free_ts_tables (struct dvb_v5_descriptors *dvb_desc)

dvb_scan_transponder() — scans a DVB dvb_add_scaned_transponder.

struct dvb_v5_descriptors * dvb_scan_transponder (struct dvb_v5_fe_parms *parms, struct dvb_entry *entry, int dmx_fd, check_frontend_t *check_frontend, void *args, unsigned other_nit, unsigned timeout_multiply)

dvb_add_scaned_transponders() — add new transponders to a dvb_file.

void dvb_add_scaned_transponders (struct dvb_v5_fe_parms *parms, struct dvb_v5_descriptors *dvb_scan_handler, struct dvb_entry *first_entry, struct dvb_entry *entry)

💖 Detailed Description 💖

ngl bestie, this section is literally just a heading in the original — no prose, no lore, nothing. an empty room with great lighting 💀✨ so we move on, no cap.

🎀 Typedef Documentation 🎀

`typedef int check_frontend_t(void args, struct dvb_v5_fe_parms parms)`

Callback for the application to show the frontend status. your app gets to flex and display what the frontend is up to 💅

Parameters

args — a pointer, opaque to libdvbv5, to be used by the application if needed. it's yours, libdvbv5 is literally not looking 👀
parms — pointer to struct dvb_v5_fe_parms created when the frontend is opened.

Definition at line 293 of file dvb-scan.h. ✨

💖 Function Documentation 💖

🌸 `dvb_add_scaned_transponders`

void dvb_add_scaned_transponders (struct dvb_v5_fe_parms * parms, struct
    dvb_v5_descriptors * dvb_scan_handler, struct dvb_entry * first_entry,
    struct dvb_entry * entry)

okay so this one is literally "add new transponders to a dvb_file" 💅

Parameters 🎀

parms — pointer to struct dvb_v5_fe_parms created when the frontend is opened
dvb_scan_handler — pointer to a struct dvb_v5_descriptors containing scaned MPEG-TS
first_entry — first entry of a DVB file struct
entry — current entry on a DVB file struct

So here's the tea: when the NIT table gets parsed, sometimes there are brand new transponders described inside it. This function adds new entries to a dvb_file struct, pointing to those new transponders. It's used inside the scan loop, as shown at the dvb_scan_transponder(), to add new channels. 🦋

Example: ✨

for (entry = dvb_file->first_entry; entry != NULL; entry = entry->next) {
     struct dvb_v5_descriptors *dvb_scan_handler = NULL;

     dvb_scan_handler = dvb_scan_transponder(parms, entry, dmx_fd,
                                        &check_frontend, args,
                                        args->other_nit,
                                        args->timeout_multiply);
     if (parms->abort) {
        dvb_scan_free_handler_table(dvb_scan_handler);
        break;
     }
     if (dvb_scan_handler) {
        dvb_store_channel(&dvb_file_new, parms, dvb_scan_handler,
                          args->get_detected, args->get_nit);
        dvb_scan_free_handler_table(dvb_scan_handler);

        dvb_add_scaned_transponders(parms, dvb_scan_handler,
                                    dvb_file->first_entry, entry);

        dvb_scan_free_handler_table(dvb_scan_handler);
        }
}

🌈 `dvb_dev_scan`

struct dvb_v5_descriptors * dvb_dev_scan (struct dvb_open_descriptor *
    open_dev, struct dvb_entry * entry, check_frontend_t * check_frontend,
    void * args, unsigned other_nit, unsigned timeout_multiply)

Scans a DVB dvb_add_scaned_transponder. (yes that's really what the one-liner says, i'm just the messenger 😭)

Parameters 🫶

entry — DVB file entry that corresponds to a transponder to be tuned
open_dev — Points to the struct dvb_open_descriptor
check_frontend — a pointer to a function that will show the frontend status while tuning into a transponder
args — a pointer, opaque to libdvbv5, that will be used when calling check_frontend. It should contain any parameters that could be needed by check_frontend.
other_nit — Use alternate table IDs for NIT and other tables
timeout_multiply — Improves the timeout for each table reception, by

This is the function that applications should use when doing a transponders scan, bestie. 👑 It does everything needed to fill the entries with DVB programs (virtual channels) and detect the PIDs associated with them.

This is the dvb_device variant of dvb_scan_transponder().

🎀 `dvb_free_ts_tables`

void dvb_free_ts_tables (struct dvb_v5_descriptors * dvb_desc)

frees a struct dvb_v5_descriptors 🧚

Parameters

dvb_desc — pointed to the structure to be freed.

This function recursively frees everything that is allocated by dvb_get_ts_tables() and stored at dvb_desc, including dvb_desc itself. so like, full cleanup, nothing left behind, periodt ✨

💜 `dvb_get_ts_tables`

struct dvb_v5_descriptors * dvb_get_ts_tables (struct dvb_v5_fe_parms *
    parms, int dmx_fd, uint32_t delivery_system, unsigned other_nit,
    unsigned timeout_multiply)

Scans a DVB stream, looking for the tables needed to identify the programs inside a MPEG-TS. 🔥

Parameters

parms — pointer to struct dvb_v5_fe_parms created when the frontend is opened
dmx_fd — an opened demux file descriptor
delivery_system — delivery system to be scanned
other_nit — use alternate table IDs for NIT and other tables
timeout_multiply — improves the timeout for each table reception by using a value that will multiply the wait time.

Given an opened frontend and demux, this function seeks for all programs available at the transport stream, and parses the following tables: PAT, PMT, NIT, SDT (and VCT, if the delivery system is ATSC). the way it just hoovers up every table it can find 💅

On sucess, it returns a pointer to a struct dvb_v5_descriptors, that can either be used to tune into a service or to be stored inside a file.

⭐ `dvb_read_section`

int dvb_read_section (struct dvb_v5_fe_parms * parms, int dmx_fd, unsigned
    char tid, uint16_t pid, void ** table, unsigned timeout)

read MPEG-TS tables that comes from a DTV card 🌸

Parameters

parms — pointer to struct dvb_v5_fe_parms created when the frontend is opened
dmx_fd — an opened demux file descriptor
tid — Table ID
pid — Program ID
table — pointer to a pointer for the table struct to be filled
timeout — Limit, in seconds, to read a MPEG-TS table

This function is used to read the DVB tables by specifying a table ID and a program ID. The libdvbv5 should have a parser for the descriptors of the table type that should be parsed. The table will be automatically allocated on success. The function will read on the specified demux and return when reading is done or an error has occurred. If table is not NULL after the call, it has to be freed with the apropriate free table function (even if an error has occurred). 🫶

If the application wants to abort the read operation, it can change the value of parms->p.abort to 1. like, emergency exit button, iykyk 🙈

Returns 0 on success or a negative error code.

Example usage: ✨

struct dvb_table_pat *pat;
int r = dvb_read_section( parms, dmx_fd, DVB_TABLE_PAT, DVB_TABLE_PAT_PID,
                    (void **) &pat, 5 );
if (r < 0)
     dvb_logerr("error reading PAT table");
else {
     // do something with pat
}
if (pat)
     dvb_table_pat_free( pat );

🦋 `dvb_read_section_with_id`

int dvb_read_section_with_id (struct dvb_v5_fe_parms * parms, int dmx_fd,
    unsigned char tid, uint16_t pid, int ts_id, void ** table, unsigned
    timeout)

read MPEG-TS tables that comes from a DTV card with an specific table section ID 🎀

Parameters

parms — pointer to struct dvb_v5_fe_parms created when the frontend is opened
dmx_fd — an opened demux file descriptor
tid — Table ID
pid — Program ID
ts_id — Table section ID (for multisession filtering). If no specific table section is needed, -1 should be used
table — pointer to a pointer for the table struct to be filled
timeout — limit, in seconds, to read a MPEG-TS table

This is a variant of dvb_read_section() that also seeks for an specific table section ID given by ts_id. so it's the same vibe but with extra targeting 💅

💖 `dvb_read_sections`

int dvb_read_sections (struct dvb_v5_fe_parms * parms, int dmx_fd, struct
    dvb_table_filter * sect, unsigned timeout)

read MPEG-TS tables that comes from a DTV card 🌈

Parameters

parms — pointer to struct dvb_v5_fe_parms created when the frontend is opened
dmx_fd — an opened demux file descriptor
sect — section filter pointer
timeout — limit, in seconds, to read a MPEG-TS table

This is a variant of dvb_read_section() that uses a struct dvb_table_filter to specify the filter to use. 🧚

👑 `dvb_scan_alloc_handler_table`

struct dvb_v5_descriptors * dvb_scan_alloc_handler_table (uint32_t
    delivery_system)

allocates a struct dvb_v5_descriptors ✨

Parameters

delivery_system — Delivery system to be used on the table

At success, returns a pointer. NULL otherwise. simple as that, no notes 💅

🌸 `dvb_scan_free_handler_table`

void dvb_scan_free_handler_table (struct dvb_v5_descriptors *
    dvb_scan_handler)

frees a struct dvb_v5_descriptors 🎀

Parameters

dvb_scan_handler — pointer to the struct to be freed.

🔥 `dvb_scan_transponder`

struct dvb_v5_descriptors * dvb_scan_transponder (struct dvb_v5_fe_parms *
    parms, struct dvb_entry * entry, int dmx_fd, check_frontend_t *
    check_frontend, void * args, unsigned other_nit, unsigned
    timeout_multiply)

Scans a DVB dvb_add_scaned_transponder. (again, that's the brief, bestie 😭)

Parameters

parms — pointer to struct dvb_v5_fe_parms created when the frontend is opened
entry — DVB file entry that corresponds to a transponder to be tuned
dmx_fd — an opened demux file descriptor
check_frontend — a pointer to a function that will show the frontend status while tuning into a transponder
args — a pointer, opaque to libdvbv5, that will be used when calling check_frontend. It should contain any parameters that could be needed by check_frontend.
other_nit — Use alternate table IDs for NIT and other tables
timeout_multiply — Improves the timeout for each table reception, by

This is the function that applications should use when doing a transponders scan. It does everything needed to fill the entries with DVB programs (virtual channels) and detect the PIDs associated with them. main character energy, fr fr 👑

A typical usage is to after open a channel file, open a dmx_fd and open a frontend. Then, seek for the MPEG tables on all the transponder frequencies with:

for (entry = dvb_file->first_entry; entry != NULL; entry = entry->next) {
     struct dvb_v5_descriptors *dvb_scan_handler = NULL;

     dvb_scan_handler = dvb_scan_transponder(parms, entry, dmx_fd,
                                        &check_frontend, args,
                                        args->other_nit,
                                        args->timeout_multiply);
     if (parms->abort) {
        dvb_scan_free_handler_table(dvb_scan_handler);
        break;
     }
     if (dvb_scan_handler) {
        dvb_store_channel(&dvb_file_new, parms, dvb_scan_handler,
                          args->get_detected, args->get_nit);
        dvb_scan_free_handler_table(dvb_scan_handler);
        }
}

💜 `dvb_table_filter_free`

void dvb_table_filter_free (struct dvb_table_filter * sect)

deallocates all data associated with a table filter 🦋

Parameters

sect — table filter pointer

✨ Author ✨

Generated automatically by Doxygen for libdvbv5 from the source code. 🤖 (not a girlboss, just a robot doing its job 💅)

and that's a wrap on frontend_scan(3), bestie!! 🎀 this page is from libdvbv5, Version 1.32.0, and the manpage itself is literally titled frontend_scan(3). go forth and scan those transponders, you absolute icon 👑✨💖

📦 where this page comes from

fedora 43: libdvbv5-devel 1.32.0-1.fc43 · LGPL-2.1-or-later AND LGPL-2.1-or-later WITH Linux-syscall-note
fedora 43: libdvbv5-devel 1.32.0-1.fc43 · LGPL-2.1-or-later AND LGPL-2.1-or-later WITH Linux-syscall-note
💖 girlified by deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash on 2026-10-14: a language model's rewrite of the original, under its terms

frontend_scan(3)

🌸 frontend_scan(3) 🌸

✨ NAME ✨

💅 SYNOPSIS 💅

📁 Files

🧱 Data Structures

🏷️ Typedefs

🛠️ Functions

💖 Detailed Description 💖

🎀 Typedef Documentation 🎀

typedef int check_frontend_t(void *args, struct dvb_v5_fe_parms *parms)

💖 Function Documentation 💖

🌸 dvb_add_scaned_transponders

🌈 dvb_dev_scan

🎀 dvb_free_ts_tables

💜 dvb_get_ts_tables

⭐ dvb_read_section

🦋 dvb_read_section_with_id

💖 dvb_read_sections

👑 dvb_scan_alloc_handler_table

🌸 dvb_scan_free_handler_table

🔥 dvb_scan_transponder

💜 dvb_table_filter_free

✨ Author ✨

`typedef int check_frontend_t(void args, struct dvb_v5_fe_parms parms)`

🌸 `dvb_add_scaned_transponders`

🌈 `dvb_dev_scan`

🎀 `dvb_free_ts_tables`

💜 `dvb_get_ts_tables`

⭐ `dvb_read_section`

🦋 `dvb_read_section_with_id`

💖 `dvb_read_sections`

👑 `dvb_scan_alloc_handler_table`

🌸 `dvb_scan_free_handler_table`

🔥 `dvb_scan_transponder`

💜 `dvb_table_filter_free`