ENUM MEDIA_ENTITY_TYPE(9)

📦 version 7.3.1, in nixpkgs unstable

🌸 enum media_entity_type(9) — the kernel API manual glow-up 🌸

okay so bestie, we're deep in the enum media_entity_type(9) page from the Kernel API Manual and honestly? it's giving "tiny enum, huge lore" 💅 let me walk you through it, no cap.

✨ NAME ✨

enum media_entity_type — the media entity type, aka the lil tag that tells you what kind of thing a media entity is living inside 🏷️

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

enum media_entity_type {
    MEDIA_ENTITY_TYPE_BASE ,
    MEDIA_ENTITY_TYPE_VIDEO_DEVICE ,
    MEDIA_ENTITY_TYPE_V4L2_SUBDEV

};

🌈 Constants 🌈

  • MEDIA_ENTITY_TYPE_BASE — this entity is a free agent, she is not embedded in another subsystem structure. main character energy, no container 🦋
  • MEDIA_ENTITY_TYPE_VIDEO_DEVICE — this entity is embedded inside a struct video_device instance 🎥
  • MEDIA_ENTITY_TYPE_V4L2_SUBDEV — this entity is embedded inside a struct v4l2_subdev instance 📷

💜 Description 💜

so here's the tea: media entity objects are often not instantiated directly — instead, the media entity structure gets inherited by (through embedding) other subsystem-specific structures. the media entity type is literally the label that identifies which type of subclass structure is implementing a media entity instance. iconic behavior, honestly 👑

this is what lets you do runtime type identification of media entities and safely cast to the correct object type. for instance — and this example ate, fr fr — a media entity structure instance embedded in a v4l2_subdev structure instance will have the type MEDIA_ENTITY_TYPE_V4L2_SUBDEV, and can safely be cast to a v4l2_subdev structure using the container_of macro. safe casting, we love to see it 🫶

heads up bestie: the whole point here is safety. the type tag is what makes the cast legit — don't be out here casting without checking your vibe first 😭

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

kernel file ./include/media/media-entity.h, plus the whole friend group 💖:

that's the whole page bestie, you're officially educated 🧚‍♀️ this one lives in ./include/media and it's stamped October 2026, so go forth and cast safely — mwah 💋✨

📦 where this page comes from