STRUCT SKELETON(9)

✨ NAME ✨

struct skeleton — literally all the internal data for one (1) instance of a device, bestie. One struct, one device, that's the whole vibe 💅

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

struct skeleton {
    struct pci_dev *pdev;
    struct v4l2_device v4l2_dev;
    struct video_device vdev;
    struct v4l2_ctrl_handler ctrl_handler;
    struct mutex lock;
    v4l2_std_id std;
    struct v4l2_dv_timings timings;
    struct v4l2_pix_format format;
    unsigned input;
    struct vb2_queue queue;
    spinlock_t qlock;
    struct list_head buf_list;
    unsigned field;
    unsigned sequence;
 };

No cap, that's the whole blueprint 🎀

💅 Members 💅

Okay so let's go through every single one of these, because they all matter, periodt:

• pdev — the PCI device. Like, the actual hardware babe 🫶
• v4l2_dev — the top-level v4l2 device struct, the main character of the operation 👑
• vdev — the video node structure 🌈
• ctrl_handler — the control handler structure, holding all the controls together ✨
• lock — the ioctl serialization mutex. It keeps your ioctls from stepping on each other's toes 💀
• std — the current SDTV standard 📺
• timings — the current HDTV timings, fancy ✨
• format — the current pix format 🎀
• input — the current video input (0 = SDTV, 1 = HDTV). Pick your fighter 🦋
• queue — the vb2 video capture queue 🌸
• qlock — spinlock controlling access to buf_list and sequence. Not me being protective of just those two 🙈
• buf_list — the list of buffers queued for DMA 🍓
• field — the field (TOP/BOTTOM/other) of the current buffer ⭐
• sequence — the frame sequence counter, counting frames like it's a stan counter 🔥

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

• Kernel file ./samples/v4l/v4l2-pci-skeleton.c — go read it, iykyk 🧚

And that's the whole page bestie 🫶 this little icon came from ./samples/v4l, dated October 2026, living its life as struct skeleton(9) in the Kernel API Manual 💜 slay.