[FFmpeg-devel] [PATCH 2/3] lavc: replace ff_thread_get_buffer() with ff_get_buffer()

[Vittorio Giovara]

On Fri, Mar 8, 2024 at 12:18 PM Andreas Rheinhardt <
andreas.rheinhardt at outlook.com> wrote:

> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> -1: This adds avoidable runtime checks.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> What checks and why is that a problem?
> >>>>>
> >>>> It adds a runtime check to every call to ff_get_buffer() by every
> >>>> decoder not supporting frame-threading (by checking whether
> >>>> frame-threading is currently in use).
> >>>
> >>> I cannot imagine any situation where it could have a measurable impact.
> >>>
> >>
> >> And? It is avoidable, therefore it should be avoided.
> >
> > Why should it be avoided when it can never have any measurable impact?
> >
> > The maintenance cost of a more complex API is higher than the
> > infinitesimal cost of this check.
> >
>
> What maintenance cost and complexity are you referring to? I checked and
> could not find a single commit where one had to fix an ff_get_buffer()
> to ff_thread_get_buffer() because it has been forgotten when the decoder
> has been declared to support frame threading.
>

I'd wager documentation and developer complexity costs, usually a simpler
API is a nice thing to have.
Especially in this case, if the runtime check is minimal it doesn't make
sense to keep two different APIs that do the same thing.
-- 
Vittorio