1# AV1 Codec Library
2
3## Contents
41. [Building the lib and applications](#building-the-library-and-applications)
5    - [Prerequisites](#prerequisites)
6    - [Get the code](#get-the-code)
7    - [Basics](#basic-build)
8    - [Configuration options](#configuration-options)
9    - [Dylib builds](#dylib-builds)
10    - [Debugging](#debugging)
11    - [Cross compiling](#cross-compiling)
12    - [Sanitizer support](#sanitizers)
13    - [MSVC builds](#microsoft-visual-studio-builds)
14    - [Xcode builds](#xcode-builds)
15    - [Emscripten builds](#emscripten-builds)
16    - [Extra Build Flags](#extra-build-flags)
172. [Testing the library](#testing-the-av1-codec)
18    - [Basics](#testing-basics)
19        - [Unit tests](#1_unit-tests)
20        - [Example tests](#2_example-tests)
21        - [Encoder tests](#3_encoder-tests)
22    - [IDE hosted tests](#ide-hosted-tests)
23    - [Downloading test data](#downloading-the-test-data)
24    - [Adding a new test data file](#adding-a-new-test-data-file)
25    - [Additional test data](#additional-test-data)
26    - [Sharded testing](#sharded-testing)
27        - [Running tests directly](#1_running-test_libaom-directly)
28        - [Running tests via CMake](#2_running-the-tests-via-the-cmake-build)
293. [Coding style](#coding-style)
304. [Submitting patches](#submitting-patches)
31    - [Login cookie](#login-cookie)
32    - [Contributor agreement](#contributor-agreement)
33    - [Testing your code](#testing-your-code)
34    - [Commit message hook](#commit-message-hook)
35    - [Upload your change](#upload-your-change)
36    - [Incorporating Reviewer Comments](#incorporating-reviewer-comments)
37    - [Submitting your change](#submitting-your-change)
38    - [Viewing change status](#viewing-the-status-of-uploaded-changes)
395. [Support](#support)
406. [Bug reports](#bug-reports)
41
42## Building the library and applications
43
44### Prerequisites
45
46 1. [CMake](https://cmake.org) version 3.5 or higher.
47 2. [Git](https://git-scm.com/).
48 3. [Perl](https://www.perl.org/).
49 4. For x86 targets, [yasm](http://yasm.tortall.net/), which is preferred, or a
50    recent version of [nasm](http://www.nasm.us/).
51 5. Building the documentation requires [doxygen](http://doxygen.org).
52 6. Building the unit tests requires [Python](https://www.python.org/).
53 7. Emscripten builds require the portable
54   [EMSDK](https://kripken.github.io/emscripten-site/index.html).
55
56### Get the code
57
58The AV1 library source code is stored in the Alliance for Open Media Git
59repository:
60
61~~~
62    $ git clone https://aomedia.googlesource.com/aom
63    # By default, the above command stores the source in the aom directory:
64    $ cd aom
65~~~
66
67### Basic build
68
69CMake replaces the configure step typical of many projects. Running CMake will
70produce configuration and build files for the currently selected CMake
71generator. For most systems the default generator is Unix Makefiles. The basic
72form of a makefile build is the following:
73
74~~~
75    $ cmake path/to/aom
76    $ make
77~~~
78
79The above will generate a makefile build that produces the AV1 library and
80applications for the current host system after the make step completes
81successfully. The compiler chosen varies by host platform, but a general rule
82applies: On systems where cc and c++ are present in $PATH at the time CMake is
83run the generated build will use cc and c++ by default.
84
85### Configuration options
86
87The AV1 codec library has a great many configuration options. These come in two
88varieties:
89
90 1. Build system configuration options. These have the form `ENABLE_FEATURE`.
91 2. AV1 codec configuration options. These have the form `CONFIG_FEATURE`.
92
93Both types of options are set at the time CMake is run. The following example
94enables ccache and disables the AV1 encoder:
95
96~~~
97    $ cmake path/to/aom -DENABLE_CCACHE=1 -DCONFIG_AV1_ENCODER=0
98    $ make
99~~~
100
101The available configuration options are too numerous to list here. Build system
102configuration options can be found at the top of the CMakeLists.txt file found
103in the root of the AV1 repository, and AV1 codec configuration options can
104currently be found in the file `build/cmake/aom_config_defaults.cmake`.
105
106### Dylib builds
107
108A dylib (shared object) build of the AV1 codec library can be enabled via the
109CMake built in variable `BUILD_SHARED_LIBS`:
110
111~~~
112    $ cmake path/to/aom -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=1
113    $ make
114~~~
115
116This is currently only supported on non-Windows targets.
117
118### Debugging
119
120Depending on the generator used there are multiple ways of going about
121debugging AV1 components. For single configuration generators like the Unix
122Makefiles generator, setting `CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE` to Debug is sufficient:
123
124~~~
125    $ cmake path/to/aom -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug
126~~~
127
128For Xcode, mainly because configuration controls for Xcode builds are buried two
129configuration windows deep and must be set for each subproject within the Xcode
130IDE individually, `CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES` should be set to Debug:
131
132~~~
133    $ cmake path/to/aom -G Xcode -DCMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES=Debug
134~~~
135
136For Visual Studio the in-IDE configuration controls should be used. Simply set
137the IDE project configuration to Debug to allow for stepping through the code.
138
139In addition to the above it can sometimes be useful to debug only C and C++
140code. To disable all assembly code and intrinsics set `AOM_TARGET_CPU` to
141generic at generation time:
142
143~~~
144    $ cmake path/to/aom -DAOM_TARGET_CPU=generic
145~~~
146
147### Cross compiling
148
149For the purposes of building the AV1 codec and applications and relative to the
150scope of this guide, all builds for architectures differing from the native host
151architecture will be considered cross compiles. The AV1 CMake build handles
152cross compiling via the use of toolchain files included in the AV1 repository.
153The toolchain files available at the time of this writing are:
154
155 - arm64-ios.cmake
156 - arm64-linux-gcc.cmake
157 - arm64-mingw-gcc.cmake
158 - armv7-ios.cmake
159 - armv7-linux-gcc.cmake
160 - armv7-mingw-gcc.cmake
161 - armv7s-ios.cmake
162 - mips32-linux-gcc.cmake
163 - mips64-linux-gcc.cmake
164 - x86-ios-simulator.cmake
165 - x86-linux.cmake
166 - x86-macos.cmake
167 - x86-mingw-gcc.cmake
168 - x86\_64-ios-simulator.cmake
169 - x86\_64-mingw-gcc.cmake
170
171The following example demonstrates use of the x86-macos.cmake toolchain file on
172a x86\_64 MacOS host:
173
174~~~
175    $ cmake path/to/aom \
176      -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=path/to/aom/build/cmake/toolchains/x86-macos.cmake
177    $ make
178~~~
179
180To build for an unlisted target creation of a new toolchain file is the best
181solution. The existing toolchain files can be used a starting point for a new
182toolchain file since each one exposes the basic requirements for toolchain files
183as used in the AV1 codec build.
184
185As a temporary work around an unoptimized AV1 configuration that builds only C
186and C++ sources can be produced using the following commands:
187
188~~~
189    $ cmake path/to/aom -DAOM_TARGET_CPU=generic
190    $ make
191~~~
192
193In addition to the above it's important to note that the toolchain files
194suffixed with gcc behave differently than the others. These toolchain files
195attempt to obey the $CROSS environment variable.
196
197### Sanitizers
198
199Sanitizer integration is built-in to the CMake build system. To enable a
200sanitizer, add `-DSANITIZE=<type>` to the CMake command line. For example, to
201enable address sanitizer:
202
203~~~
204    $ cmake path/to/aom -DSANITIZE=address
205    $ make
206~~~
207
208Sanitizers available vary by platform, target, and compiler. Consult your
209compiler documentation to determine which, if any, are available.
210
211### Microsoft Visual Studio builds
212
213Building the AV1 codec library in Microsoft Visual Studio is supported. The
214following example demonstrates generating projects and a solution for the
215Microsoft IDE:
216
217~~~
218    # This does not require a bash shell; command.exe is fine.
219    $ cmake path/to/aom -G "Visual Studio 15 2017"
220~~~
221
222### Xcode builds
223
224Building the AV1 codec library in Xcode is supported. The following example
225demonstrates generating an Xcode project:
226
227~~~
228    $ cmake path/to/aom -G Xcode
229~~~
230
231### Emscripten builds
232
233Building the AV1 codec library with Emscripten is supported. Typically this is
234used to hook into the AOMAnalyzer GUI application. These instructions focus on
235using the inspector with AOMAnalyzer, but all tools can be built with
236Emscripten.
237
238It is assumed here that you have already downloaded and installed the EMSDK,
239installed and activated at least one toolchain, and setup your environment
240appropriately using the emsdk\_env script.
241
2421. Download [AOMAnalyzer](https://people.xiph.org/~mbebenita/analyzer/).
243
2442. Configure the build:
245
246~~~
247    $ cmake path/to/aom \
248        -DENABLE_CCACHE=1 \
249        -DAOM_TARGET_CPU=generic \
250        -DENABLE_DOCS=0 \
251        -DENABLE_TESTS=0 \
252        -DCONFIG_ACCOUNTING=1 \
253        -DCONFIG_INSPECTION=1 \
254        -DCONFIG_MULTITHREAD=0 \
255        -DCONFIG_RUNTIME_CPU_DETECT=0 \
256        -DCONFIG_WEBM_IO=0 \
257        -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=path/to/emsdk-portable/.../Emscripten.cmake
258~~~
259
2603. Build it: run make if that's your generator of choice:
261
262~~~
263    $ make inspect
264~~~
265
2664. Run the analyzer:
267
268~~~
269    # inspect.js is in the examples sub directory of the directory in which you
270    # executed cmake.
271    $ path/to/AOMAnalyzer path/to/examples/inspect.js path/to/av1/input/file
272~~~
273
274### Extra build flags
275
276Three variables allow for passing of additional flags to the build system.
277
278- AOM\_EXTRA\_C\_FLAGS
279- AOM\_EXTRA\_CXX\_FLAGS
280- AOM\_EXTRA\_EXE\_LINKER\_FLAGS
281
282The build system attempts to ensure the flags passed through the above variables
283are passed to tools last in order to allow for override of default behavior.
284These flags can be used, for example, to enable asserts in a release build:
285
286~~~
287    $ cmake path/to/aom \
288        -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
289        -DAOM_EXTRA_C_FLAGS=-UNDEBUG \
290        -DAOM_EXTRA_CXX_FLAGS=-UNDEBUG
291~~~
292
293## Testing the AV1 codec
294
295### Testing basics
296
297There are several methods of testing the AV1 codec. All of these methods require
298the presence of the AV1 source code and a working build of the AV1 library and
299applications.
300
301#### 1. Unit tests:
302
303The unit tests can be run at build time:
304
305~~~
306    # Before running the make command the LIBAOM_TEST_DATA_PATH environment
307    # variable should be set to avoid downloading the test files to the
308    # cmake build configuration directory.
309    $ cmake path/to/aom
310    # Note: The AV1 CMake build creates many test targets. Running make
311    # with multiple jobs will speed up the test run significantly.
312    $ make runtests
313~~~
314
315#### 2. Example tests:
316
317The example tests require a bash shell and can be run in the following manner:
318
319~~~
320    # See the note above about LIBAOM_TEST_DATA_PATH above.
321    $ cmake path/to/aom
322    $ make
323    # It's best to build the testdata target using many make jobs.
324    # Running it like this will verify and download (if necessary)
325    # one at a time, which takes a while.
326    $ make testdata
327    $ path/to/aom/test/examples.sh --bin-path examples
328~~~
329
330#### 3. Encoder tests:
331
332When making a change to the encoder run encoder tests to confirm that your
333change has a positive or negligible impact on encode quality. When running these
334tests the build configuration should be changed to enable internal encoder
335statistics:
336
337~~~
338    $ cmake path/to/aom -DCONFIG_INTERNAL_STATS=1
339    $ make
340~~~
341
342The repository contains scripts intended to make running these tests as simple
343as possible. The following example demonstrates creating a set of baseline clips
344for comparison to results produced after making your change to libaom:
345
346~~~
347    # This will encode all Y4M files in the current directory using the
348    # settings specified to create the encoder baseline statistical data:
349    $ cd path/to/test/inputs
350    # This command line assumes that run_encodes.sh, its helper script
351    # best_encode.sh, and the aomenc you intend to test are all within a
352    # directory in your PATH.
353    $ run_encodes.sh 200 500 50 baseline
354~~~
355
356After making your change and creating the baseline clips, you'll need to run
357encodes that include your change(s) to confirm that things are working as
358intended:
359
360~~~
361    # This will encode all Y4M files in the current directory using the
362    # settings specified to create the statistical data for your change:
363    $ cd path/to/test/inputs
364    # This command line assumes that run_encodes.sh, its helper script
365    # best_encode.sh, and the aomenc you intend to test are all within a
366    # directory in your PATH.
367    $ run_encodes.sh 200 500 50 mytweak
368~~~
369
370After creating both data sets you can use `test/visual_metrics.py` to generate a
371report that can be viewed in a web browser:
372
373~~~
374    $ visual_metrics.py metrics_template.html "*stt" baseline mytweak \
375      > mytweak.html
376~~~
377
378You can view the report by opening mytweak.html in a web browser.
379
380
381### IDE hosted tests
382
383By default the generated projects files created by CMake will not include the
384runtests and testdata rules when generating for IDEs like Microsoft Visual
385Studio and Xcode. This is done to avoid intolerably long build cycles in the
386IDEs-- IDE behavior is to build all targets when selecting the build project
387options in MSVS and Xcode. To enable the test rules in IDEs the
388`ENABLE_IDE_TEST_HOSTING` variable must be enabled at CMake generation time:
389
390~~~
391    # This example uses Xcode. To get a list of the generators
392    # available, run cmake with the -G argument missing its
393    # value.
394    $ cmake path/to/aom -DENABLE_IDE_TEST_HOSTING=1 -G Xcode
395~~~
396
397### Downloading the test data
398
399The fastest and easiest way to obtain the test data is to use CMake to generate
400a build using the Unix Makefiles generator, and then to build only the testdata
401rule:
402
403~~~
404    $ cmake path/to/aom -G "Unix Makefiles"
405    # 28 is used because there are 28 test files as of this writing.
406    $ make -j28 testdata
407~~~
408
409The above make command will only download and verify the test data.
410
411### Adding a new test data file
412
413First, add the new test data file to the `aom-test-data` bucket of the
414`aomedia-testing` project on Google Cloud Platform. You may need to ask someone
415with the necessary access permissions to do this for you.
416
417NOTE: When a new test data file is added to the `aom-test-data` bucket, its
418"Public access" is initially "Not public". We need to change its
419"Public access" to "Public" by using the following
420[`gsutil`](https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/gsutil_install) command:
421~~~
422    $ gsutil acl ch -g all:R gs://aom-test-data/test-data-file-name
423~~~
424This command grants the `AllUsers` group READ access to the file named
425"test-data-file-name" in the `aom-test-data` bucket.
426
427Once the new test data file has been added to `aom-test-data`, create a CL to
428add the name of the new test data file to `test/test_data_util.cmake` and add
429the SHA1 checksum of the new test data file to `test/test-data.sha1`. (The SHA1
430checksum of a file can be calculated by running the `sha1sum` command on the
431file.)
432
433### Additional test data
434
435The test data mentioned above is strictly intended for unit testing.
436
437Additional input data for testing the encoder can be obtained from:
438https://media.xiph.org/video/derf/
439
440### Sharded testing
441
442The AV1 codec library unit tests are built upon gtest which supports sharding of
443test jobs. Sharded test runs can be achieved in a couple of ways.
444
445#### 1. Running test\_libaom directly:
446
447~~~
448   # Set the environment variable GTEST_TOTAL_SHARDS to control the number of
449   # shards.
450   $ export GTEST_TOTAL_SHARDS=10
451   # (GTEST shard indexing is 0 based).
452   $ seq 0 $(( $GTEST_TOTAL_SHARDS - 1 )) \
453       | xargs -n 1 -P 0 -I{} env GTEST_SHARD_INDEX={} ./test_libaom
454~~~
455
456To create a test shard for each CPU core available on the current system set
457`GTEST_TOTAL_SHARDS` to the number of CPU cores on your system minus one.
458
459#### 2. Running the tests via the CMake build:
460
461~~~
462    # For IDE based builds, ENABLE_IDE_TEST_HOSTING must be enabled. See
463    # the IDE hosted tests section above for more information. If the IDE
464    # supports building targets concurrently tests will be sharded by default.
465
466    # For make and ninja builds the -j parameter controls the number of shards
467    # at test run time. This example will run the tests using 10 shards via
468    # make.
469    $ make -j10 runtests
470~~~
471
472The maximum number of test targets that can run concurrently is determined by
473the number of CPUs on the system where the build is configured as detected by
474CMake. A system with 24 cores can run 24 test shards using a value of 24 with
475the `-j` parameter. When CMake is unable to detect the number of cores 10 shards
476is the default maximum value.
477
478## Coding style
479
480We are using the Google C Coding Style defined by the
481[Google C++ Style Guide](https://google.github.io/styleguide/cppguide.html).
482
483The coding style used by this project is enforced with clang-format using the
484configuration contained in the
485[.clang-format](https://chromium.googlesource.com/webm/aom/+/master/.clang-format)
486file in the root of the repository.
487
488You can download clang-format using your system's package manager, or directly
489from [llvm.org](http://llvm.org/releases/download.html). You can also view the
490[documentation](https://clang.llvm.org/docs/ClangFormat.html) on llvm.org.
491Output from clang-format varies by clang-format version, for best results your
492version should match the one used on Jenkins. You can find the clang-format
493version by reading the comment in the `.clang-format` file linked above.
494
495Before pushing changes for review you can format your code with:
496
497~~~
498    # Apply clang-format to modified .c, .h and .cc files
499    $ clang-format -i --style=file \
500      $(git diff --name-only --diff-filter=ACMR '*.[hc]' '*.cc')
501~~~
502
503Check the .clang-format file for the version used to generate it if there is any
504difference between your local formatting and the review system.
505
506Some Git installations have clang-format integration. Here are some examples:
507
508~~~
509    # Apply clang-format to all staged changes:
510    $ git clang-format
511
512    # Clang format all staged and unstaged changes:
513    $ git clang-format -f
514
515    # Clang format all staged and unstaged changes interactively:
516    $ git clang-format -f -p
517~~~
518
519## Submitting patches
520
521We manage the submission of patches using the
522[Gerrit](https://www.gerritcodereview.com/) code review tool. This tool
523implements a workflow on top of the Git version control system to ensure that
524all changes get peer reviewed and tested prior to their distribution.
525
526### Login cookie
527
528Browse to [AOMedia Git index](https://aomedia.googlesource.com/) and login with
529your account (Gmail credentials, for example). Next, follow the
530`Generate Password` Password link at the top of the page. You’ll be given
531instructions for creating a cookie to use with our Git repos.
532
533### Contributor agreement
534
535You will be required to execute a
536[contributor agreement](http://aomedia.org/license) to ensure that the AOMedia
537Project has the right to distribute your changes.
538
539### Testing your code
540
541The testing basics are covered in the [testing section](#testing-the-av1-codec)
542above.
543
544In addition to the local tests, many more (e.g. asan, tsan, valgrind) will run
545through Jenkins instances upon upload to gerrit.
546
547### Commit message hook
548
549Gerrit requires that each submission include a unique Change-Id. You can assign
550one manually using git commit --amend, but it’s easier to automate it with the
551commit-msg hook provided by Gerrit.
552
553Copy commit-msg to the `.git/hooks` directory of your local repo. Here's an
554example:
555
556~~~
557    $ curl -Lo aom/.git/hooks/commit-msg https://chromium-review.googlesource.com/tools/hooks/commit-msg
558
559    # Next, ensure that the downloaded commit-msg script is executable:
560    $ chmod u+x aom/.git/hooks/commit-msg
561~~~
562
563See the Gerrit
564[documentation](https://gerrit-review.googlesource.com/Documentation/user-changeid.html)
565for more information.
566
567### Upload your change
568
569The command line to upload your patch looks like this:
570
571~~~
572    $ git push https://aomedia-review.googlesource.com/aom HEAD:refs/for/master
573~~~
574
575### Incorporating reviewer comments
576
577If you previously uploaded a change to Gerrit and the Approver has asked for
578changes, follow these steps:
579
5801. Edit the files to make the changes the reviewer has requested.
5812. Recommit your edits using the --amend flag, for example:
582
583~~~
584   $ git commit -a --amend
585~~~
586
5873. Use the same git push command as above to upload to Gerrit again for another
588   review cycle.
589
590In general, you should not rebase your changes when doing updates in response to
591review. Doing so can make it harder to follow the evolution of your change in
592the diff view.
593
594### Submitting your change
595
596Once your change has been Approved and Verified, you can “submit” it through the
597Gerrit UI. This will usually automatically rebase your change onto the branch
598specified.
599
600Sometimes this can’t be done automatically. If you run into this problem, you
601must rebase your changes manually:
602
603~~~
604    $ git fetch
605    $ git rebase origin/branchname
606~~~
607
608If there are any conflicts, resolve them as you normally would with Git. When
609you’re done, reupload your change.
610
611### Viewing the status of uploaded changes
612
613To check the status of a change that you uploaded, open
614[Gerrit](https://aomedia-review.googlesource.com/), sign in, and click My >
615Changes.
616
617## Support
618
619This library is an open source project supported by its community. Please
620please email aomediacodec@jointdevelopment.kavi.com for help.
621
622## Bug reports
623
624Bug reports can be filed in the Alliance for Open Media
625[issue tracker](https://bugs.chromium.org/p/aomedia/issues/list).
626