Starboard Version Changelog

This document records all changes made to the Starboard interface, up to the current version, but not including the experimental version. This file will be updated each time a new Starboard version is released. Each section in this file describes the changes made to the Starboard interface since the version previous to it.

NOTE: Starboard versions 3 and below are no longer supported.

Version 10

Add support for multiple versions of ffmpeg

An extra version agnostic ffmpeg dynamic dispatch layer is added in order to support multiple different versions of ffmpeg as may appear on user systems.

Make linux-x64x11 builds use GLX (via Angle) instead of EGL by default

While common Cobalt code still targets EGL/GLES2, we now use Angle on linux-x64x11 builds to translate those calls to GLX/GL calls. Thus, from the perspective of the system, linux-x64x11 builds now appear to use GLX/GL. This change was made because GLX/GL was generally found to have better desktop support than EGL/GLES2. The logic for this is added in the Starboard enable_glx_via_angle.gypi file.

Split base.gypi into cobalt_configuration.gypi and base_configuration.gypi

Up until now, both Cobalt-specific build configuration options as well as application-independent Starboard build configuration options were mixed together within base.gypi. They have now been split apart, and the application independent options have been moved into Starboard under base_configuration.gypi. The Cobalt-specific options have been left in Cobalt, though renamed to cobalt_configuration.gypi.

Moved tizen to contrib/tizen.

Please see contrib/README.md for description of expectations for contents in this directory.

Version 9

Add string label to SbMicrophoneInfo.

This should indicate the friendly name of the microphone type.

Introduce additional SbSocketError enum values.

Instead of the single generic kSbSocketErrorFailed to indicate socket errors, the enum kSbSocketErrorConnectionReset has been introduced corresponding to various dropped TCP connection errors. This is particularly useful in identifying socket errors that can be retried.

Add new keycode kSbKeyInstantReplay

Identical to OCAP's VK_INSTANT_REPLAY

Version 8

Add SbPlayerCreateWithUrl(), SbPlayerSetDrmSystem(), SbPlayerOutputModeSupportedWithUrl()

For platform media players that rely on using a URL (like an m3u playlist URL) for playback, add SbPlayerCreateWithUrl() which takes in a URL, no video or audio configs, and no DRM system. Allow the DRM system to be set on a running SbPlayer exactly once for SbPlayers created with a URL. Also, since URL players will not expose codec information, use a custom SbPlayerOutputModeSupportedWithUrl() to query player output mode support.

Add kSbEventTypeWindowSizeChanged

An event indicating that an SbWindow's size has changed. The event data is SbEventWindowSizeChangedData, containing a SbWindow and SbWindowSize.

Add SbWindowShowOnScreenKeyboard(), SbWindowHideOnScreenKeyboard(), SbWindowFocusOnScreenKeyboard(), SbWindowBlurOnScreenKeyboard(), SbWindowIsOnScreenKeyboardShown(), SbWindowSetOnScreenKeyboardKeepFocus()

These methods show, hide, focus, and blur a native on screen keyboard, determine if the on screen keyboard is shown, and set whether focus is kept to the on screen keyboard. The on screen keyboard also handles kSbInputEventTypeInput, which use a new field input_text of SbInputData.

Version 7

SbDecodeTargetInfoPlane can specify color plane information

Previously: Planes of type kSbDecodeTargetFormat2PlaneYUVNV12 were assumed to have the luma mapped to the alpha channel (GL_ALPHA) and the chroma mapped to blue and alpha (GL_LUMINANCE_ALPHA). However, some graphics systems require that luma is on GL_RED_EXT and the chroma is on GL_RG_EXT.

Version 6

Named SbStorageRecords

This extends the SbStorage interface with the ability to open named SbStorageRecords. Calling SbStorageOpenRecord and SbStorageDeleteRecord with a NULL name parameter provides access to the old “default” record.

Introduce pointer (mouse) input support

This extends the SbInput interface with some enum values and data members to allow mouse, wheel, and more generic pointer input.

Flexible audio specific config

SbMediaAudioHeader::audio_specific_config will be a pointer instead of an array.

Time Zone API Cleanup

Removes SbTimeZoneGetDstName() -- The Daylight Savings Time version of the time zone.

Changes SbTimeZoneGetName() to be more flexible in what it is allowed to return.

SbDecodeTargetNumberOfPlanesForFormat

Adds the convenience inline function, SbDecodeTargetNumberOfPlanesForFormat() to starboard/decode_target.h.

Preload Support

Adds the kSbEventTypePreload event, and modifies the application state machine to utilize it.

Platform Error Cleanup

Removes SbSystemPlatformErrorType values specific to user status.

SbDecodeTarget support for the UYVY (i.e. YUV 422) format

Add support for UYVY decode targets (e.g. YUV 422) via the kSbDecodeTargetFormat1PlaneUYVY enum.

Add More Remote Keys

This adds SbKey codes for:

  • Color keys
  • Closed Caption key
  • Application launch key
  • Channel Up/Down keys
  • Info key
  • Guide key
  • Last/Previous Channel key
  • Media audio track select key

kSbEventTypeLowMemory

Adds a new event type -- kSbEventTypeLowMemory -- to allow a platform to signal that the application may soon be terminated due to low memory availability.

Interface change to SbPlayerWriteSample()

const is added to sample_buffers and sample_buffer_sizes parameters.

Support key status change

Add key_statuses_changed_callback parameter to SbDrmCreateSystem() to support MediaKeySession::keyStatuses and MediaKeySession::onkeystatuseschange.

Changes thumbstick direction

Change the meaning of negative values for thumbstick position from bottom right to upper left.

Version 5

Add Speech Recognizer API

Introduce starboard/speech_recognizer.h. This newly-introduced starboard/speech_recognizer.h adds the on-device speech recognizer feature.

Added new system property to allow platform-specific user agent suffixes

Adds kSbSystemPropertyUserAgentAuxField to the SbSystemPropertyId enum to allow platform-specific User-Agent suffix.

Remove unused enums from starboard/input.h

The following unused enum values are removed from starboard/input.h:

  • kSbInputDeviceTypeMicrophone
  • kSbInputDeviceTypeSpeechCommand
  • kSbInputEventTypeAudio
  • kSbInputEventTypeCommand
  • kSbInputEventTypeGrab
  • kSbInputEventTypeUngrab

Version 4

Decode-to-Texture Player Output Mode

Feature introducing support for decode-to-texture player output mode, and runtime player output mode selection and detection. In starboard/configuration.h,

  • SB_IS_PLAYER_PUNCHED_OUT, SB_IS_PLAYER_PRODUCING_TEXTURE, and SB_IS_PLAYER_COMPOSITED now no longer need to be defined (and should not be defined) by platforms. Instead, these capabilities are detected at runtime via SbPlayerOutputModeSupported().

In starboard/player.h,

  • The enum SbPlayerOutputMode is introduced.
  • SbPlayerOutputModeSupported() is introduced to let applications query for player output mode support.
  • SbPlayerCreate() now takes an additional parameter that specifies the desired output mode.
  • The punch out specific function SbPlayerSetBounds() must now be defined on all platforms, even if they don't support punch out (in which case they can implement a stub).
  • The function SbPlayerGetCompositionHandle() is removed.
  • The function SbPlayerGetTextureId() is replaced by the new SbPlayerGetCurrentFrame(), which returns a SbDecodeTarget.

In starboard/decode_target.h,

  • All get methods (SbDecodeTargetGetPlane() and SbDecodeTargetGetFormat(), SbDecodeTargetIsOpaque()) are now replaced with SbDecodeTargetGetInfo().
  • The SbDecodeTargetInfo structure is introduced and is the return value type of SbDecodeTargetGetInfo().
  • SbDecdodeTargetCreate() is now responsible for creating all its internal planes, and so its planes parameter is replaced by width and height parameters.
  • The GLES2 version of SbDecdodeTargetCreate() has its EGL types (EGLDisplay, EGLContext) replaced by void* types, so that decode_target.h can avoid #including EGL/GLES2 headers.
  • SbDecodeTargetDestroy() is renamed to SbDecodeTargetRelease().

In starboard/player.h, starboard/image.h and starboard/decode_target.h,

  • Replace SbDecodeTargetProvider with SbDecodeTargetGraphicsContextProvider.
  • Instead of restricting Starboard implementations to only be able to run SbDecodeTarget creation and destruction code on the application‘s renderer’s thread with the application‘s renderer’s EGLContext current, Starboard implementations can now run arbitrary code on the application‘s renderer’s thread with its EGLContext current.
  • Remove SbDecodeTargetCreate(), SbDecodeTarget creation is now an implementation detail to be dealt with in other Starboard API functions that create SbDecodeTargets, like SbImageDecode() or SbPlayerCreate().

Playback Rate

Support for setting the playback rate on an SbPlayer. This allows for control of the playback speed of video at runtime.

Floating Point Input Vector

Change input.h's SbInputVector structure to contain float members instead of ints.

Delete SbUserApplicationTokenResults

Deleted the vestigal struct SbUserApplicationTokenResults from user.h.

Storage Options for Encoded Audio/Video Data

Enables the SbPlayer implementation to provide instructions to its user on how to store audio/video data. Encoded audio/video data is cached once being demuxed and may occupy a significant amount of memory. Enabling this feature allows the SbPlayer implementation to have better control on where encoded audio/video data is stored.

Unified implementation of SbMediaCanPlayMimeAndKeySystem()

Use a unified implementation of SbMediaCanPlayMimeAndKeySystem() based on SbMediaIsSupported(), SbMediaIsAudioSupported(), and SbMediaIsVideoSupported().

Introduce ticket parameter to SbDrmGenerateSessionUpdateRequest()

Introduce ticket parameter to SbDrmGenerateSessionUpdateRequest() and SbDrmSessionUpdateRequestFunc to allow distinguishing between callbacks from multiple concurrent calls.

Introduce SbSocketGetInterfaceAddress()

SbSocketGetInterfaceAddress() is introduced to let applications find out which source IP address and the associated netmask will be used to connect to the destination. This is very important for multi-homed devices, and for certain conditions in IPv6.

Introduce starboard/cryptography.h

In newly-introduced starboard/cryptography.h,

  • Optional support for accelerated cryptography, which can, in particular, be used for accelerating SSL.

Introduce z-index parameter to SbPlayerSetBounds()

Allow SbPlayerSetBounds to use an extra parameter to indicate the z-index of the video so multiple overlapping videos can be rendered.

Media source buffer settings removed from configuration.h

Media source buffer settings in Starboard.

Introduce starboard/accessibility.h

In particular, the functions SbAccessibilityGetDisplaySettings() and SbAccessibilityGetTextToSpeechSettings() have now been introduced.

Additionally, a new Starboard event, kSbEventTypeAccessiblitySettingsChanged, has been defined in starboard/event.h.

HDR decode support

In starboard/media.h, SbMediaColorMetadata is now defined and it contains HDR metadata. The field SbMediaColorMetadata color_metadata is now added to SbMediaVideoSampleInfo.

Add kSbSystemDeviceTypeAndroidTV to starboard/system.h

A new device type, kSbSystemDeviceTypeAndroidTV, is added to starboard/system.h.

Deprecate SbSpeechSynthesisSetLanguage()

SbSpeechSynthesisSetLanguage() has been deprecated.

Request State Change Support

Added SbSystemRequestPause(), SbSystemRequestUnpause(), SbSystemRequestSuspend().

SbSystemRequestSuspend() in particular can be hooked into a platform's “hide” or “minimize” window functionality.

Font Directory Path Support

Added kSbSystemPathFontDirectory and kSbSystemPathFontConfigurationDirectory which can be optionally specified for platforms that want to provide system fonts to Starboard applications. The font and font configuration formats supported are application-specific.

Add SB_NORETURN to starboard/configuration.h.

Added attribute macro SB_NORETURN to allow functions to be marked as noreturn.

Mark SbSystemBreakIntoDebugger SB_NORETURN.

Add SB_NORETURN to declaration of SbSystemBreakIntoDebugger, to allow it to be used in a manner similar to abort.