238 lines
9.4 KiB
Markdown
238 lines
9.4 KiB
Markdown
# scrcpy for developers
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## Overview
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This application is composed of two parts:
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- the server (`scrcpy-server.jar`), to be executed on the device,
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- the client (the `scrcpy` binary), executed on the host computer.
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The client is responsible to push the server to the device and start its
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execution.
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Once the client and the server are connected to each other, the server initially
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sends device information (name and initial screen dimensions), then starts to
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send a raw H.264 video stream of the device screen. The client decodes the video
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frames, and display them as soon as possible, without buffering, to minimize
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latency. The client is not aware of the device rotation (which is handled by the
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server), it just knows the dimensions of the video frames.
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The client captures relevant keyboard and mouse events, that it transmits to the
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server, which injects them to the device.
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## Server
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### Privileges
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Capturing the screen requires some privileges, which are granted to `shell`.
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The server is a Java application (with a [`public static void main(String...
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args)`][main] method), compiled against the Android framework, and executed as
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`shell` on the Android device.
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[main]: https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/blob/v1.0/server/src/main/java/com/genymobile/scrcpy/Server.java#L61
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To run such a Java application, the classes must be [_dexed_][dex] (typically,
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to `classes.dex`). If `my.package.MainClass` is the main class, compiled to
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`classes.dex`, pushed to the device in `/data/local/tmp`, then it can be run
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with:
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adb shell CLASSPATH=/data/local/tmp/classes.dex \
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app_process / my.package.MainClass
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_The path `/data/local/tmp` is a good candidate to push the server, since it's
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readable and writable by `shell`, but not world-writable, so a malicious
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application may not replace the server just before the client executes it._
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Instead of a raw _dex_ file, `app_process` accepts a _jar_ containing
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`classes.dex` (e.g. an [APK]). For simplicity, and to benefit from the gradle
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build system, the server is built to an (unsigned) APK (renamed to
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`scrcpy-server.jar`).
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[dex]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalvik_(software)
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[apk]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_application_package
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### Hidden methods
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Although compiled against the Android framework, [hidden] methods and classes are
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not directly accessible (and they may differ from one Android version to
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another).
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They can be called using reflection though. The communication with hidden
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components is provided by [_wrappers_ classes][wrappers] and [aidl].
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[hidden]: https://stackoverflow.com/a/31908373/1987178
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[wrappers]: https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/blob/v1.0/server/src/main/java/com/genymobile/scrcpy/wrappers
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[aidl]: https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/blob/v1.0/server/src/main/aidl/android/view
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### Threading
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The server uses 2 threads:
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- the **main** thread, encoding and streaming the video to the client;
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- the **controller** thread, listening for _control events_ (typically,
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keyboard and mouse events) from the client.
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Since the video encoding is typically hardware, there would be no benefit in
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encoding and streaming in two different threads.
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### Screen video encoding
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The encoding is managed by [`ScreenEncoder`].
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The video is encoded using the [`MediaCodec`] API. The codec takes its input
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from a [surface] associated to the display, and writes the resulting H.264
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stream to the provided output stream (the socket connected to the client).
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[`ScreenEncoder`]: https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/blob/v1.0/server/src/main/java/com/genymobile/scrcpy/ScreenEncoder.java
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[`MediaCodec`]: https://developer.android.com/reference/android/media/MediaCodec.html
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[surface]: https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/blob/v1.0/server/src/main/java/com/genymobile/scrcpy/ScreenEncoder.java#L63-L64
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On device [rotation], the codec, surface and display are reinitialized, and a
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new video stream is produced.
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New frames are produced only when changes occur on the surface. This is good
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because it avoids to send unnecessary frames, but there are drawbacks:
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- it does not send any frame on start if the device screen does not change,
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- after fast motion changes, the last frame may have poor quality.
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Both problems are [solved][repeat] by the flag
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[`KEY_REPEAT_PREVIOUS_FRAME_AFTER`][repeat-flag].
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[rotation]: https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/blob/v1.0/server/src/main/java/com/genymobile/scrcpy/ScreenEncoder.java#L89-L92
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[repeat]: https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/blob/v1.0/server/src/main/java/com/genymobile/scrcpy/ScreenEncoder.java#L125-L126
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[repeat-flag]: https://developer.android.com/reference/android/media/MediaFormat.html#KEY_REPEAT_PREVIOUS_FRAME_AFTER
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### Input events injection
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_Control events_ are received from the client by the [`EventController`] (run in
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a separate thread). There are 5 types of input events:
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- keycode (cf [`KeyEvent`]),
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- text (special characters may not be handled by keycodes directly),
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- mouse motion/click,
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- mouse scroll,
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- custom command (e.g. to switch the screen on).
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All of them may need to inject input events to the system. To do so, they use
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the _hidden_ method [`InputManager.injectInputEvent`] (exposed by our
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[`InputManager` wrapper][inject-wrapper]).
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[`EventController`]: https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/blob/v1.0/server/src/main/java/com/genymobile/scrcpy/EventController.java#L70
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[`KeyEvent`]: https://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/KeyEvent.html
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[`MotionEvent`]: https://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/MotionEvent.html
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[`InputManager.injectInputEvent`]: https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/oreo-release/core/java/android/hardware/input/InputManager.java#857
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[inject-wrapper]: https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/blob/v1.0/server/src/main/java/com/genymobile/scrcpy/wrappers/InputManager.java#L27
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## Client
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The client relies on [SDL], which provides cross-platform API for UI, input
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events, threading, etc.
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The video stream is decoded by [libav] (FFmpeg).
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[SDL]: https://www.libsdl.org
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[libav]: https://www.libav.org/
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### Initialization
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On startup, in addition to _libav_ and _SDL_ initialization, the client must
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push and start the server on the device, and open a socket so that they may
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communicate.
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Note that the client-server roles are expressed at the application level:
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- the server _serves_ video stream and handle requests from the client,
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- the client _controls_ the device through the server.
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However, the roles are inverted at the network level:
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- the client opens a server socket and listen on a port before starting the
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server,
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- the server connects to the client.
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This role inversion guarantees that the connection will not fail due to race
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conditions, and avoids polling.
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Once the server is connected, it sends the device information (name and initial
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screen dimensions). Thus, the client may init the window and renderer, before
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the first frame is available.
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To minimize startup time, SDL initialization is performed while listening for
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the connection from the server (see commit [90a46b4]).
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[90a46b4]: https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/commit/90a46b4c45637d083e877020d85ade52a9a5fa8e
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### Threading
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The client uses 3 threads:
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- the **main** thread, executing the SDL event loop,
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- the **decoder** thread, decoding video frames,
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- the **controller** thread, sending _control events_ to the server.
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### Decoder
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The [decoder] runs in a separate thread. It uses _libav_ to decode the H.264
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stream from the socket, and notifies the main thread when a new frame is
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available.
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There are two [frames] simultaneously in memory:
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- the **decoding** frame, written by the decoder from the decoder thread,
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- the **rendering** frame, rendered in a texture from the main thread.
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When a new decoded frame is available, the decoder _swaps_ the decoding and
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rendering frame (with proper synchronization). Thus, it immediatly starts
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to decode a new frame while the main thread renders the last one.
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[decoder]: https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/blob/v1.0/app/src/decoder.c
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[frames]: https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/blob/v1.0/app/src/frames.h
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### Controller
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The [controller] is responsible to send _control events_ to the device. It runs
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in a separate thread, to avoid I/O on the main thread.
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On SDL event, received on the main thread, the [input manager][inputmanager]
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creates appropriate [_control events_][controlevent]. It is responsible to
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convert SDL events to Android events (using [convert]). It pushes the _control
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events_ to a blocking queue hold by the controller. On its own thread, the
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controller takes events from the queue, that it serializes and sends to the
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client.
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[controller]: https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/blob/v1.0/app/src/controller.h
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[controlevent]: https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/blob/v1.0/app/src/controlevent.h
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[inputmanager]: https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/blob/v1.0/app/src/inputmanager.h
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[convert]: https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/blob/v1.0/app/src/convert.h
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### UI and event loop
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Initialization, input events and rendering are all [managed][scrcpy] in the main
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thread.
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Events are handled in the [event loop], which either updates the [screen] or
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delegates to the [input manager][inputmanager].
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[scrcpy]: https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/blob/v1.0/app/src/scrcpy.c
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[event loop]: https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/blob/v1.0/app/src/scrcpy.c#L38
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[screen]: https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/blob/v1.0/app/src/screen.h
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## Hack
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For more details, go read the code!
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If you find a bug, or have an awesome idea to implement, please discuss and
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contribute ;-)
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