HDMI CEC Framework Finally Queued For Linux 4.8

Four years after Linux kernel work originally got underway for supporting HDMI CEC and after many patch revisions of the rebooted CEC effort over the past year, the Linux 4.8 media pull request is finally set to land this new framework.

HDMI CEC is short for the Consumer Electronics Control. CEC is what allows HDMI-connected devices to be commanded and controled by a user with a single remote control. CEC comes down to a bidirectional serial bus and has been around for quite a while to allow multiple HDMI devices to be managed easily. CEC is the underlying tech to what's marketed as Samsung Anynet+, BRAVIA Link, Sharp Aquos Link, EasyLink, and various other names depending upon your HDMI device's brand.

For more of the back-story on this Linux kernel framework for HDMI CEC, see some of the past articles on the matter. With Linux 4.8, the media subsystem is landing this HDMI CEC framework along with an API, initial support for a few drivers (ADV7604-ADV7842), emulation support, and more.

The to-be-added kernel documentation explains the framework, "The CEC framework provides a unified kernel interface for use with HDMI CEC hardware. It is designed to handle a multiple types of hardware (receivers, transmitters, USB dongles). The framework also gives the option to decide what to do in the kernel driver and what should be handled by userspace applications. In addition it integrates the remote control passthrough feature into the kernel's remote control framework."

More details on the CEC code and other media updates for Linux 4.8 via this pull request.