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+.. -*- coding: utf-8; mode: rst -*-
+
+.. _selection-vs-crop:
+
+********************************
+Comparison with old cropping API
+********************************
+
+The selection API was introduced to cope with deficiencies of the
+older :ref:`CROP API <crop>`, that was designed to control simple
+capture devices. Later the cropping API was adopted by video output
+drivers. The ioctls are used to select a part of the display were the
+video signal is inserted. It should be considered as an API abuse
+because the described operation is actually the composing. The
+selection API makes a clear distinction between composing and cropping
+operations by setting the appropriate targets.
+
+The CROP API lacks any support for composing to and cropping from an
+image inside a memory buffer. The application could configure a
+capture device to fill only a part of an image by abusing V4L2
+API. Cropping a smaller image from a larger one is achieved by setting
+the field ``bytesperline`` at struct :c:type:`v4l2_pix_format`.
+Introducing an image offsets could be done by modifying field
+``m_userptr`` at struct :c:type:`v4l2_buffer` before calling
+:ref:`VIDIOC_QBUF <VIDIOC_QBUF>`. Those operations should be avoided
+because they are not portable (endianness), and do not work for
+macroblock and Bayer formats and mmap buffers.
+
+The selection API deals with configuration of buffer
+cropping/composing in a clear, intuitive and portable way. Next, with
+the selection API the concepts of the padded target and constraints
+flags are introduced. Finally, struct :c:type:`v4l2_crop` and struct
+:c:type:`v4l2_cropcap` have no reserved fields. Therefore there is no
+way to extend their functionality. The new struct
+:c:type:`v4l2_selection` provides a lot of place for future
+extensions.
+
+Driver developers are encouraged to implement only selection API. The
+former cropping API would be simulated using the new one.