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src/README.md: map the source folder, its threads and its locks
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src/README.md: shorten per review
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docs(src/README.md): format smaller locks as a bulleted list for clarity
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src/README.md: correct the protocol-parsing thread split and the pool…
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src/README.md: address the three open review comments
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src/README.md: apply @ann0see's review — AGPL line, architecture intr…
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src/README.md: what it does before what it contains; drop the optiona…
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| <!-- | ||
| ### Copyright (c) 2026 | ||
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| Author(s): | ||
| * mcfnord | ||
| * The Jamulus Development Team | ||
| --> | ||
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| # Main Jamulus codebase | ||
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| Licensed under the AGPL 3.0 or any later version; full text in [../COPYING](../COPYING). | ||
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| ## What this code does | ||
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| Jamulus is a client/server system. Each client encodes the audio from its sound device and sends it | ||
| to the server over UDP. The server decodes every client's stream and builds a separate mix for each | ||
| connected client, using that client's own fader gains, then re-encodes it and sends it back to be | ||
| decoded and played out. At both ends, arriving packets go through a jitter buffer first. | ||
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| Background: [Performing Band Rehearsals on the Internet with Jamulus](https://jamulus.app/PerformingBandRehearsalsontheInternetWithJamulus.pdf), | ||
| Volker Fischer's case study, based on three years of weekly online rehearsals. | ||
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| ## What this directory contains | ||
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| Code used by both client and server: | ||
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| - [main.cpp](main.cpp) parses the command line and constructs a `CClient` or a `CServer`. The entrypoint of the application. | ||
| - [protocol.cpp](protocol.cpp) — Programmatic specification of the protocol. `CProtocol` contains message framing, acknowledgement and | ||
| retransmission. Wire format: [../docs/JAMULUS_PROTOCOL.md](../docs/JAMULUS_PROTOCOL.md). | ||
| - [channel.cpp](channel.cpp) — One connection to a peer, used by both client and server. `CChannel` holds the connection state and its | ||
| receive jitter buffer. | ||
| - [socket.cpp](socket.cpp) — The UDP socket shared by all sending and receiving. `CSocket`, `CHighPrioSocket` and the receive thread. | ||
| - [buffer.h](buffer.h) — The jitter buffer. `CNetBuf` and `CNetBufWithStats`, including the automatic size decision. | ||
| - [settings.cpp](settings.cpp) — Reads and writes the settings XML file. `CSettings`, specialised as `CClientSettings` and `CServerSettings`. | ||
| - [util.h](util.h) / [util.cpp](util.cpp) — Shared helpers. `CHighPrecisionTimer` (the server's frame clock) among others. | ||
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| Client only: | ||
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| - [client.cpp](client.cpp) — The client's audio path. `CClient` and its single channel. | ||
| - [sound/](sound/) — The sound layer, one backend per platform. See [sound/README.md](sound/README.md). | ||
| - [plugins/audioreverb.cpp](plugins/audioreverb.cpp) — The reverb effect. `CAudioReverb`. | ||
| - [clientdlg.cpp](clientdlg.cpp), [clientsettingsdlg.cpp](clientsettingsdlg.cpp), | ||
| [audiomixerboard.cpp](audiomixerboard.cpp), [connectdlg.cpp](connectdlg.cpp), | ||
| [chatdlg.cpp](chatdlg.cpp) — The GUI. | ||
| - [clientrpc.cpp](clientrpc.cpp) — The client half of the JSON-RPC API. | ||
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| Server only: | ||
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| - [server.cpp](server.cpp) — The server's frame cycle. `CServer` holds the channels and builds each client's mix. | ||
| - [serverlist.cpp](serverlist.cpp) — Directory registration and the server list. | ||
| - [recorder/](recorder/) — Recording of a session. `CJamController` and `CJamRecorder`. | ||
| - [serverlogging.cpp](serverlogging.cpp) — The connection log. | ||
| - [serverrpc.cpp](serverrpc.cpp) — The server half of the JSON-RPC API. | ||
| - [serverdlg.cpp](serverdlg.cpp) — The server GUI. | ||
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| The JSON-RPC API ([rpcserver.cpp](rpcserver.cpp), [clientrpc.cpp](clientrpc.cpp), | ||
| [serverrpc.cpp](serverrpc.cpp)) is documented in [../docs/JSON-RPC.md](../docs/JSON-RPC.md). | ||
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| ## Threading | ||
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| | thread | exists | started from | what runs on it | | ||
| |---|---|---|---| | ||
| | Qt main thread | always | — | the GUI; every protocol message body, parsed and created, on client and server; directory registration; JSON-RPC; and the server's complete frame cycle (see below) | | ||
| | `CSocketThread` | always | `CHighPrioSocket::Start()`, at `QThread::TimeCriticalPriority` | a blocking UDP receive loop. Audio packets are decoded into the jitter buffer synchronously, in `CChannel::PutAudioData` (client) or `CServer::PutAudioData` (server). Protocol messages are split across the two threads: `CProtocol::ParseMessageFrame` validates the frame here, then the body is re-emitted as a queued signal and `ParseMessageBody` runs it on the main thread. | | ||
| | audio driver threads | client | the sound driver | the backend callback, which runs `CClient::AudioCallback`: Opus decode of the received stream, Opus encode of the sound card input, and the UDP send of the encoded packet | | ||
| | `CHighPrecisionTimer` | server, except on Windows | `CHighPrecisionTimer::Start()`, at `QThread::TimeCriticalPriority` | only `emit timeout()` once per frame, plus the absolute-time sleep that paces it | | ||
| | `CThreadPool` workers | server with `--multithreading`, on more than one core | `CServer`'s constructor | Opus decode and mix/encode/send work, in per-block chunks handed out by `CServer::OnTimer` | | ||
| | recorder thread | server with recording | `CJamController` | `CJamRecorder`, fed by queued `AudioFrame` signals from the frame cycle | | ||
| | `QThreadPool` global pool | client GUI | the connect dialog | one task per listed server for the ping/info fan-out (`QtConcurrent::run`) | | ||
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| **The server's frame cycle runs on the main thread.** The `CHighPrecisionTimer` thread only | ||
| emits `timeout()`. Its queued slot, `CServer::OnTimer`, does the jitter buffer drain, decode, | ||
| mix, encode and transmit — on the main thread. The TODO in | ||
| [util.cpp](util.cpp) notes the same escape from the timer thread. On Windows the pacer is a | ||
| plain `QTimer`, also main thread. With `--multithreading` the heavy blocks go to the pool, but | ||
| `OnTimer` waits for them. On a machine reporting one core, `CServer`'s constructor turns the | ||
| option back off, so no pool thread is created at all. | ||
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| ### Locks | ||
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| The locks taken from more than one thread: | ||
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| | lock | protects | taken from | | ||
| |---|---|---| | ||
| | `CChannel::MutexSocketBuf` | the jitter buffer | put on `CSocketThread`; get from the client's driver callback or the server's frame cycle; re-init from the main thread | | ||
| | `CSocket::Mutex` | the send path of the shared UDP socket | every `SendPacket()` call: the driver callback (client), the frame cycle and pool workers (server), and protocol code on the main thread | | ||
| | `CServer::Mutex` | connect and disconnect of channels against the frame cycle | `CServer::OnTimer` holds it while it collects the connected channels and drains and decodes their jitter buffers, and releases it before mix and send; `CServer::PutAudioData` (`CSocketThread`) and the protocol slots (main thread) take it too | | ||
| | `CChannel::Mutex` | per-channel state: the enable flag, gain and pan tables, name | setters in protocol slots on the main thread; getters in the server's frame cycle | | ||
| | `CChannel::MutexConvBuf` | the send-side conversion buffer | `PrepAndSendPacket()` on the sending thread; re-init from the main thread | | ||
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| **Smaller locks:** | ||
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| - `CProtocol::Mutex` — queue of sent but not yet acknowledged messages | ||
| - `CServer::MutexChanOrder` — channel allocation in `FindChannel` and `FreeChannel` | ||
| - `CServer::MutexWelcomeMessage` — the welcome message string. Only `OnNewConnection` and | ||
| `SetWelcomeMessage` lock it. `OnCLReqServerFeatures`, `OnCLReqWelcomeMessage` and | ||
| `GetWelcomeMessage` read it without the lock, and all three run on the main thread. | ||
| - `CClient::MutexChannels` — client-side channel number map | ||
| - `CClient::MutexGainOrPan` — gain/pan message rate limiter | ||
| - `CClient::MutexDriverReinit` — serializes sound device re-initialization | ||
| - Sound layer locks (`MutexAudioProcessCallback`, `MutexDevProperties`, per-backend) — see [sound/README.md](sound/README.md) | ||
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