draft scratch-memory extension

Author: jatinchowdhury18

include/clap/ext/draft/scratch-memory.h

@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+#pragma once
+
+#include "../../plugin.h"
+
+// This extension lets the plugin request "scratch" memory
+// from the host. Scratch memory can be accessed during the
+// `process()` callback, but its content not persistent
+// between callbacks.
+//
+// The motivation for this extension is to allow the plugin host
+// to "share" a single scratch buffer across multiple plugin
+// instances.
+//
+// For example, imagine the host needs to process three plugins
+// in sequence, and each plugin requires 10K of scratch memory.
+// If each plugin pre-allocates its own scratch memory, then 30K
+// of memory is being allocated in total. However, if each plugin
+// requests 10K of scratch memory from the host, then the host can
+// allocate a single 10K scratch buffer, and make it available to all
+// three plugins.
+//
+// This optimization may allow for reduced memory usage and improved
+// CPU cache usage.
+
+static CLAP_CONSTEXPR const char CLAP_EXT_SCRATCH_MEMORY[] = "clap.scratch-memory/1";
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+extern "C" {
+#endif
+
+typedef struct clap_host_scratch_memory {
+   // Asks the host for certain amount of scratch memory.
+   // If the host is unable to provide the memory, it should
+   // return "false".
+   //
+   // The plugin may call this method multiple times (for
+   // example, gradually decreasing the amount of scratch
+   // being asked for until the host returns true), however,
+   // the plugin should avoid calling this method un-neccesarily
+   // since the host implementation may be relatively expensive.
+   // If the plugin calls `reserve()` multiple times, then the
+   // final call determines the actual amount of scratch memory
+   // that will be available to the plugin. If the final call
+   // returns false then no scratch memory will be provided,
+   // regardless of any previous calls to `reserve()`.
+   //
+   // When the plugin is de-activated, the scratch memory
+   // is invalidated, and the host may free the memory if
+   // appropriate. The plugin will need to reserve scratch
+   // memory again the next time it is activated.
+   //
+   // In the context of plugins and hosts that implement
+   // the "thread-pool" extension, scratch memory is assumed
+   // to be "thread-local". The plugin should request the maximum
+   // amount of scratch memory that it will need on a single
+   // thread. Accordingly, the host must ensure that each
+   // thread can independently provide the requested amount
+   // of scratch memory.
+   //
+   // [main-thread & being-activated]
+   bool(CLAP_ABI *reserve)(const clap_host_t *host, uint32_t scratch_size_bytes);
+
+   // Asks the host for the previously reserved scratch memory.
+   // If the host returned "true" when scratch memory was requested,
+   // then this method must return a pointer to a memory block at least
+   // as large as the reserved size. If the host returned "false"
+   // when scratch memory was requested, then this method must not
+   // be called, and will return NULL.
+   //
+   // This method may only be called by the plugin from the audio thread,
+   // (i.e. during the process() or thread_pool.exec() callback), and
+   // the provided memory is only valid until the plugin returns from
+   // that callback. The plugin must not hold any references to data
+   // that lives in the scratch memory after returning from the callback,
+   // as that data will likely be over-written by another plugin using
+   // the same scratch memory.
+   //
+   // The provided memory is not initialized, and may have been used
+   // by other plugin instances, so the plugin must correctly initialize
+   // the memory when using it.
+   //
+   // The provided memory is owned by the host, so the plugin should not
+   // attempt to free the memory.
+   //
+   // [audio-thread]
+   void*(CLAP_ABI *access)(const clap_host_t *host);
+} clap_host_scratch_memory_t;
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+}
+#endif

include/clap/plugin.h

@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ typedef struct clap_plugin {
    // In this call the plugin may allocate memory and prepare everything needed for the process
    // call. The process's sample rate will be constant and process's frame count will included in
    // the [min, max] range, which is bounded by [1, INT32_MAX].
+   // In this call the plugin may call host-provided methods marked [being-activated].
    // Once activated the latency and port configuration must remain constant, until deactivation.
    // Returns true on success.
    // [main-thread & !active]