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### Copyright (c) 2026

Author(s):
* mcfnord
* The Jamulus Development Team

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
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# Main Jamulus codebase

Licensed under the AGPL 3.0 or any later version; full text in [../COPYING](../COPYING).

@ann0see ann0see Sep 4, 2026

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@pljones do we really need to put the full license text - even as comment - into the file? It's better now though (since we have this short disclaimer). For code the header is fine, but for markdown files it just seems odd.


This directory contains the main code of Jamulus.

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`.
- [protocol.cpp](protocol.cpp) — `CProtocol`: message framing, acknowledgement and
retransmission. Wire format: [../docs/JAMULUS_PROTOCOL.md](../docs/JAMULUS_PROTOCOL.md).
- [channel.cpp](channel.cpp) — `CChannel`: the connection and its receive jitter buffer, used by
both client and server.
- [socket.cpp](socket.cpp) — `CSocket` and `CHighPrioSocket`: the UDP socket shared by all
sending and receiving, with its receive thread.
- [buffer.h](buffer.h) — `CNetBuf` and `CNetBufWithStats`: the jitter buffer, including the
automatic size decision.
- [util.h](util.h) / [util.cpp](util.cpp) — `CHighPrecisionTimer`, the server's frame clock, and
assorted helpers.

Client only:

- [client.cpp](client.cpp) — `CClient`: the client's audio path and its one channel.
- [sound/](sound/) — the sound layer, one backend per platform. See [sound/README.md](sound/README.md).
- [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.

Server only:

- [server.cpp](server.cpp) — `CServer`: the channels and the mix.
- [serverlist.cpp](serverlist.cpp) — directory registration and the server list.
- [recorder/](recorder/) — `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.

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).

## Jamulus Architecture

Jamulus is a client/server system: each client encodes the audio from its sound device and sends
it to the server over UDP, and the server decodes every client's stream, builds a separate mix for
each connected client from that client's own fader gains, re-encodes it and sends it back to be
decoded and played out. Each receiving end holds arriving packets in a jitter buffer first.

### Threading

| 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`) |

**The server's frame cycle runs on the main thread.** The `CHighPrecisionTimer` thread only
emits `timeout()`; the slot behind that queued connection, `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 — and on a machine reporting one core, `CServer`'s constructor turns the
option back off, so no pool thread is created at all.

### Locks

The locks taken from more than one thread:

| 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 |

**Smaller locks:**

- `CProtocol::Mutex` — queue of sent but not yet acknowledged messages
- `CServer::MutexChanOrder` — channel allocation in `FindChannel` and `FreeChannel`
- `CServer::MutexWelcomeMessage` — the welcome message string. Taken in `OnNewConnection` and
`SetWelcomeMessage` only; the other readers (`OnCLReqServerFeatures`, `OnCLReqWelcomeMessage`,
`GetWelcomeMessage`) do not take it, and every one of them is reached 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)