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@@ -2782,6 +2782,113 @@ Some examples follow:
 frei0r_src=200x200:10:partik0l=1234 [overlay]; [in][overlay] overlay
 @end example
 
+@section life
+
+Generate a life pattern.
+
+This source is based on a generalization of John Conway's life game.
+
+The sourced input represents a life grid, each pixel represents a cell
+which can be in one of two possible states, alive or dead. Every cell
+interacts with its eight neighbours, which are the cells that are
+horizontally, vertically, or diagonally adjacent.
+
+At each interaction the grid evolves according to the adopted rule,
+which specifies the number of neighbor alive cells which will make a
+cell stay alive or born. The @option{rule} option allows to specify
+the rule to adopt.
+
+This source accepts a list of options in the form of
+@var{key}=@var{value} pairs separated by ":". A description of the
+accepted options follows.
+
+@table @option
+@item filename, f
+Set the file from which to read the initial grid state. In the file,
+each non-whitespace character is considered an alive cell, and newline
+is used to delimit the end of each row.
+
+If this option is not specified, the initial grid is generated
+randomly.
+
+@item rate, r
+Set the video rate, that is the number of frames generated per second.
+Default is 25.
+
+@item random_fill_ratio, ratio
+Set the random fill ratio for the initial random grid. It is a
+floating point number value ranging from 0 to 1, defaults to 1/PHI.
+It is ignored when a file is specified.
+
+@item random_seed, seed
+Set the seed for filling the initial random grid, must be an integer
+included between 0 and UINT32_MAX. If not specified, or if explicitly
+set to -1, the filter will try to use a good random seed on a best
+effort basis.
+
+@item rule
+Set the life rule.
+
+A rule can be specified with a code of the kind "S@var{NS}/B@var{NB}",
+where @var{NS} and @var{NB} are sequences of numbers in the range 0-8,
+@var{NS} specifies the number of alive neighbor cells which make a
+live cell stay alive, and @var{NB} the number of alive neighbor cells
+which make a dead cell to become alive (i.e. to "born").
+"s" and "b" can be used in place of "S" and "B", respectively.
+
+Alternatively a rule can be specified by an 18-bits integer. The 9
+high order bits are used to encode the next cell state if it is alive
+for each number of neighbor alive cells, the low order bits specify
+the rule for "borning" new cells. Higher order bits encode for an
+higher number of neighbor cells.
+For example the number 6153 = @code{(12<<9)+9} specifies a stay alive
+rule of 12 and a born rule of 9, which corresponds to "S23/B03".
+
+Default value is "S23/B3", which is the original Conway's game of life
+rule, and will keep a cell alive if it has 2 or 3 neighbor alive
+cells, and will born a new cell if there are three alive cells around
+a dead cell.
+
+@item size, s
+Set the size of the output video.
+
+If @option{filename} is specified, the size is set by default to the
+same size of the input file. If @option{size} is set, it must contain
+the size specified in the input file, and the initial grid defined in
+that file is centered in the larger resulting area.
+
+If a filename is not specified, the size value defaults to "320x240"
+(used for a randomly generated initial grid).
+
+@item stitch
+If set to 1, stitch the left and right grid edges together, and the
+top and bottom edges also. Defaults to 1.
+@end table
+
+@subsection Examples
+
+@itemize
+@item
+Read a grid from @file{pattern}, and center it on a grid of size
+300x300 pixels:
+@example
+life=f=pattern:s=300x300
+@end example
+
+@item
+Generate a random grid of size 200x200, with a fill ratio of 2/3:
+@example
+life=ratio=2/3:s=200x200
+@end example
+
+@item
+Specify a custom rule for evolving a randomly generated grid:
+@example
+life=rule=S14/B34
+@end example
+
+@end itemize
+
 @section nullsrc, rgbtestsrc, testsrc
 
 The @code{nullsrc} source returns unprocessed video frames. It is