The operations that are supported are:
- Port enumeration (obtaining a list of serial ports on the system).
+- Obtaining port metadata (USB device information, Bluetooth address, etc).
- Opening and closing ports.
- Setting port parameters (baud rate, parity, etc).
- Reading, writing and flushing data.
The library should build and work on any Windows or Unix-based system. If it
does not, please submit a bug.
-Enumeration is currently only implemented on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. On
-other systems enumeration will return no results, but ports can still be opened
+Enumeration is currently implemented on Windows, Mac OS X, FreeBSD and Linux.
+On other systems enumeration is not supported, but ports can still be opened
by name and then used.
If you know how to enumerate available ports on another OS, please submit a bug
with this information, or better still a patch implementing it.
-Future
-======
-
-Future versions will add additional API calls for obtaining metadata about a
-port, e.g. for USB devices the USB VID and PID of the underlying device.
-
Dependencies
============
-On Linux, libudev is required. On other systems no other libraries are required.
-
-The libudev dependency could be eliminated in favour of direct sysfs queries at
-the cost of some brevity. This is not currently a priority but if you feel like
-doing this feel free to submit a patch.
+No other libraries are required.
Building
========
The package uses a GNU style build system and requires a Unix style shell.
-On Windows it can be built with the MinGW toolchain and MSYS environment.
+
+Windows builds can be created natively with the MinGW-w64 toolchain and
+MSYS2 environment, or cross-compiled using a MinGW-w64 toolchain:
+
+ http://mingw-w64.sourceforge.net/
+
+The "old" MinGW from http://mingw.org/ is not supported.
Run "./autogen.sh" to generate the build system, "./configure" to setup, then
"make" to build the library and "make install" to install it.
API
===
-The API is simple, and designed to be a minimal wrapper around the serial port
-support in each OS.
-
-Most functions take a pointer to a struct sp_port, which represents a serial
-port. These structures are always allocated and freed by the library, using the
-functions in the 'Enumeration' section below.
-
-All functions can return only three possible error values. SP_ERR_ARG indicates
-the function was called with invalid arguments. SP_ERR_FAIL indicates that the
-OS reported a failure. SP_ERR_MEM indicates that a memory allocation failed.
-All of these error values are negative.
-
-When SP_ERR_FAIL is returned, an error code or string description of the error
-can be obtained by calling sp_last_error_code() or sp_last_error_message(). The
-error code or message is that provided by the OS; libserialport does not define
-any error codes or messages of its own.
-
-Function calls that succeed return SP_OK, which is equal to zero, or where
-otherwise documented a positive value.
-
-The available functions are as follows:
-
-Enumeration
------------
-
-int sp_get_port_by_name(const char *portname, struct sp_port **port_ptr);
-
- Obtains a pointer to a new sp_port structure representing the named port. The
- user should allocate a variable of type "struct sp_port *" and pass a pointer
- to this to receive the result.
-
- The result should be freed after use by calling sp_free_port().
-
- Returns: SP_OK on success, SP_ERR_FAIL on failure, SP_ERR_MEM on allocation
- failure, or SP_ERR_ARG if an invalid pointer is passed. If any error
- is returned, the variable pointed to by port_ptr will be set to NULL.
- Otherwise, it will be set to point to the newly allocated port.
-
-void sp_free_port(struct sp_port *port);
-
- Frees a port structure obtained from sp_get_port_by_name().
-
-int sp_list_ports(struct sp_port ***list_ptr);
-
- Lists the serial ports available on the system. The result obtained is an
- array of pointers to sp_port structures, terminated by a NULL. The user should
- allocate a variable of type "struct sp_port **" and pass a pointer to this to
- receive the result.
-
- The result should be freed after use by calling sp_free_port_list(). If a port
- from the list is to be used after freeing the list, it must be copied first
- using sp_copy_port().
-
- Returns: SP_OK on success, SP_ERR_FAIL on failure, SP_ERR_MEM on allocation
- failure, or SP_ERR_ARG if an invalid pointer is passed. If any error
- is returned, the variable pointed to by list_ptr will be set to NULL.
- Otherwise, it will be set to point to the newly allocated array.
-
-int sp_copy_port(const struct sp_port *port, struct sp_port **copy_ptr);
-
- Makes a new copy of a sp_port structure. The user should allocate a variable
- of type "struct sp_port *" and pass a pointer to this to receive the result.
-
- The copy should be freed after use by calling sp_free_port().
-
- Returns: SP_OK on success, SP_ERR_MEM on allocation failure, or SP_ERR_ARG
- if an invalid port or pointer is passed. If any error is returned,
- the variable pointed to by copy_ptr will be set to NULL. Otherwise,
- it will be set to point to the newly allocated copy.
-
-void sp_free_port_list(struct sp_port **list);
-
- Frees a port list obtained from sp_list_ports(). This will also free all
- the sp_port structures referred to from the list; any that are to be retained
- must be copied first using sp_copy_port().
-
-Opening and closing ports
--------------------------
-
-int sp_open(struct sp_port *port, int flags);
-
- Opens the specified serial port.
-
- Parameters:
-
- port: Pointer to port structure.
- flags: Flags to use when opening the serial port. Possible
- flags are: SP_MODE_RDWR, SP_MODE_RDONLY, and SP_MODE_NONBLOCK.
-
- Returns: SP_OK on success, SP_ERR_FAIL on failure, SP_ERR_MEM on allocation
- failure, or SP_ERR_ARG if an invalid port is passed.
-
-int sp_close(struct sp_port *port);
-
- Closes the specified serial port.
-
- Returns: SP_OK on success, SP_ERR_FAIL on failure, or SP_ERR_ARG
- if an invalid port is passed.
-
-Setting port parameters
------------------------
-
-int sp_set_baudrate(struct sp_port *port, int baudrate)
-
- Sets the baud rate for the specified serial port.
-
- Parameters:
-
- port: Pointer to port structure.
- baud: Baud rate in bits per second.
-
- Returns: SP_OK on success, SP_ERR_FAIL on failure, or SP_ERR_ARG
- for invalid arguments.
-
-int sp_set_bits(struct sp_port *port, int bits)
+Doxygen API documentation is included.
- Sets the number of data bits for the specified serial port.
+It can also be viewed online at:
- Parameters:
+ http://sigrok.org/api/libserialport/unstable/
- port: Pointer to port structure.
- bits: Number of data bits to use. Valid values are 5 to 8.
+Bug reports
+===========
- Returns: SP_OK on success, SP_ERR_FAIL on failure, or SP_ERR_ARG
- for invalid arguments.
+You can report bugs for libserialport at https://sigrok.org/bugzilla.
-int sp_set_parity(struct sp_port *port, int parity)
-
- Sets the parity for the specified serial port.
-
- Parameters:
-
- port: Pointer to port structure.
- parity: Parity setting to use.
- (SP_PARITY_NONE, SP_PARITY_EVEN or SP_PARITY_ODD)
-
- Returns: SP_OK on success, SP_ERR_FAIL on failure, or SP_ERR_ARG
- for invalid arguments.
-
-int sp_set_stopbits(struct sp_port *port, int stopbits)
-
- Sets the number of stop bits for the specified port.
-
- Parameters:
-
- port: Pointer to port structure.
- stopbits: Number of stop bits to use (1 or 2).
-
- Returns: SP_OK on success, SP_ERR_FAIL on failure, or SP_ERR_ARG
- for invalid arguments.
-
-int sp_set_flowcontrol(struct sp_port *port, int flowcontrol)
-
- Sets the flow control type for the specified serial port.
-
- This function is a wrapper that sets the RTS, CTS, DTR, DSR and
- XON/XOFF settings as necessary for the specified flow control
- type. For more fine-grained control of these settings, use their
- individual configuration functions or the sp_set_config() function.
-
- Parameters:
-
- port: Pointer to port structure.
- flowcontrol: Flow control setting to use. Valid settings are:
-
- SP_FLOWCONTROL_NONE: No flow control.
- SP_FLOWCONTROL_XONXOFF: Software flow control using XON/XOFF characters.
- SP_FLOWCONTROL_RTSCTS: Hardware flow control using RTS/CTS signals.
- SP_FLOWCONTROL_DTRDSR: Hardware flow control using DTR/DSR signals.
-
- Returns: SP_OK on success, SP_ERR_FAIL on failure, or SP_ERR_ARG
- for invalid arguments.
-
-int sp_set_config(struct sp_port *port, struct sp_port_config *config)
-
- Sets all parameters for the specified serial port.
-
- The user should populate a struct sp_port_config, then pass a pointer to it
- as the config parameter.
-
- The fields of sp_port_config are:
-
- int baudrate: Baud rate in bits per second.
- int bits: Number of data bits to use. Valid values are 5 to 8.
- int parity: Parity setting to use.
- (SP_PARITY_NONE, SP_PARITY_EVEN or SP_PARITY_ODD)
- int stopbits: Number of stop bits to use (1 or 2).
- int rts: RTS pin mode.
- (SP_RTS_ON, SP_RTS_OFF or SP_RTS_FLOW_CONTROL)
- int cts: CTS pin mode.
- (SP_CTS_IGNORE or SP_CTS_FLOW_CONTROL)
- int dtr: DTR pin mode.
- (SP_DTR_ON, SP_DTR_OFF or SP_DTR_FLOW_CONTROL)
- int dsr: DSR pin mode.
- (SP_DSR_IGNORE or SP_DSR_FLOW_CONTROL)
- int xon_xoff: XON/XOFF flow control mode.
- (SP_XONXOFF_DISABLED, SP_XONXOFF_IN,
- SP_XONXOFF_OUT or SP_XONXOFF_INOUT)
-
- To retain the current value of any setting, set the field to to a
- negative value.
-
- Returns: SP_OK on success, SP_ERR_FAIL on failure, or SP_ERR_ARG
- for invalid arguments.
-
-Reading, writing and flushing data
-----------------------------------
-
-int sp_read(struct sp_port *port, const void *buf, size_t count)
-
- Reads bytes from the specified serial port. Note that this function may
- return after reading less than the specified number of bytes; it is the
- user's responsibility to iterate as necessary in this case.
-
- Parameters:
-
- port: Pointer to port structure.
- buf: Buffer in which to store the bytes read.
- count: Maximum number of bytes to read.
-
- Returns: The number of bytes read, SP_ERR_FAIL on failure,
- or SP_ERR_ARG for invalid arguments.
-
-int sp_write(struct sp_port *port, const void *buf, size_t count)
-
- Write bytes to the specified serial port. Note that this function may
- return after writing less than the specified number of bytes; it is the
- user's responsibility to iterate as necessary in this case.
-
- Parameters:
-
- port: Pointer to port structure.
- buf: Buffer containing the bytes to write.
- count: Maximum number of bytes to write.
-
- Returns: The number of bytes written, SP_ERR_FAIL on failure,
- or SP_ERR_ARG for invalid arguments.
-
-int sp_flush(struct sp_port *port);
-
- Flushes serial port buffers.
-
- Returns: SP_OK on success, SP_ERR_FAIL on failure, or SP_ERR_ARG
- if an invalid port is passed.
-
-Error handling
---------------
-
-int sp_last_error_code();
-
- Gets the error code for a failed operation.
-
- In order to obtain the correct result, this function should be called
- straight after the failure, before executing any other system operations.
-
- Returns: The system's numeric code for the error that caused the last
- operation to fail.
+Mailing list
+============
-char *sp_last_error_message();
+ https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/sigrok-devel
- Gets the error message for failed operation.
+IRC
+===
- In order to obtain the correct result, this function should be called
- straight after the failure, before executing other system operations.
+You can find the developers in the #sigrok IRC channel on Freenode.
- Returns: The system's message for the error that caused the last
- operation to fail. This string may be allocated by the function,
- and should be freed after use by calling sp_free_error_message.
+Website
+=======
-void sp_free_error_message(char *message);
+http://sigrok.org/wiki/Libserialport
- Frees the error message returned by sp_last_error_message().