|
| 1 | +============= |
| 2 | +uinput module |
| 3 | +============= |
| 4 | + |
| 5 | +Introduction |
| 6 | +============ |
| 7 | + |
| 8 | +uinput is a kernel module that makes it possible to emulate input devices |
| 9 | +from userspace. By writing to /dev/uinput (or /dev/input/uinput) device, a |
| 10 | +process can create a virtual input device with specific capabilities. Once |
| 11 | +this virtual device is created, the process can send events through it, |
| 12 | +that will be delivered to userspace and in-kernel consumers. |
| 13 | + |
| 14 | +Interface |
| 15 | +========= |
| 16 | + |
| 17 | +:: |
| 18 | + |
| 19 | + linux/uinput.h |
| 20 | + |
| 21 | +The uinput header defines ioctls to create, set up, and destroy virtual |
| 22 | +devices. |
| 23 | + |
| 24 | +libevdev |
| 25 | +======== |
| 26 | + |
| 27 | +libevdev is a wrapper library for evdev devices that provides interfaces to |
| 28 | +create uinput devices and send events. libevdev is less error-prone than |
| 29 | +accessing uinput directly, and should be considered for new software. |
| 30 | + |
| 31 | +For examples and more information about libevdev: |
| 32 | +https://www.freedesktop.org/software/libevdev/doc/latest/ |
| 33 | + |
| 34 | +Examples |
| 35 | +======== |
| 36 | + |
| 37 | +Keyboard events |
| 38 | +--------------- |
| 39 | + |
| 40 | +This first example shows how to create a new virtual device, and how to |
| 41 | +send a key event. All default imports and error handlers were removed for |
| 42 | +the sake of simplicity. |
| 43 | + |
| 44 | +.. code-block:: c |
| 45 | +
|
| 46 | + #include <linux/uinput.h> |
| 47 | +
|
| 48 | + void emit(int fd, int type, int code, int val) |
| 49 | + { |
| 50 | + struct input_event ie; |
| 51 | +
|
| 52 | + ie.type = type; |
| 53 | + ie.code = code; |
| 54 | + ie.value = val; |
| 55 | + /* timestamp values below are ignored */ |
| 56 | + ie.time.tv_sec = 0; |
| 57 | + ie.time.tv_usec = 0; |
| 58 | +
|
| 59 | + write(fd, &ie, sizeof(ie)); |
| 60 | + } |
| 61 | +
|
| 62 | + int main(void) |
| 63 | + { |
| 64 | + struct uinput_setup usetup; |
| 65 | +
|
| 66 | + int fd = open("/dev/uinput", O_WRONLY | O_NONBLOCK); |
| 67 | +
|
| 68 | +
|
| 69 | + /* |
| 70 | + * The ioctls below will enable the device that is about to be |
| 71 | + * created, to pass key events, in this case the space key. |
| 72 | + */ |
| 73 | + ioctl(fd, UI_SET_EVBIT, EV_KEY); |
| 74 | + ioctl(fd, UI_SET_KEYBIT, KEY_SPACE); |
| 75 | +
|
| 76 | + memset(&usetup, 0, sizeof(usetup)); |
| 77 | + usetup.id.bustype = BUS_USB; |
| 78 | + usetup.id.vendor = 0x1234; /* sample vendor */ |
| 79 | + usetup.id.product = 0x5678; /* sample product */ |
| 80 | + strcpy(usetup.name, "Example device"); |
| 81 | +
|
| 82 | + ioctl(fd, UI_DEV_SETUP, &usetup); |
| 83 | + ioctl(fd, UI_DEV_CREATE); |
| 84 | +
|
| 85 | + /* |
| 86 | + * On UI_DEV_CREATE the kernel will create the device node for this |
| 87 | + * device. We are inserting a pause here so that userspace has time |
| 88 | + * to detect, initialize the new device, and can start listening to |
| 89 | + * the event, otherwise it will not notice the event we are about |
| 90 | + * to send. This pause is only needed in our example code! |
| 91 | + */ |
| 92 | + sleep(1); |
| 93 | +
|
| 94 | + /* Key press, report the event, send key release, and report again */ |
| 95 | + emit(fd, EV_KEY, KEY_SPACE, 1); |
| 96 | + emit(fd, EV_SYN, SYN_REPORT, 0); |
| 97 | + emit(fd, EV_KEY, KEY_SPACE, 0); |
| 98 | + emit(fd, EV_SYN, SYN_REPORT, 0); |
| 99 | +
|
| 100 | + /* |
| 101 | + * Give userspace some time to read the events before we destroy the |
| 102 | + * device with UI_DEV_DESTOY. |
| 103 | + */ |
| 104 | + sleep(1); |
| 105 | +
|
| 106 | + ioctl(fd, UI_DEV_DESTROY); |
| 107 | + close(fd); |
| 108 | +
|
| 109 | + return 0; |
| 110 | + } |
| 111 | +
|
| 112 | +Mouse movements |
| 113 | +--------------- |
| 114 | + |
| 115 | +This example shows how to create a virtual device that behaves like a physical |
| 116 | +mouse. |
| 117 | + |
| 118 | +.. code-block:: c |
| 119 | +
|
| 120 | + #include <linux/uinput.h> |
| 121 | +
|
| 122 | + /* emit function is identical to of the first example */ |
| 123 | +
|
| 124 | + int main(void) |
| 125 | + { |
| 126 | + struct uinput_setup usetup; |
| 127 | + int i = 50; |
| 128 | +
|
| 129 | + int fd = open("/dev/uinput", O_WRONLY | O_NONBLOCK); |
| 130 | +
|
| 131 | + /* enable mouse button left and relative events */ |
| 132 | + ioctl(fd, UI_SET_EVBIT, EV_KEY); |
| 133 | + ioctl(fd, UI_SET_KEYBIT, BTN_LEFT); |
| 134 | +
|
| 135 | + ioctl(fd, UI_SET_EVBIT, EV_REL); |
| 136 | + ioctl(fd, UI_SET_RELBIT, REL_X); |
| 137 | + ioctl(fd, UI_SET_RELBIT, REL_Y); |
| 138 | +
|
| 139 | + memset(&usetup, 0, sizeof(usetup)); |
| 140 | + usetup.id.bustype = BUS_USB; |
| 141 | + usetup.id.vendor = 0x1234; /* sample vendor */ |
| 142 | + usetup.id.product = 0x5678; /* sample product */ |
| 143 | + strcpy(usetup.name, "Example device"); |
| 144 | +
|
| 145 | + ioctl(fd, UI_DEV_SETUP, &usetup); |
| 146 | + ioctl(fd, UI_DEV_CREATE); |
| 147 | +
|
| 148 | + /* |
| 149 | + * On UI_DEV_CREATE the kernel will create the device node for this |
| 150 | + * device. We are inserting a pause here so that userspace has time |
| 151 | + * to detect, initialize the new device, and can start listening to |
| 152 | + * the event, otherwise it will not notice the event we are about |
| 153 | + * to send. This pause is only needed in our example code! |
| 154 | + */ |
| 155 | + sleep(1); |
| 156 | +
|
| 157 | + /* Move the mouse diagonally, 5 units per axis */ |
| 158 | + while (i--) { |
| 159 | + emit(fd, EV_REL, REL_X, 5); |
| 160 | + emit(fd, EV_REL, REL_Y, 5); |
| 161 | + emit(fd, EV_SYN, SYN_REPORT, 0); |
| 162 | + usleep(15000); |
| 163 | + } |
| 164 | +
|
| 165 | + /* |
| 166 | + * Give userspace some time to read the events before we destroy the |
| 167 | + * device with UI_DEV_DESTOY. |
| 168 | + */ |
| 169 | + sleep(1); |
| 170 | +
|
| 171 | + ioctl(fd, UI_DEV_DESTROY); |
| 172 | + close(fd); |
| 173 | +
|
| 174 | + return 0; |
| 175 | + } |
| 176 | +
|
| 177 | +
|
| 178 | +uinput old interface |
| 179 | +-------------------- |
| 180 | + |
| 181 | +Before uinput version 5, there wasn't a dedicated ioctl to set up a virtual |
| 182 | +device. Programs supportinf older versions of uinput interface need to fill |
| 183 | +a uinput_user_dev structure and write it to the uinput file descriptor to |
| 184 | +configure the new uinput device. New code should not use the old interface |
| 185 | +but interact with uinput via ioctl calls, or use libevdev. |
| 186 | + |
| 187 | +.. code-block:: c |
| 188 | +
|
| 189 | + #include <linux/uinput.h> |
| 190 | +
|
| 191 | + /* emit function is identical to of the first example */ |
| 192 | +
|
| 193 | + int main(void) |
| 194 | + { |
| 195 | + struct uinput_user_dev uud; |
| 196 | + int version, rc, fd; |
| 197 | +
|
| 198 | + fd = open("/dev/uinput", O_WRONLY | O_NONBLOCK); |
| 199 | + rc = ioctl(fd, UI_GET_VERSION, &version); |
| 200 | +
|
| 201 | + if (rc == 0 && version >= 5) { |
| 202 | + /* use UI_DEV_SETUP */ |
| 203 | + return 0; |
| 204 | + } |
| 205 | +
|
| 206 | + /* |
| 207 | + * The ioctls below will enable the device that is about to be |
| 208 | + * created, to pass key events, in this case the space key. |
| 209 | + */ |
| 210 | + ioctl(fd, UI_SET_EVBIT, EV_KEY); |
| 211 | + ioctl(fd, UI_SET_KEYBIT, KEY_SPACE); |
| 212 | +
|
| 213 | + memset(&uud, 0, sizeof(uud)); |
| 214 | + snprintf(uud.name, UINPUT_MAX_NAME_SIZE, "uinput old interface"); |
| 215 | + write(fd, &uud, sizeof(uud)); |
| 216 | +
|
| 217 | + ioctl(fd, UI_DEV_CREATE); |
| 218 | +
|
| 219 | + /* |
| 220 | + * On UI_DEV_CREATE the kernel will create the device node for this |
| 221 | + * device. We are inserting a pause here so that userspace has time |
| 222 | + * to detect, initialize the new device, and can start listening to |
| 223 | + * the event, otherwise it will not notice the event we are about |
| 224 | + * to send. This pause is only needed in our example code! |
| 225 | + */ |
| 226 | + sleep(1); |
| 227 | +
|
| 228 | + /* Key press, report the event, send key release, and report again */ |
| 229 | + emit(fd, EV_KEY, KEY_SPACE, 1); |
| 230 | + emit(fd, EV_SYN, SYN_REPORT, 0); |
| 231 | + emit(fd, EV_KEY, KEY_SPACE, 0); |
| 232 | + emit(fd, EV_SYN, SYN_REPORT, 0); |
| 233 | +
|
| 234 | + /* |
| 235 | + * Give userspace some time to read the events before we destroy the |
| 236 | + * device with UI_DEV_DESTOY. |
| 237 | + */ |
| 238 | + sleep(1); |
| 239 | +
|
| 240 | + ioctl(fd, UI_DEV_DESTROY); |
| 241 | +
|
| 242 | + close(fd); |
| 243 | + return 0; |
| 244 | + } |
| 245 | +
|
0 commit comments