INTRO(3LIBIIO)

📦
version 0.26 · 6 versions
, in ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

🌸 INTRO(3LIBIIO) — libiio-0.26 💖

okay bestie, pull up a chair, grab a boba, because this is the glow-up tour of libiio-0.26, the library that talks to the Linux IIO subsystem. this is part 1 of 2, so don't you dare close the tab, there's more coming ✨

💅 NAME 💅

libiio-0.26 — an introduction to libiio, a library for interacting with the Linux IIO subsystem and devices. (yes this is the INTRO(3LIBIIO) page, hi, hello, welcome 🫶)

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

#include <iio.h>

cc file.c -liio

like, that's it. that's the whole vibe. include the header, link the lib, go off 👑

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

  • IIO_CHECK_REG (a define, not a flag, iykyk) — turn this on and it warns you when return values aren't being checked. here's the tea: most libiio functions, when a failure happens, hand you back a negative error number. this warning makes sure those error numbers actually get looked at. and ngl, there is nothing more frustrating than calling a function, debugging your hardware for an hour, and then realizing there was a typo in an attribute name 😭. this option forces library users to at least capture the return value. periodt.

to use it, compile like this:

cc file.c -DIIO_CHECK_REG -liio

🌈 DESCRIPTION 🌈

libiio is a library used to interface to the Linux Industrial Input/Output (IIO) Subsystem. and the Linux IIO subsystem is out here providing support for devices that are, in some sense, analog-to-digital or digital-to-analog converters (ADCs, DACs).

and when we say "this includes, but is not limited to", bestie, we mean it's a whole roster 🎊:

  • ADCs
  • Accelerometers
  • Gyros
  • IMUs
  • Capacitance to Digital Converters (CDCs)
  • Pressure Sensors
  • Color, Light and Proximity Sensors
  • Temperature Sensors
  • Magnetometers
  • DACs
  • DDS (Direct Digital Synthesis)
  • PLLs (Phase Locked Loops)
  • Variable/Programmable Gain Amplifiers (VGA, PGA)
  • RF transceivers

and the flex? you can use libiio natively on an embedded Linux target (local mode), or you can use libiio to communicate remotely to that same target from a host Linux, Windows or MAC over USB, Ethernet or Serial. main character energy fr fr 💅

🦋 DATA TYPES 🦋

the library makes use of C structures and typedefs to promote portability, and is known to run on various GNU/Linux distributions, macOS, Windows, and mbed (via tiny-iiod). the main C structures are:

  • iio_scan_context — the scanning context
  • iio_context_info — the information related to a discovered context
  • iio_context — contains the representation of an IIO context
  • iio_device — represents a device in the IIO context
  • iio_channel — represents an input or output channel of a device
  • iio_buffer — an input or output buffer, used to read or write samples
  • iio_data_format — contains the format of a data sample.

👑 LIST OF ROUTINES 👑

the following routines are part of the library. consult the Doxygen pages for details on their operation (they're chilling in the SEE ALSO section) 💜

🔍 Scan Functions — for scanning available contexts

  • iio_create_scan_context — create a scan context
  • iio_scan_context_destroy — destroy the given scan context
  • iio_scan_context_get_info_list — enumerate available contexts
  • iio_context_info_list_free — free a context info list
  • iio_context_info_get_description — get a description of a discovered context
  • iio_context_info_get_uri — get the URI of a discovered context
  • iio_create_scan_block — create a scan block
  • iio_scan_block_destroy — destroy the given scan block
  • iio_scan_block_scan — enumerate available contexts via scan block
  • iio_scan_block_get_info — get the iio_context_info for a particular context

⭐ TopLevel — top-level functions

  • iio_library_get_version — get the version of the libiio library
  • iio_strerror — get a string description of an error code
  • iio_has_backend — check if the specified backend is available
  • iio_get_backends_count — get the number of available backends
  • iio_get_backend — retrieve the name of a given backend

🧚 Context

  • iio_create_default_context — create a context from local or remote IIO devices
  • iio_create_local_context — create a context from local IIO devices (Linux only)
  • iio_create_xml_context — create a context from XML data in memory
  • iio_create_xml_context_mem — create a context from XML data in memory
  • iio_create_network_context — create a context from the network
  • iio_create_context_from_uri — (the page gives no one-liner here, so we're just gonna say the name with love 🫶)
  • iio_context_clone — duplicate a pre-existing IIO context
  • iio_context_destroy — destroy the given context
  • iio_context_get_version — get the version of the backend in use
  • iio_context_get_xml — obtain a XML representation of the given context
  • iio_context_get_name — get the name of the given context
  • iio_context_get_description — get a description of the given context
  • iio_context_get_attrs_count — get the number of context-specific attributes
  • iio_context_get_attr — retrieve the value of a context-specific attribute
  • iio_context_get_attr_value — retrieve the value of a context-specific attribute
  • iio_context_get_devices_count — enumerate the devices found in the given context
  • iio_context_get_device — get the device present at the given index
  • iio_context_find_device — try to find a device structure by its ID, label or name
  • iio_context_set_timeout — set a timeout for I/O operations

💖 Device

  • iio_device_get_context — retrieve a pointer to the iio_context structure
  • iio_device_get_id — get whether or not the device is a hardware monitoring device
  • iio_device_get_name — retrieve the device name
  • iio_device_get_label — retrieve the device label
  • iio_device_get_channels_count — enumerate the channels of the given device
  • iio_device_get_attrs_count — enumerate the device-specific attributes of the given device
  • iio_device_get_buffer_attrs_count — enumerate the buffer-specific attributes of the given device
  • iio_device_get_channel — get the channel present at the given index
  • iio_device_get_attr — get the device-specific attribute present at the given index
  • iio_device_get_buffer_attr — get the buffer-specific attribute present at the given index
  • iio_device_find_channel — try to find a channel structure by its name of ID
  • iio_device_find_attr — try to find a device-specific attribute by its name
  • iio_device_find_buffer_attr — try to find a buffer-specific attribute by its name
  • iio_device_attr_read — read the content of the given device-specific attribute
  • iio_device_attr_read_all — read the content of all device-specific attributes
  • iio_device_attr_read_bool — read the content of the given device-specific attribute
  • iio_device_attr_read_longlong — read the content of the given device-specific attribute
  • iio_device_attr_read_double — read the content of the given device-specific attribute
  • iio_device_attr_write — set the value of the given device-specific attribute
  • iio_device_attr_write_raw — set the value of the given device-specific attribute
  • iio_device_attr_write_all — set the values of all device-specific attributes
  • iio_device_attr_write_bool — set the value of the given device-specific attribute
  • iio_device_attr_write_longlong — set the value of the given device-specific attribute
  • iio_device_attr_write_double — set the value of the given device-specific attribute
  • iio_device_buffer_attr_read — read the content of the given buffer-specific attribute
  • iio_device_buffer_attr_read_all — read the content of all buffer-specific attributes
  • iio_device_buffer_attr_read_bool — read the content of the given buffer-specific attribute
  • iio_device_buffer_attr_read_longlong — read the content of the given buffer-specific attribute
  • iio_device_buffer_attr_read_double — read the content of the given buffer-specific attribute
  • iio_device_buffer_attr_write — set the value of the given buffer-specific attribute
  • iio_device_buffer_attr_write_raw — set the value of the given buffer-specific attribute
  • iio_device_buffer_attr_write_all — set the values of all buffer-specific attributes
  • iio_device_buffer_attr_write_bool — set the value of the given buffer-specific attribute
  • iio_device_buffer_attr_write_longlong — set the value of the given buffer-specific attribute
  • iio_device_buffer_attr_write_double — set the value of the given buffer-specific attribute
  • iio_device_set_data — associate a pointer to an iio_device structure
  • iio_device_get_data — retrieve a previously associated pointer of an iio_device structure
  • iio_device_get_trigger — retrieve the trigger of a given device
  • iio_device_set_trigger — associate a trigger to a given device
  • iio_device_is_trigger — return True if the given device is a trigger
  • iio_device_set_kernel_buffers_count — sets how many kernel buffers a device gets to have 🧺 that's the last of the Device crew, thank u for coming to my ted talk

💅 Channel Channel

ok yes, the page says "Channel" twice. that's not me glitching, that's genuinely what's printed. double-tap to like, i guess. anyway — the Channel agenda, in order, no skips:

  • iio_channel_get_device — hands u back a pointer to the iio_device struct it belongs to 🫶
  • iio_channel_get_id — gives u the channel ID
  • iio_channel_get_name — gives u the channel name
  • iio_channel_is_output — returns True if this channel is an output channel (yes bestie, some of them write back 👑)
  • iio_channel_is_scan_element — returns True if this channel is a scan element
  • iio_channel_get_attrs_count — counts up all the channel-specific attributes on this channel, i.e. enumerates them
  • iio_channel_get_attr — grabs the channel-specific attribute that's sitting at the index u asked for
  • iio_channel_find_attr — tries to find a channel-specific attribute by name 🔍
  • iio_channel_attr_get_filename — retrieves the filename of an attribute
  • iio_channel_attr_read — reads the content of the channel-specific attribute u point at
  • iio_channel_attr_read_all — reads the content of literally every channel-specific attribute, all of them, the whole fit ✨
  • iio_channel_attr_read_bool — reads the content of that channel-specific attribute, as a bool
  • iio_channel_attr_read_longlong — reads the content of that channel-specific attribute, as a longlong
  • iio_channel_attr_read_double — reads the content of that channel-specific attribute, as a double
  • iio_channel_attr_write — sets the value of the given channel-specific attribute
  • iio_channel_attr_write_raw — also sets the value of the given channel-specific attribute (raw edition)
  • iio_channel_attr_write_all — sets the values of every channel-specific attribute at once
  • iio_channel_attr_write_bool — sets that attribute's value, bool style
  • iio_channel_attr_write_longlong — sets that attribute's value, longlong style
  • iio_channel_attr_write_double — sets that attribute's value, double style
  • iio_channel_enable — enables the channel ⚡
  • iio_channel_disable — disables the channel 💀
  • iio_channel_is_enabled — returns True if the channel is enabled
  • iio_channel_read_raw — demultiplexes the samples of a given channel
  • iio_channel_read — demultiplexes and converts the samples of a given channel
  • iio_channel_write_raw — multiplexes the samples of a given channel
  • iio_channel_write — converts and multiplexes the samples of a given channel
  • iio_channel_set_data — associates a pointer with an iio_channel structure
  • iio_channel_get_data — gets a pointer to a channel's data format structure (that's literally how the page words it, i'm just the messenger 💅)
  • iio_channel_get_type — gets the type of the given hwmon channel
  • iio_channel_get_modifier — gets the modifier type of the given channel

🎀 Buffer Buffer

again with the double word. the page is committed to the bit. the Buffer roster:

  • iio_buffer_get_device — retrieves a pointer to the iio_device structure
  • iio_device_create_buffer — creates an input or output buffer tied to the given device (note the name switch-up, it's iio_device_create_buffer not iio_buffer_create — she's quirky like that) 🌸
  • iio_buffer_destroy — destroys the given buffer, bye bye 🦋
  • iio_buffer_get_poll_fd — gets u a pollable file descriptor
  • iio_buffer_set_blocking_mode — makes iio_buffer_refill() and iio_buffer_push() blocking, or not blocking. ur call.
  • iio_buffer_refill — cancel all buffer operations
  • iio_buffer_push — cancel all buffer operations
  • iio_buffer_push_partial — sends a given number of samples to the hardware
  • iio_buffer_cancel — cancel all buffer operations
  • iio_buffer_start — gets the start address of the buffer
  • iio_buffer_first — finds the first sample of a channel in a buffer
  • iio_buffer_step — gets the step size between two samples of one channel
  • iio_buffer_end — gets the address that follows the last sample in a buffer
  • iio_buffer_foreach_sample — calls the callback u supply, once for each sample found in a buffer 🔁
  • iio_buffer_set_data — associates a pointer with an iio_buffer structure
  • iio_buffer_get_data — retrieves a pointer u previously associated with an iio_buffer structure
ok so yes, iio_buffer_refill, iio_buffer_push and iio_buffer_cancel all have the exact same description on the page — "Cancel all buffer operations", three times, no notes. i'm not editing that, i'm just reporting it. the source said what it said 💀

and then the page just keeps listing stuff with no group label at all — no header, no divider, nothing. she simply continues. so here's the rest, bestie, exactly as it's written 🫶

  • iio_device_get_sample_size — gets the current sample size
  • iio_channel_get_index — gets the index of the given channel
  • iio_channel_get_data_format — gets a pointer to a channel's data format structure
  • iio_channel_convert — converts the sample from host format to hardware format
  • iio_channel_convert_inverse — converts the sample from host format to hardware format (the page gives it the identical description as the one above, and yes, the function is called _inverse. that is a whole situation. i am only relaying facts ✋)
  • iio_device_get_debug_attrs_count — enumerates the debug attributes of the given device
  • iio_device_get_debug_attr — gets the debug attribute present at the given index
  • iio_device_find_debug_attr — tries to find a debug attribute by its name
  • iio_device_debug_attr_read — reads the content of the given debug attribute
  • iio_device_debug_attr_read_all — reads the content of all debug attributes
  • iio_device_debug_attr_write — sets the value of the given debug attribute
  • iio_device_debug_attr_write_raw — sets the value of the given debug attribute (raw, again)
  • iio_device_debug_attr_write_all — sets the values of all debug attributes
  • iio_device_debug_attr_read_bool — reads the content of the given debug attribute, bool flavoured
  • iio_device_debug_attr_read_longlong — reads the content of the given debug attribute, longlong flavoured
  • iio_device_debug_attr_read_double — reads the content of the given debug attribute, double flavoured
  • iio_device_debug_attr_write_bool — sets the value of the given debug attribute, bool flavoured
  • iio_device_debug_attr_write_longlong — sets the value of the given debug attribute, longlong flavoured
  • iio_device_debug_attr_write_double — sets the value of the given debug attribute, double flavoured
  • iio_device_identify_filename — figures out which channel or debug attribute a filename actually corresponds to 🕵️
  • iio_device_reg_write — sets the value of a hardware register, careful bestie, that's hardware 🔥
  • iio_device_reg_read — gets the value of a hardware register

🌡️ Hwmon

Compatibility with hardware monitoring (hwmon) devices 💜

and that's it. that is genuinely the whole section — a title, a subtitle, and zero body text. she said what she said and left, queen behaviour 👑

and that's a wrap on INTRO(3LIBIIO) 🎀 thank u for reading my little lecture, ur doing amazing, ur channels will demultiplex beautifully. this page came to u from libiio-0.26, dated 06 February 2026, and it's the INTRO(3LIBIIO) manual page — go forth and read ur samples, bestie 💖✨🦋

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