Automatically connect/disconnect devices as they are bound on the server

[RoganDawes]

Hi. Thanks for a great tool!

I have a need to automatically bind and unbind devices on the Windows client as they are bound/unbound on the server. This seems related to this other issue: https://github.com/cezanne/usbip-win/issues/160

In my case, the intention is to make a Linux usbip server's USB port "available" to a Windows client. On Linux, it is fairly straightforward to automate binding and unbinding the device as it is plugged in using appropriate udev rules that match the bus/port in question. However, it is still necessary to manually execute the bind/unbind commands on the Windows client. Ideally, the Windows client would poll periodically for any new/removed devices, and execute the bind/unbind operations automatically.

This could perhaps be enabled by adding an auto -i seconds -r target option that polls the specified server for any changes. This could perhaps be implemented using a Powershell script, but unfortunately, the output of usbip list is not the easiest to parse. It seems to me that it would make more sense to implement this within the usbip program itself?

[cezanne]

@RoganDawes : Yeah, it's wonderful if usbip.exe supports a persistent connection as you proposed.

[RoganDawes]

Not sure if it would require significant architectural changes to implement this? Without having looked at the sources, I imagine that each "bind" operation results in a backgrounded process that manages the socket connected to the server, and each "unbind" operation (or server unexport) essentially kills that process? (Replace "process" with "thread", perhaps?) If that is the case, adding one extra process or thread that periodically polls the server to check the current status doesn't sound terribly hard.

[cezanne]

@RoganDawes :

If that is the case, adding one extra process or thread that periodically polls the server to check the current status doesn't sound terribly hard.

I agree. 😄 However, an external process approach seems to be better in architectural viewpoint. Of course, remote listing should support parsable output. Local listing already supports.

[RoganDawes]

Making the output parsable would probably be the least effort (and probably a nett improvement overall anyway).

[cezanne]

@RoganDawes : Can you resolve this issue with features on dev branch?

• attach command displays a result port number.
• port command can check the sanity of an attached port.

Please check dev branch and wiki.

[RoganDawes]

I imagine the process would look something like (bash-style pseudocode):

while true; do
  # try to connect to device
  PORT=$(KEEPALIVE_TIMEOUT=3 usbip.exe attach -r <host> -t -b 1-1)
  if [ %error_level% -gt 0 ] ; then
    while usbip.exe port -p $PORT; do
      # check periodically for network timeout or device disconnection
      sleep 5
    done
  fi
  # wait a bit before trying again
  sleep 5
done

Looks reasonable to me, once I translate that into decent CMD.exe or PS!

[FL0WL0W]

Hey Everybody,

Needed something similar so I whipped up a quick windows service in C# https://github.com/FL0WL0W/usbipdaemon

Although my objective was to make anything connected to my raspberry pi act like a port connected directly to my computer instead of just a specific port, but it should fit your objective as well. I needed a keyboard connected and my friends periodically come over with usb game controllers and flash drives and my pc is ~50 feet away connected with a long hdmi cable to my tv.

hope this helps!

[RoganDawes]

404?

On Sat, 13 Feb 2021 at 06:25, Daniel Johnson notifications@github.com wrote:

Hey Everybody,

Needed the same thing so I whipped up a quick windows service in C# https://github.com/FL0WL0W/usbipdaemon

hope this helps!

— You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/cezanne/usbip-win/issues/186#issuecomment-778561145, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AABHBC2M4WY7PSELSXVWJCDS6X5LXANCNFSM4OZLZYLA .

[FL0WL0W]

404? … On Sat, 13 Feb 2021 at 06:25, Daniel Johnson @.***> wrote: Hey Everybody, Needed the same thing so I whipped up a quick windows service in C# https://github.com/FL0WL0W/usbipdaemon hope this helps! — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#186 (comment)>, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AABHBC2M4WY7PSELSXVWJCDS6X5LXANCNFSM4OZLZYLA .

Fixed. Sorry it was set to private

[cezanne]

@RoganDawes : Please reopen if you need.