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RFC: Hotplug implementation#674

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Youw wants to merge 19 commits intomasterfrom
connection-callback
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RFC: Hotplug implementation#674
Youw wants to merge 19 commits intomasterfrom
connection-callback

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@Youw Youw commented Apr 6, 2024

Resolves: #238

@Youw Youw marked this pull request as draft April 6, 2024 10:32
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Youw commented Apr 6, 2024

keeping it as draft for now
still need to fill up a description, etc.

@mcuee mcuee added the enhancement New feature or request label Apr 6, 2024
Nemo157 added a commit to Nemo157/hidapi-rs that referenced this pull request May 19, 2024
d3xMachina and others added 2 commits August 20, 2024 12:34
Fix the possible issues that happen when a register or de-register call is made from inside a callback. The way it works is the same for all platforms and is described below.

Resolves: #673 

1) The mutex is made recursive, so it can be locked by the same thread multiple times
2) `mutex_ready` kept intact, added 2 more flags, `mutex_in_use` and `cb_list_dirty`.
3) When the `mitex_in_use` flag is set, the Deregister call is no longer allowed to immediately remove any callbacks from the list. Instead, the `events` field in the callback is set to 0, which makes it "invalid", as it will no longer match any events, and the `cb_list_dirty` flag is set to 1 to indicate that the list needs to be checked for invalid events later.
4) When a callback returns a non-zero value, indicating that the callback is to be disarmed and removed from the list, it is marked in the same manner until the processing finishes (unless the callback was called directly by the Register call, in which case it's return value is ignored on purpose)
5) After all the callbacks are processed, if `cb_list_dirty` flag is set, the list of callbacks is checked for any callbacks marked for removal (`events` field set to 0), and those are only removed after all the processing is finished.
6) The Register call is allowed to register callbacks, as it causes no issues so long as the mutex it locks is recursive
7) Since the Register call can also call the new callback if `HID_API_HOTPLUG_ENUMERATE` is specified, `mutex_in_use` flag is set to prevent callback removal in that new callback.
8) The return value of any callbacks called for pre-existing devices is still ignored as per documentation and does not mark them invalid.
Comment thread libusb/hid.c Outdated
hidapi_thread_mutex_lock(&hid_hotplug_context.libusb_thread);
while (hid_hotplug_context.queue) {
struct hid_hotplug_queue *cur_event = hid_hotplug_context.queue;
process_hotplug_event(cur_event);
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would it be possible/feasible to postpone the processing of the event until libusb has closed the device? I know that might get complicate but otherwise enumerate would not work (at least as long as libusb/libusb#1532 has not been merged).

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I don't follow your thoughts here. Can you elaborate more details?

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well, libusb opens the device and fires the callback, then hidapi tries to get infos from the device but may fail as it is still open by libusb.
if I run my example program with the libusb backend, I don't get e.g. manufacturer infos but with the hidraw backend I get them.

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@bearsh bearsh Nov 25, 2024

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I was wrong, libusb does not open the device. but for some reason, hid_enumerate_from_libusb() is not able to open the device in my case (LIBUSB_ERROR_ACCESS) when called by the hotplug handler. If I insert a small delay before libusb_open() it works.

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Interesting finding...
As per documentation - it should be able to use libusb_open from a hotplug callback function.
What version of libusb are you using?

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@bearsh bearsh Nov 25, 2024

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I use libusb v1.0.27 and this branch for hidapi. Everything can be found here: https://github.com/bearsh/hid/tree/feature/connection-callback including the test program. The project is a go-wrapper around hiadpi. The test application is in cmd/hid-hotplug.

maybe I should file a bug at libusb... I've created libusb/libusb#1586

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something like the following would solve my issue and is also suggested as workaround by @mcuee in libusb/libusb#1586 (comment)

diff --git a/hidapi/libusb/hid.c b/hidapi/libusb/hid.c
index ca8555c..b1c31c5 100644
--- a/hidapi/libusb/hid.c
+++ b/hidapi/libusb/hid.c
@@ -944,7 +944,7 @@ static int should_enumerate_interface(unsigned short vendor_id, const struct lib
 	return 0;
 }
 
-static struct hid_device_info* hid_enumerate_from_libusb(libusb_device *dev, unsigned short vendor_id, unsigned short product_id)
+static struct hid_device_info* hid_enumerate_from_libusb(libusb_device *dev, unsigned short vendor_id, unsigned short product_id, int hotplug)
 {
 	struct hid_device_info *root = NULL; /* return object */
 	struct hid_device_info *cur_dev = NULL;
@@ -977,7 +977,11 @@ static struct hid_device_info* hid_enumerate_from_libusb(libusb_device *dev, uns
 				if (should_enumerate_interface(dev_vid, intf_desc)) {
 					struct hid_device_info *tmp;
 
-					res = libusb_open(dev, &handle);
+					/* after a hotplug event, retry it 5 time (max 50ms extra latency) */
+					unsigned try = hotplug ? 6 : 1;
+					while (try-- && (res = libusb_open(dev, &handle)) == LIBUSB_ERROR_ACCESS) {
+						usleep(10000);
+					}
 #ifdef __ANDROID__
 					if (handle) {
 						/* There is (a potential) libusb Android backend, in which
@@ -1058,7 +1062,7 @@ struct hid_device_info HID_API_EXPORT *hid_enumerate(unsigned short vendor_id, u
 		return NULL;
 
 	while ((dev = devs[i++]) != NULL) {
-		struct hid_device_info *tmp = hid_enumerate_from_libusb(dev, vendor_id, product_id);
+		struct hid_device_info *tmp = hid_enumerate_from_libusb(dev, vendor_id, product_id, 0);
 		if (cur_dev) {
 			cur_dev->next = tmp;
 		}
@@ -1168,7 +1172,7 @@ static int hid_libusb_hotplug_callback(libusb_context *ctx, libusb_device *devic
 static void process_hotplug_event(struct hid_hotplug_queue* msg)
 {
 	if (msg->event == LIBUSB_HOTPLUG_EVENT_DEVICE_ARRIVED) {
-		struct hid_device_info* info = hid_enumerate_from_libusb(msg->device, 0, 0);
+		struct hid_device_info* info = hid_enumerate_from_libusb(msg->device, 0, 0, 1);
 		struct hid_device_info* info_cur = info;
 		while (info_cur) {
 			/* For each device, call all matching callbacks */

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I do not know anything about Go, but let me try out the Go-wrapper over the weekend to see if I can reproduce the issue under Linux or not.

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A general rule: a retry w/o knowing exactly a reason for the behavior is not a good thing - that is a high indication somewhere is a bug, or something fundamentally done wrong...
In any case - lets have it as a separate issue/PR, this PR has too many comments/threads, things easily get lost...

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bearsh commented Apr 22, 2025

is there something I can help with to get this merged?

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k1-801 commented May 18, 2025

@Youw any chance the branch could be updated to the fresh master?
Also, is there any plan on actually finishing the feature & making it available in mainline? What's missing at this point and how can I help?

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Youw commented May 18, 2025

Sure, I'll update the branch.

Answering to last two comments: lets make a deal here: I'll start looking into this in more details very shortly (within days, at most weeks) - starting with the overall API design, etc. I'll post all my findings (and issues if any), and if anything needed to be adjusted/fixed - I'll probably be asking for help.

Also, I really hope we would have a good semi-automatic test for this as well (semi-automatic, since it would probably involve some physical device plug/unplug).

If all good when - will merge it into master.

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k1-801 commented May 18, 2025

Sure, I'll update the branch.

Answering to last two comments: lets make a deal here: I'll start looking into this in more details very shortly (within days, at most weeks) - starting with the overall API design, etc. I'll post all my findings (and issues if any), and if anything needed to be adjusted/fixed - I'll probably be asking for help.

This doesn't really describe my side of the deal, but - sure, sounds good. I'll do what I can to help in getting this ready.

Also, I really hope we would have a good semi-automatic test for this as well (semi-automatic, since it would probably involve some physical device plug/unplug).

This PR does already feature an update to the hidtest utility. The update makes it interactive & allows to test the callbacks. I don't know how to make it any more automatic.

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Youw commented May 18, 2025

Also, I really hope we would have a good semi-automatic test for this as well (semi-automatic, since it would probably involve some physical device plug/unplug).

This PR does already feature an update to the hidtest utility. The update makes it interactive & allows to test the callbacks. I don't know how to make it any more automatic.

  1. I was thinking having it as a separate test/executable, to keep current hidtest as a simple example
  2. A separate test which would guide the user what to do: plug/wait/unplug/etc. and would try to state if the implementation "passed" the test or "failed".

(No I haven't looke at what the modified hidtest currently does, if it already does something like that - that might be good-enought)

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Youw commented May 18, 2025

I've updated this branch to latest master and fixed conflicts (hopefully right).

Next step - I'll review the API and test the usability.

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k1-801 commented May 25, 2025

  • I was thinking having it as a separate test/executable, to keep current hidtest as a simple example
  • A separate test which would guide the user what to do: plug/wait/unplug/etc. and would try to state if the implementation "passed" the test or "failed".

I don't think my test app fits the description, and if the current hidtest is used in any automated testing scenario, I shall revert it to how it is in the current release. I'm not sure if the new interactive solution has any use, but it can be preserved under a different subfolder (will require a new cmake target, though).

As for the automated hotplug test, I'm not sure this is even necessary, but I can implement that too. I believe this can wait until after the review of the API - if the API is to change, the test will have to change too.

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awsms commented Oct 3, 2025

Next step - I'll review the API and test the usability.

Hi, any news since?

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We really would like to use this functionality in OpenRGB's upcoming 1.0 release. Is there any plan to merge this into a hidapi release in the near future? If not, we plan on creating a fork called hidapi-hotplug (just hidapi master with the changes from this branch) and building hidapi-hotplug packages to ship alongside OpenRGB 1.0.

I do plan to make OpenRGB 1.0 buildable against standard non-hotplug hidapi but without hotplug capability. Hotplug capability would be a major improvement in user experience for us and @k1-801 has been pushing for it for years. I've been hesitant because of lack of upstream support but I really want to find a way to get this in and maintaining a (hopefully temporary) fork seems like the best action right now.

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Youw commented Mar 30, 2026

Some more documentation based on current implementation: #784

Are we happy with this in general?

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mcuee commented Mar 31, 2026

I think this is a good one to be merged to git master.

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k1-801 commented Mar 31, 2026

Some more documentation based on current implementation: #784

image

I actually don't see any reason why it'd be not safe to call hid_open_path from a callback. Hotplug subsystem doesn't really intersect with what happens in device functions. Could you explain further, why it wouldn't be safe? The worst possible case is @bearsh 's scenario, but they already suggested a patch that works for them.

The only thing to really worry about processing directly in the callback is the callback potentially taking too long to process, but that's not related to the device opening call per se.

Additionally, the hid_device_info pointer may not be safe to preserve as-is outside the callback (and so are string pointers inside it), and THAT I'd put in the docs. Any info of interest in it should be copied, as the structure may be deleted unexpectedly after the callback ends. Found a mention of that.

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mcuee commented Mar 31, 2026

#784 documentation and hidtest.c can be improved along the way for hotplug. This PR can go in first.

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mcuee commented Mar 31, 2026

@Youw

I think you can mark this PR as "Ready for review".

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mcuee commented Mar 31, 2026

Minor warning when building under VS2026. Not related to this PR though (same for git master).

Maybe it is related to by build command (adapted from github action script). Not so sure here.

PS C:\work\libusb\hidapi_hotplug> .\build_msvc.cmd

C:\work\libusb\hidapi_hotplug>cmake  -B build_msvc/shared -S . -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=install/shared -DHIDAPI_WITH_TESTS=ON -DHIDAPI_BUILD_PP_DATA_DUMP=ON -DHIDAPI_BUILD_HIDTEST=ON
-- Building for: Visual Studio 18 2026
-- The C compiler identification is MSVC 19.50.35728.0
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info - done
-- Check for working C compiler: C:/Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio/18/Community/VC/Tools/MSVC/14.50.35717/bin/Hostx64/x64/cl.exe - skipped
-- Detecting C compile features
-- Detecting C compile features - done
-- hidapi: v0.16.0
-- Building hidtest
-- Configuring done (5.5s)
-- Generating done (0.3s)
-- Build files have been written to: C:/work/libusb/hidapi_hotplug/build_msvc/shared

C:\work\libusb\hidapi_hotplug>cmake --build build_msvc/shared --config RelWithDebInfo
MSBuild version 18.4.0+6e61e96ac for .NET Framework

  1>Checking Build System
  Building Custom Rule C:/work/libusb/hidapi_hotplug/windows/CMakeLists.txt
  hid.c
  hidapi_descriptor_reconstruct.c
  Generating Code...
     Creating library C:/work/libusb/hidapi_hotplug/build_msvc/shared/src/windows/RelWithDebInfo/hidapi.lib and object
  C:/work/libusb/hidapi_hotplug/build_msvc/shared/src/windows/RelWithDebInfo/hidapi.exp
  hidapi_winapi.vcxproj -> C:\work\libusb\hidapi_hotplug\build_msvc\shared\src\windows\RelWithDebInfo\hidapi.dll
  Building Custom Rule C:/work/libusb/hidapi_hotplug/windows/test/CMakeLists.txt
  hid_report_reconstructor_test.c
  hid_report_reconstructor_test.vcxproj -> C:\work\libusb\hidapi_hotplug\build_msvc\shared\src\windows\test\RelWithDebI
  nfo\hid_report_reconstructor_test.exe
  Building Custom Rule C:/work/libusb/hidapi_hotplug/hidtest/CMakeLists.txt
  test.c
  hidtest.vcxproj -> C:\work\libusb\hidapi_hotplug\build_msvc\shared\hidtest\RelWithDebInfo\hidtest.exe
  Building Custom Rule C:/work/libusb/hidapi_hotplug/windows/pp_data_dump/CMakeLists.txt
  pp_data_dump.c
     Creating library C:/work/libusb/hidapi_hotplug/build_msvc/shared/src/windows/pp_data_dump/RelWithDebInfo/pp_data_d
  ump.lib and object C:/work/libusb/hidapi_hotplug/build_msvc/shared/src/windows/pp_data_dump/RelWithDebInfo/pp_data_du
  mp.exp
  pp_data_dump.vcxproj -> C:\work\libusb\hidapi_hotplug\build_msvc\shared\src\windows\pp_data_dump\RelWithDebInfo\pp_da
  ta_dump.exe
  Building Custom Rule C:/work/libusb/hidapi_hotplug/CMakeLists.txt

C:\work\libusb\hidapi_hotplug>cmake  -B build_msvc/static -S . -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=install/static -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=FALSE -DHIDAPI_WITH_TESTS=ON -DHIDAPI_BUILD_PP_DATA_DUMP=ON -DHIDAPI_BUILD_HIDTEST=ON
-- Building for: Visual Studio 18 2026
-- The C compiler identification is MSVC 19.50.35728.0
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info - done
-- Check for working C compiler: C:/Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio/18/Community/VC/Tools/MSVC/14.50.35717/bin/Hostx64/x64/cl.exe - skipped
-- Detecting C compile features
-- Detecting C compile features - done
-- hidapi: v0.16.0
-- Building hidtest
-- Configuring done (3.2s)
-- Generating done (0.3s)
-- Build files have been written to: C:/work/libusb/hidapi_hotplug/build_msvc/static

C:\work\libusb\hidapi_hotplug>cmake --build build_msvc/static --config RelWithDebInfo
MSBuild version 18.4.0+6e61e96ac for .NET Framework

  1>Checking Build System
  Building Custom Rule C:/work/libusb/hidapi_hotplug/windows/CMakeLists.txt
  hid.c
  hidapi_descriptor_reconstruct.c
  Generating Code...
hid.obj : warning LNK4006: hid_winapi_descriptor_reconstruct_pp_data already defined in hidapi_descriptor_reconstruct.o
bj; second definition ignored [C:\work\libusb\hidapi_hotplug\build_msvc\static\src\windows\hidapi_winapi.vcxproj]
  hidapi_winapi.vcxproj -> C:\work\libusb\hidapi_hotplug\build_msvc\static\src\windows\RelWithDebInfo\hidapi.lib
  Building Custom Rule C:/work/libusb/hidapi_hotplug/windows/test/CMakeLists.txt
  hid_report_reconstructor_test.c
  hid_report_reconstructor_test.vcxproj -> C:\work\libusb\hidapi_hotplug\build_msvc\static\src\windows\test\RelWithDebI
  nfo\hid_report_reconstructor_test.exe
  Building Custom Rule C:/work/libusb/hidapi_hotplug/hidtest/CMakeLists.txt
  test.c
  hidtest.vcxproj -> C:\work\libusb\hidapi_hotplug\build_msvc\static\hidtest\RelWithDebInfo\hidtest.exe
  Building Custom Rule C:/work/libusb/hidapi_hotplug/windows/pp_data_dump/CMakeLists.txt
  pp_data_dump.c
  pp_data_dump.vcxproj -> C:\work\libusb\hidapi_hotplug\build_msvc\static\src\windows\pp_data_dump\RelWithDebInfo\pp_da
  ta_dump.exe
  Building Custom Rule C:/work/libusb/hidapi_hotplug/CMakeLists.txt

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bearsh commented Mar 31, 2026

would it be possible to include the patch from #674 (comment)? or should I submit a separate PR once this is merged?

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k1-801 commented Mar 31, 2026

would it be possible to include the patch from #674 (comment)? or should I submit a separate PR once this is merged?

I agree that this might be a worthy addition, if during testing it revealed such a problem.

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Youw commented Mar 31, 2026

@k1-801 lets continue the conversation her: #784

@bearsh see: #674 (comment)

Before marking this a Ready for Review/Merging to master - at least #783 needs to be reviewed/merged

Comment thread hidapi/hidapi.h

/** @brief Deregister a callback from a HID hotplug.

This function is safe to call from within a hotplug callback.
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while we want this to be true, I have a few conserns:

  1. why do we wan't to make this possible? one could simply return non-zero from a callback function, and that would effectively deregister, w/o a need to call deregister manually...

  2. register/deregister functions are not really thread-safe with regard to each other, mostly because context/mutex initisalisation in not thread-safe. even if we allow calling deregister from within the callback, there should be a big NOTE regarding the fact, that all calls to register/deregister, including the one from withing the callback function - should be serialized / protected by a mutex or so.

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  1. one could simply return non-zero from a callback function, and that would effectively deregister, w/o a need to call deregister manually

It could be deregistering a different callback than the one currently running, OR the user could need to perform certain actions after the callback is deregistered.

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2. there should be a big NOTE regarding the fact, that all calls to register/deregister, including the one from withing the callback function - should be serialized / protected by a mutex or so.

True. We do need such a note.
Some thread safety did actually exist there and was removed later during review.

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There is also things like: #674 (comment) that needs to be resolved first, and taken into account in general

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
Youw and others added 2 commits March 31, 2026 16:19
Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
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Would also be delighted to see this land, FWIW

Callback_thread used hidapi_thread_cond_timedwait with an absolute
timespec already in the past, causing a tight spin loop. Replaced
with cond_wait + predicate pattern so the thread sleeps until an
event or a shutdown signal arrives.
Multithreading fixes folded in along the way:
- Queue mutex moved from libusb_thread to callback_thread (its
  natural condvar partner), with signal-under-mutex to avoid a
  lost-wakeup race at shutdown.
- process_hotplug_event() now runs under hid_hotplug_context.mutex
  to match hid_hotplug_register_callback()'s HID_API_HOTPLUG_ENUMERATE
  traversal of hid_hotplug_context.devs — fixes a use-after-free
  where a concurrent disconnect could free a list node mid-traversal.
- devs teardown moved to hid_internal_hotplug_cleanup() (after
  hidapi_thread_join) so every access to devs happens under
  hid_hotplug_context.mutex.
- hid_hotplug_register_callback() now frees devs on the
  libusb_hotplug_register_callback() error path, which previously
  leaked.

Closes: #782

Assisted-by: Copilot:claude-sonnet-4.6
Assisted-by: Copilot:claude-opus-4.6
Assisted-by: Claude:claude-opus-4.7
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Youw commented Apr 24, 2026

I'll refine the suggested behavior a bit in scope of #790 (this is documentation-only) - and will make corresponding changes to the code later.

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