NAME

       hamlib - radio and rotator control library

DESCRIPTION

       The  Ham  Radio  Control Libraries, Hamlib for short, is a development effort to provide a
       consistent interface for programmers wanting to incorporate radio and rotator  control  in
       their programs.

       Hamlib is not a complete user application, rather, it is a software layer intended to make
       controlling various radios and other amateur radio station (shack) hardware  much  easier.
       Hamlib  will  allow  authors  of software such as logging programs, digital communications
       programs, or those wanting to develop the ultimate radio control software  to  concentrate
       on  the  user  interface  and the basic function of the program rather than radio control.
       Hamlib consists of several parts, the programming library, utility programs,  and  library
       interfaces to other programming languages.

       Most recent amateur radio transceivers allow external control of their functions through a
       serial interface.  Unfortunately, control commands are  not  always  consistent  across  a
       manufacturer's  product line and each manufacturer's product line differs greatly from its
       competitors.

       Hamlib attempts to solve this problem by presenting a virtual radio to the  programmer  by
       providing  an interface to actions such as setting a given Variable Frequency Oscillator's
       (VFO) frequency, setting the operating mode, querying the radio of its current status  and
       settings,   and   giving   the  application  a  list  of  a  given  radio's  capabilities.
       Unfortunately, what can be accomplished by Hamlib is limited by the radios themselves  and
       some offer very limited capability.

       Other  devices,  such  as  antenna rotators, can be placed into the Hamlib control scheme.
       Other  recent  developments  include  network  interface  servers  and  a  USB   interface
       capability.  Language bindings are provided for C, C++, Perl, Python, Lua and TCL (more to
       come).

   Overview
       Hamlib is a front end library providing a C  language  Application  Programming  Interface
       (API)  to programmers wishing to integrate radio or rotator control in their applications.
       Hamlib presents a virtual radio or virtual rotator that is a consistent  interface  to  an
       application despite wide differences in radio and rotator interfaces and capabilities.

       The  front end library uses a number of back end libraries to translate from the front end
       to the various individual radio and rotator models.  A back end library handles conversion
       of  the  front  end  variables  to  the  format  needed  by the radio or rotator device it
       controls.  The back end libraries are generally grouped by manufacturer and in some  cases
       by a common control protocol.

       Hamlib  also  provides an interface library for each of several common scripting languages
       such    as    Perl    ⟨http://www.perl.org⟩,    Python    ⟨http://www.python.org⟩,     Lua
       ⟨https://www.lua.org⟩, and TCL ⟨http://www.tcl.tk⟩.  These language bindings are generated
       through the use of SWIG ⟨http://www.swig.org⟩, a parser/generator  for  multiple  language
       interfaces to a C library.  A natively generated C++ language interface is also provided.

       Besides  the  C and supplemental APIs, Hamlib also provides a pair of network daemons that
       provide a text command based API for controlling an attached radio or  rotator  through  a
       TCP/IP network connection.  The daemons then handle the interface to the Hamlib C API.

       More  than  one  type  of  device, radio or rotator, may be controlled at a time, however,
       there is generally a limit of one device per serial port or other port.

   Hamlib project information
       The Hamlib Project was founded by Frank Singleton, VK3FCS/KM5WS  in  July  2000.   Shortly
       after  Stephane  Fillod,  F8CFE,  joined  Frank  on  the  Hamlib  project  and the API and
       implementation development led to a reasonable level of maturity in a few years.  A  major
       milestone  was  reached  when  Hamlib  1.2.0  was  released  in  March  2004.  The API and
       Application Binary Interface (ABI) interfaces have remained stable since that time  up  to
       the latest release of 3.2 in early 2018.

       Development  continues through the major version number 3.x series and beyond.  While some
       API tweaks are planned,  ABI  compatibility  with  the  prior  1.2.x  releases  remains  a
       priority.   Other  goals  include streamlining the build system (done), improving the SWIG
       generated language bindings (done), improving the overall  documentation  (this  man  page
       with more in progress), and other updates as warranted.

       The  Project  is hosted by SourceForge.net ⟨https://sourceforge.net⟩ at the Hamlib project
       page  ⟨https://sourceforge.net/projects/hamlib/⟩.   As  GitHub  ⟨https://github.com⟩   has
       become  a  very  popular  project hosting site, Hamlib also has a dedicated GitHub project
       page   ⟨https://github.com/Hamlib/Hamlib⟩.    GitHub    also    hosts    the    hamlib.org
       ⟨http://www.hamlib.org⟩        Web        site       and       the       Hamlib       Wiki
       ⟨https://github.com/Hamlib/Hamlib/wiki⟩.

       Development discussion and most user support take place on  the  hamlib-developer  mailing
       list   ⟨https://sourceforge.net/p/hamlib/mailman/⟩.    While   there  are  SourceForge.net
       discussion forums ⟨https://sourceforge.net/p/hamlib/discussion/⟩, they are rarely used and
       not as closely read by the developers as the mailing list.

       For   source  code  management,  the  project  uses  Git  ⟨http://git-scm.com/⟩,  a  fast,
       distributed content tracker.  Among its features is that every developer has the  complete
       Hamlib  development  history  available  locally.   For more information on using Git, see
       hamlib-git(7).

              Note: while a canonical Git repository is hosted at SourceForge,  its  availability
              is  not  essential  to  continued development although development work flows would
              change temporarily.  Several developers find the GitHub Web interface easier to use
              and lately development has centered around GitHub rather than SourceForge.

   Applications using Hamlib
       A  number  of  application  developers  have  taken  advantage of Hamlib's capabilities to
       implement radio and/or rotator control.  While not exhaustive, a list is maintained at the
       Hamlib Wiki, Applications/Screenshots ⟨https://github.com/Hamlib/Hamlib/wiki/Applications-
       and-Screen-Shots⟩.  Developers are encouraged to request their applications  be  added  to
       the gallery by way of the hamlib-developer mailing list.

   Using Hamlib with your program
       As  with  other  Free  Software  projects,  Hamlib relies heavily on copyleft licensing to
       encourage development contributions  and  provide  an  open  atmosphere  for  development.
       Hamlib's  source  code  is  released under two licenses, the Lesser General Public License
       (LGPL) for the library portion, and the General  Public  License  (GPL)  for  the  utility
       programs.

       The LGPL allows the library to be used (linked) by programs regardless of their individual
       license.  However, any contributions to the library source  remain  under  copyleft  which
       means that the library source code may not be used in violation of the terms of the LGPL.

       The  utility  program  source  files  are released under the GPL.  Any direct use of these
       sources must be in a form that complies with the terms of the GPL.   Concepts  learned  by
       studying  these sources for the purpose of understanding the Hamlib API is not covered nor
       prohibited by the GPL, however, directly  copying  GPL  sources  into  any  work  that  is
       incompatible with the terms of the GPL is prohibited.

   Radios with a clone capability
       Hamlib's  focus  is  on  controlling  radios  that  employ a port and command protocol for
       setting frequency, mode, VFO, PTT, etc.  Most VHF/UHF  transceivers  do  not  employ  such
       control capability but do provide for cloning the memory contents from radio to another of
       the same model.  A related project, CHIRP ⟨http://chirp.danplanet.com⟩,  aims  to  support
       radios with such a clone capability.  Please contact the CHIRP project for support of such
       radios.

   Pronouncing Hamlib
       English speakers seem to have two alternate pronunciations for our project:

       ·   Hamlib (Ham - lib, long ‘i’, as in library.)  IPA style: /'ham læb/

       ·   Hamlib (Ham - lib, short ‘i’, as in liberty.)  IPA style: /'ham lɪb/

       Then again, we have people who say Linux “L-eye-nux” and those who say “L-in-nux”...

       If you're French, the above does not apply! :-)

COPYING

       This file is part of Hamlib, a project to develop a  library  that  simplifies  radio  and
       rotator  control  functions  for  developers  of  software  primarily of interest to radio
       amateurs and those interested in radio communications.

       Copyright © 2001-2018 Hamlib Group (various contributors)

       This is free software; see the file COPYING for copying conditions.  There is NO warranty;
       not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

SEE ALSO

       hamlib-primer(7)

COLOPHON

       Links to the Hamlib Wiki, Git repository, release archives, and daily snapshot archives:

              hamlib.org ⟨http://www.hamlib.org⟩.