NAME

       dbus-binding-tool - C language dbus-glib bindings generation utility.

SYNOPSIS

       dbus-binding-tool    [--force]    [--help]   [--ignore-unsupported]   [--mode=pretty|glib-
       client|glib-server] [--output=file] [--prefix=symbol-prefix] [--version] [file...]

DESCRIPTION

       dbus-binding-tool is used to expose a GObject via D-Bus, using  the  deprecated  dbus-glib
       binding  for  GLib.   As input, dbus-binding-tool uses a D-Bus Introspection XML file.  As
       output, the client-side or server-side bindings is generated.  This  output  is  a  header
       file  which  eases the use of a remote D-Bus object.  Output is sent to standard out or to
       the filename specified with the --output argument.

EXTENDED DESCRIPTION

       The following is a sample D-Bus Introspection XML file  which  describes  an  object  that
       exposes one method, named ManyArgs:

       <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
       <node name="/com/example/MyObject">
         <interface name="com.example.MyObject">
           <method name="ManyArgs">
             <arg type="u" name="x" direction="in" />
             <arg type="s" name="str" direction="in" />
             <arg type="d" name="trouble" direction="in" />
             <arg type="d" name="d_ret" direction="out" />
             <arg type="s" name="str_ret" direction="out" />
           </method>
         </interface>
       </node>

       dbus-binding-tool  supports  annotations  in  the  XML  format  to further control how the
       bindings are generated.

   client-side bindings
       When building client-side bindings, the --mode=glib-client argument is used.  The  client-
       side   bindings  support  the  "org.freedesktop.DBus.Glib.NoReply"  annotation.   This  is
       specified within the <method> tag to indicate that the client is not expecting a reply  to
       the  method  call,  so  a  reply should not be sent.  This is often used to speed up rapid
       method calls where there are no "out" arguments, and not knowing if the  method  succeeded
       is an acceptable compromise to halve the traffic on the bus.  For example:

       <method name "FooMethod">
         [...]
         <annotation name="org.freedesktop.DBus.GLib.NoReply" value="yes"/>
         [...]
       </method>

   server-side bindings
       When  building  server-side  bindings,  the --mode=glib-server argument is used.  Also the
       --prefix argument must be used when building server-side bindings so that functions in the
       generated  output are prefexed with the specified value.  The server-side bindings support
       the following annotations:

       "org.freedesktop.DBus.GLib.CSymbol"

       This annotation is used to specify the C symbol names for the  various  types  (interface,
       method, etc.), if it differs from the name D-Bus generates.

       <interface name="com.example.MyObject">
         <annotation name="org.freedesktop.DBus.GLib.CSymbol" value="my_object"/>
         [...]
         <method name "ManyArgs">
           <annotation name="org.freedesktop.DBus.GLib.CSymbol" value="my_object_many_args"/>
           [...]
         </method>
       </interface>

       "org.freedesktop.DBus.GLib.Async"

       This  annotation  marks  the method implementation as an asynchronous function, which does
       not return a response straight away but will send the response  at  some  later  point  to
       complete  the call. This is used to implement non-blocking services where method calls can
       take time.

       When a method is asynchronous, the function prototype is different. It  is  required  that
       the function conform to the following rules:

         •  The  function  must  return  a  value  of  type  gboolean; TRUE on success, and FALSE
            otherwise.
         •  The first parameter is a pointer to an instance of the object.
         •  Following the object instance pointer are the method input values.
         •  The final parameter must be a (DBusGMethodInvocation *). This is  used  when  sending
            the  response  message  back  to  the  client,  by  calling  dbus_g_method_return  or
            dbus_g_method_return_error.

       For example:

       <method name "FooMethod">
         [...]
         <annotation name="org.freedesktop.DBus.GLib.Async" value="yes"/>
         [...]
       </method>

       "org.freedesktop.DBus.GLib.Const"

       This attribute can only be applied to "out" <arg> nodes, and specifies that the  parameter
       is not being copied when returned. For example, this turns a 's' argument from a (char **)
       to a (const char **), and results in the argument not  being  freed  by  D-Bus  after  the
       message is sent.  For example:

         <arg type="u" name="x" direction="out">
           <annotation name="org.freedesktop.DBus.GLib.Const" value=""/>
         </arg>

       "org.freedesktop.DBus.GLib.ReturnVal"

       This  attribute can only be applied to "out" <arg> nodes, and alters the expected function
       signature. It currently can be set to two values: "" or "error". The argument marked  with
       this attribute is not returned via a pointer argument, but by the function's return value.
       If the attribute's value is the empty string, the (GError *) argument is also  omitted  so
       there  is  no  standard  way to return an error value. This is very useful for interfacing
       with existing code, as it is possible to match existing APIs. If the attribute's value  is
       "error", then the final argument is a (GError *) as usual.  For example:

         <arg type="u" name="x" direction="out">
           <annotation name="org.freedesktop.DBus.GLib.ReturnVal" value=""/>
         </arg>

OPTIONS

       The following options are supported:

       --force

           Overwrite  the output file if it already exists with a newer timestamp than the source
           files.

       --help

           Display usage information.

       --ignore-unsupported

           If set, then unsupported signatures for <method> parameters are ignored.

       --mode=pretty|glib-client|glib-server

           If the value is "glib-client", then client bindings are generated.  If  the  value  is
           "glib-server", then server bindings are generated.  If the value is "pretty", then the
           output is in a more human readable format.

       --output=file

           Specify the output file.

       --prefix=symbol-prefix

           Functions in the generated output are prefixed with the symbol-prefix value.

       --version

           Display the version number of the dbus-binding-tool command.

OPERANDS

       The following operands are supported:

       file            A list of one or more input D-Bus Introspection XML files  to  include  in
                       the generated output.

FILES

       The following files are used by this application:

       ${exec_prefix}/bin/dbus-binding-tool
SEE ALSO
       gdbus-codegen(1),  dbus-cleanup-sockets(1), dbus-daemon(1), dbus-monitor(1), dbus-send(1),
       dbus-uuidgen(1)

NOTES
       dbus-binding-tool is part of dbus-glib, which is a deprecated D-Bus binding for GLib.

       dbus-glib receives minimal maintenance and security fixes for the benefit of projects like
       Telepathy and NetworkManager that still rely on it, but should not be used in new projects
       (and existing projects should try to move away from it, too). Please use  GDBus,  part  of
       GLib since 2.26.

       gdbus-codegen(1) is the GDBus replacement for dbus-binding-tool.

AUTHORS
       Man page written by Brian Cameron, Sun Microsystems Inc., 2009.