Libraries for interfacing with the GPIO

Question

What libraries are available for interfacing with the GPIO?

not a complete list, but here are a few - although I think this question will be closed, as list-type questions tend not to work well on the stack sites, as there will be a never-ending stream of answers — user2813274, Jun 22 '15 at 04:05

score 16 · Answer 1 · edited Aug 14 '15 at 04:18

16

I'm going to interpret what I think you might be asking more broadly as "How can I control GPIO from userland?"

A very nice way to get started using GPIO is using the /sys filesytem. You can do it all from the command line.

For example,

cd sys/class/gpio
echo 0 > export
cd gpio0
echo high > direction

More documentation is in linux/Documentation/gpio.txt.

edited Aug 14 '15 at 04:18

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jun 13 '12 at 03:58

blueshift

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Does this work with every OS? – Alex L Jun 13 '12 at 07:12
This is linux-specific. – blueshift Jun 13 '12 at 09:03
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Are there any tutorials that use this method? I have only seen libraries (mainly the python one). – Shane Hudson Jun 13 '12 at 13:56
Added a link to the docs. – blueshift Jun 13 '12 at 16:44
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This isn't necessarily a library as per the request of the OP. – Andrew Larsson Jun 18 '12 at 17:04
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The other answers for this question are much better - this answer does not answer the question about libraries. – recantha Jan 02 '13 at 13:29

score 13 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 12 '12 at 22:26

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There is one that I've found here. I haven't had the chance to test it, as my Pi hasn't arrived. It does, however, look assuring. There's even a forum thread here that professes promising payoff. If you want a down-to-the-basics C example using standard libraries, there's one here from eLinux.

answered Jun 12 '12 at 22:26

Andrew Larsson

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What was your experiece of this library, then? – Peter Mortensen Aug 09 '15 at 09:53

score 11 · Answer 3 · edited Aug 09 '15 at 09:35

11

RPi.GPIO is a Python package for GPIO control.

This tutorial video shows the basic usage of the package.

edited Aug 09 '15 at 09:35

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jun 15 '12 at 13:03

asalamon74

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Paul · Answer 4 · 2020-04-11T00:42:01.070

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I realize I'm answering a question that is years old, but there is one that hasn't been mentioned yet: gpiozero. https://gpiozero.readthedocs.io/en/stable/

It should already be installed on new versions of Raspbian. You can also install it on other versions of Linux. https://gpiozero.readthedocs.io/en/stable/installing.html

edited Apr 11 '20 at 00:42

answered Apr 05 '20 at 19:52

Paul

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score 2 · Answer 5 · edited Jun 16 '20 at 10:47

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quick2wire can be used by regular users (not root):

Quick2Wire Python API

A Python library for controlling the hardware attached to the Raspberry Pi's header pins, without running as the root user.

edited Jun 16 '20 at 10:47

Community

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answered Jan 29 '13 at 17:20

dugres

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While this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference. Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes. – Mark Booth Feb 07 '13 at 00:59
@MarkBooth : "the essential part of the answer" is "can be used by regular users" unlike other answers. – dugres Feb 07 '13 at 14:51

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 07 '13 at 07:47

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I use Wiring PI and it works really great. I use it with language C and had no problems so far. It is easy to understand and simple to handle.

answered Aug 07 '13 at 07:47

Franzi

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score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Sep 05 '19 at 21:39

Johny-Five is quite easy to use for those familiar with Node.js or JavaScript. See http://johnny-five.io/examples/raspi-io/

npm install johnny-five raspi-io

var five = require("johnny-five");
var Raspi = require("raspi-io").RaspiIO;
var board = new five.Board({
  io: new Raspi()
});

board.on("ready", function() {
  var led = new five.Led("P1-13");
  led.blink();
});

Specially useful for Pi projects controlling GPIO through a Web server

score 1 · Answer 8 · edited Aug 14 '15 at 04:16

It is really simple to control the GPIO ports in any language as shown on http://elinux.org, so I believe that you actually do not need a framework for the direct control.

You need to know which additional features you expect of a framework, like

Remote control via a browser
A pretty browser UI or maybe a standalone program
Automatic timebased control (cron jobs)

I ended up writing a framework for myself: Control GPIO ports over HTTP and with cron jobs which perfectly fits my needs. I wanted to have something for home-automation. So I needed cron jobs and a JSON web interface to run a native app on my iPhone. Therefore I did not write a browser UI. I believe it would also be good for an alarm system.

I did not find a (complete) list of frameworks yet. There are some mentioned on the forum of raspberrypi.org.

Matthew · Answer 9 · 2013-08-03T15:33:13.360

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Pi4J allows you to control the GPIO pins using Java. I'm not sure how it works but there's an explanation at http://pi4j.com/

edited Aug 03 '13 at 15:33

answered Aug 03 '13 at 08:09

Matthew

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Libraries for interfacing with the GPIO

9 Answers9

Quick2Wire Python API

Linked