evdev is a libevdev inspired Go package for working with Linux input devices. evdev works by making ioctl system calls for the Linux input and uinput subsystems. Because evdev is written in pure Go, it can be used without CGO.

evdev is used to poll events from, and send events to /dev/input/event* devices. Additionally, evdev provides the ability to create virtual uinput devices that can be used similarly.

evdev is a rewrite of the github.com/jteeuwen/evdev package. Most of the credit for this package goes to jteeuwen for the original (and amazing!) work done.

evdev can be installed in the usual Go fashion:

$ go get -u github.com/kenshaw/evdev

Please see the examples directory for more examples.

Reading events from input devices or creating virtual uinput devices requires $USER to have the appropriate system-level permissions. This can be accomplished by adding $USER to a group with read/write access to /dev/input/event* and uinput block devices.

Please refer to your relevant Linux distribution's documentation on adding $USER to the appropriate system group, or otherwise allowing read/write access to /dev/input/event* and uinput devices.

Note: if adding a group to the current $USER, it will be necessary to log out and log back in before the system recognizes the group membership.

On Ubuntu/Debian systems, the current $USER can be added to the input group:

$ sudo adduser $USER input