can-utils-rs 0.1.0

A pure Rust CLI utility for managing and manipulating CAN interfaces and CAN data.
Documentation

Controller Area Network utilities (CAN utils)

Maintenance: actively-developed VERSION Docs.rs CI Status License: MIT

A Rust library and CLI utility for creating and managing Linux CAN interfaces.

The tool supports setting up:

  • Native CAN interfaces (can0, can1, etc.)
  • SLCAN serial CAN adapters (slcan0 via slcand)
  • Virtual CAN interfaces (vcan0 for testing)

It provides an interactive wizard that helps users configure CAN interfaces without remembering the exact ip or slcand commands.

The library can also be used programmatically to generate and execute CAN setup commands.

Supported CAN Interface Types

Native CAN

Configures a hardware CAN controller using:

sudo ip link set can0 up type can bitrate 500000

Typically used with:

  • SocketCAN PCI/USB adapters
  • Raspberry Pi CAN HATs
  • Embedded CAN controllers

SLCAN (Serial CAN)

For USB-serial CAN adapters using the slcand daemon.

Example command generated by the tool:

sudo slcand -c -o -f -s6 -t hw -S 3000000 /dev/ttyUSB0 slcan0
sudo ip link set up slcan0

Virtual CAN

Creates a virtual CAN bus for development or simulation.

sudo ip link add dev vcan0 type vcan
sudo ip link set up vcan0

This is extremely useful for testing CAN software without hardware.

Install

The library can be installed to create or manage interfaces.

cargo install --path .

Usage

Running the binary starts an interactive configuration wizard.

$ can-utils-rs

? Select CAN connection type
❯ Native CAN bus
  Non-native CAN bus (slcand)
  Virtual CAN bus (vcan)

The tool then asks for:

  • interface name
  • CAN bitrate
  • serial device (for SLCAN)

Before applying changes it prints the commands that will be executed.

Interface Safety

The tool checks if an interface already exists and offers options:

Interface 'can0' already exists.

❯ Replace existing interface
  Enter another interface name
  Keep existing and skip setup
  Cancel

When replacing an interface it will:

  • bring the interface down
  • remove it if needed (vcan or slcan)
  • recreate it using the selected configuration

All system interaction uses standard Linux tools:

  • ip
  • slcand

Linux Requirements

The following tools must be installed:

iproute2
can-utils

For virtual CAN interfaces:

sudo modprobe vcan

Design

The library separates concerns into several layers:

Prompt layer
    ↓
Config model
    ↓
Command plan
    ↓
Command execution

This allows the setup logic to be reused without the interactive UI.

License

MIT