libcec is the software that powers the Pulse-Eight USB-CEC Adapter and allows it to communicate with your TV over HDMI. This article covers how to build and install libcec on Linux (Debian/Ubuntu). For Raspberry Pi, see: CEC Adapter — Using libcec with a Raspberry Pi

Prerequisites

libcec requires the following to function correctly:

• p8-platform 2.0 or later — github.com/Pulse-Eight/platform
• udev v151 or later
• cdc-acm kernel support — either compiled into the kernel or available as a loadable module

To compile libcec you will also need:

• cmake 2.6 or later
• A C++11 compatible compiler (GCC or Clang)
• Recommended: pkg-config, udev development headers v151 or later, and X RandR development headers — without these, the adapter may not be fully auto-detected

Installing on Debian or Ubuntu

On a new Debian or Ubuntu installation, run the following commands in order:

sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install cmake libudev-dev libxrandr-dev python3-dev swig git clone https://github.com/Pulse-Eight/libcec.git mkdir libcec/build cd libcec/build cmake .. make -j4 sudo make install sudo ldconfig

Once complete, libcec is installed and the cec-client command-line tool is available.

Testing the Installation

With the USB-CEC Adapter connected and your TV powered on, run:

cec-client -l

This lists detected CEC adapters. You should see the Pulse-Eight adapter listed. To scan the CEC network and see all connected devices:

echo "scan" | cec-client -s -d 1

Common Commands

Turn TV on:

echo "on 0" | cec-client -s -d 1

Turn TV off / standby:

echo "standby 0" | cec-client -s -d 1

Monitor all CEC traffic:

cec-client -m

Press Ctrl+C to stop monitoring. See: CEC Adapter — Monitoring Mode

Building for Other Hardware Platforms

libcec supports additional hardware platforms beyond the USB-CEC Adapter. Pass the relevant argument to cmake when compiling:

For example, to build with Linux CEC Framework support:

cmake -DHAVE_LINUX_API=1 ..

Using systemd

Example systemd unit files for common libcec use cases are included in the libcec source repository in the systemd/ folder. These can be used to run cec-client as a background service that starts automatically on boot.

Debian/Ubuntu Package (.deb)

Instructions for building a .deb package for Debian or Ubuntu are available in the libcec repository at docs/README.debian.md. This is useful if you want to deploy libcec across multiple machines.