add macOS support by alfaoz · Pull Request #57 · nowrep/dualsensectl

alfaoz · 2026-03-20T20:12:18Z

summary

adds macOS support to dualsensectl. all changes are behind #ifdef __APPLE__ — linux code is untouched.

replaces libudev with IOKit/CoreFoundation for device monitoring (IOHIDManager callbacks for hotplug)
swaps hidapi-hidraw for the generic hidapi (uses IOKit backend on macOS)
handles macOS IOKit stripping the HID report ID byte from read buffers
adds nanosleep compat shim for thrd_sleep
platform-conditional meson.build (auto-detects macOS vs Linux dependencies)

tested on

macOS sequoia 15, arm64 (apple silicon)
dualsense (CFL-ZCT1) over USB and bluetooth

feature	bluetooth	usb
device listing	yes	yes
battery	yes	yes
firmware info	yes	yes
lightbar	yes	yes
player leds	yes	yes
adaptive triggers (all modes)	yes	yes
mic led	yes	yes
speaker routing	—	yes
volume	—	yes
microphone on/off	—	yes
monitor (plug/unplug)	yes	yes

build on macOS

brew install hidapi meson
meson setup build
meson compile -C build

replace libudev with IOKit/CoreFoundation for device monitoring, swap hidapi-hidraw for the generic hidapi (IOKit backend), handle macOS-specific HID report ID stripping, and add nanosleep compat for thrd_sleep. all changes behind #ifdef __APPLE__ — linux code is untouched. tested on macOS sequoia (arm64) over both USB and bluetooth.

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR adds macOS support to dualsensectl by introducing macOS-specific HID handling and device monitoring while keeping Linux behavior intact via platform conditionals.

Changes:

Adds platform-conditional Meson dependencies to switch between Linux (hidapi-hidraw + libudev) and macOS (hidapi + IOKit/CoreFoundation frameworks).
Introduces macOS-specific handling for HID input report layout differences (report ID stripping).
Implements a macOS monitor command backend using IOHIDManager callbacks.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 5 comments.

File	Description
meson.build	Adds OS-conditional dependencies and linker args for macOS vs Linux.
main.c	Adds macOS-specific includes/shims, input report parsing adjustments, and an IOKit-based monitor implementation.

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- fix potential NULL dereference in serial number fprintf - handle macOS report ID stripping in update command (not just battery) - fix CF object leak on IOHIDManagerOpen error path - use bracket syntax for meson array appends

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

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alfaoz · 2026-03-25T11:06:30Z

hello!

alfaoz · 2026-06-01T20:46:14Z

bump

egormanga

My two cents; never used a Mac.

egormanga · 2026-08-07T23:42:04Z

+    } else if (ds->bt && res == DS_INPUT_REPORT_BT_SIZE - 4 - 1) {
+        /* macOS IOKit strips report ID on BT; skip 1 byte (tag area) */
+        ds_report = (struct dualsense_input_report *)&data[1];
+    } else if (ds->bt && res == DS_INPUT_REPORT_BT_SIZE - 1) {
+        /* macOS IOKit strips report ID on BT, but keeps CRC */
+        ds_report = (struct dualsense_input_report *)&data[1];


What's the point in having these two identical branches separately?

both point at &data[1] but they do also match two different bt report layouts one w/ the crc tail, one w/out. i kept them seperate for readability

egormanga · 2026-08-07T23:43:02Z

+            return 2;
+        }
+#endif
+        fprintf(stderr, "Unhandled report ID %d (size %d, bt=%d)\n", (int)data[0], res, ds->bt);


What's the purpose of %d'ing ds->bt?

this is debug info that i relied on a lot. dualsense was cable connected to my mac but i still used bt. will probably also help when (if) an unhandled report comes your way you get to know if they used usb or bt

egormanga · 2026-08-07T23:44:12Z

 		ds_report = (struct dualsense_input_report *)&data[1];
+#ifdef __APPLE__
+	} else if (res == DS_INPUT_REPORT_USB_SIZE - 1) {
+		/* macOS IOKit strips report ID */


Maybe replace the entire branch on Darwin instead of falling back?

in my testing macos always stripped the report id, but i kept the generic branch so a build where hidapi doesn't strip still works. i'd rather not hard-assume iokit behavior here lol

egormanga · 2026-08-07T23:46:06Z

+        char buf[64] = {0};
+        CFStringGetCString(serial, buf, sizeof(buf), kCFStringEncodingUTF8);


Doesn't CFStringGetCString() write the \0 into buf? If so, initializing is not required.

on success yes, but isnt the return value not checked? when failure the buffer is undefined and the zero init keeps strlen safe and dropped to the fallback serial.

egormanga · 2026-08-07T23:46:38Z

+        size_t len = strlen(buf);
+        if (len == 17) {
+            /* Replace dashes with colons if needed, uppercase */
+            for (int i = 0; i < 17; i++) {


Trap for future refactoring!

Suggested change

for (int i = 0; i < 17; i++) {

for (int i = 0; i < len; i++) {

fair! will change.

egormanga · 2026-08-07T23:46:45Z

+                if (buf[i] == '-') buf[i] = ':';
+                serial_number[i] = toupper(buf[i]);
+            }
+            serial_number[17] = '\0';


Suggested change

serial_number[17] = '\0';

serial_number[len] = '\0';

egormanga · 2026-08-07T23:47:12Z

+static void iokit_device_added(void *context, IOReturn result, void *sender, IOHIDDeviceRef device)
+{
+    (void)context; (void)result; (void)sender;
+    char serial_number[18] = "00:00:00:00:00:00";


Suggested change

char serial_number[18] = "00:00:00:00:00:00";

char serial_number[] = "00:00:00:00:00:00";

same here. will change.

egormanga · 2026-08-07T23:47:35Z

+static void iokit_device_removed(void *context, IOReturn result, void *sender, IOHIDDeviceRef device)
+{
+    (void)context; (void)result; (void)sender;
+    char serial_number[18] = "00:00:00:00:00:00";


Suggested change

char serial_number[18] = "00:00:00:00:00:00";

char serial_number[] = "00:00:00:00:00:00";

egormanga · 2026-08-07T23:48:51Z

+
+    IOReturn ret = IOHIDManagerOpen(manager, kIOHIDOptionsTypeNone);
+    if (ret != kIOReturnSuccess) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "Failed to open IOHIDManager: 0x%x\n", ret);


Suggested change

fprintf(stderr, "Failed to open IOHIDManager: 0x%x\n", ret);

fprintf(stderr, "Failed to open IOHIDManager: %#04x\n", ret);

will change!

nowrep · 2026-08-08T09:24:40Z

Can you please put all the macos specific code to a new file (eg. macos.c)?

egormanga · 2026-08-09T00:49:57Z

@nowrep would a separate file really be more maintainable than preproc guards? I think I'm more with @alfaoz on that

alfaoz · 2026-08-09T02:53:00Z

Can you please put all the macos specific code to a new file (eg. macos.c)?

well most of the macos stuff is a couple lines inside shared functions, splitting those out would need either duplicating them or a short shim, do we want that?.

the monitor code is self contained though, i can move that plus the serial helper into macos.c and leave the small ifdefs where they are. would that work?

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings March 20, 2026 20:12

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of alfaoz March 20, 2026 20:12 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Mar 20, 2026

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Comment thread meson.build Outdated

Comment thread meson.build Outdated

Comment thread main.c Outdated

Comment thread main.c

Comment thread main.c Outdated

address review feedback

f907d2f

- fix potential NULL dereference in serial number fprintf - handle macOS report ID stripping in update command (not just battery) - fix CF object leak on IOHIDManagerOpen error path - use bracket syntax for meson array appends

alfaoz requested a review from Copilot March 21, 2026 09:35

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of alfaoz March 21, 2026 09:36 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Mar 21, 2026

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Comment thread meson.build

Comment thread main.c

egormanga suggested changes Aug 7, 2026

View reviewed changes

apply review suggestions

68e3881

		char buf[64] = {0};
		CFStringGetCString(serial, buf, sizeof(buf), kCFStringEncodingUTF8);

	for (int i = 0; i < 17; i++) {
	for (int i = 0; i < len; i++) {

	char serial_number[18] = "00:00:00:00:00:00";
	char serial_number[] = "00:00:00:00:00:00";

	fprintf(stderr, "Failed to open IOHIDManager: 0x%x\n", ret);
	fprintf(stderr, "Failed to open IOHIDManager: %#04x\n", ret);

Conversation

alfaoz commented Mar 20, 2026

summary

tested on

build on macOS

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alfaoz commented Mar 25, 2026

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alfaoz commented Jun 1, 2026

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nowrep commented Aug 8, 2026

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egormanga commented Aug 9, 2026

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alfaoz commented Aug 9, 2026

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