adbuart 0.1.1

Expose an Android device UART as a local PTY over adb.

adbuart

Expose an Android-device UART as a local PTY over adb, so host serial tools such as minicom, picocom, or pyserial can talk to it like a normal serial port.

This is useful when a device has no host-side USB serial adapter and the console is reachable only through an Android UART device.

Requirements

• Linux or another POSIX-like host with Python 3.10+
• adb installed and available in PATH
• An adb-connected Android device where adb root is allowed
• Target-side UART device access, defaulting to /dev/ttyHS1

Install

python3 -m pip install adbuart

Usage

Start the bridge in one terminal:

adbuart -n uart-console

With multiple adb devices attached, pass the adb serial explicitly:

adbuart -s SERIAL -n uart-console

The command creates /tmp/uart-console and keeps running in the foreground. It prints a minicom command when the PTY is ready.

Open the PTY from another terminal:

minicom -D /tmp/uart-console -b 2000000
# or
python3 -m serial.tools.miniterm /tmp/uart-console 2000000

Stop the bridge with Ctrl-C in the bridge terminal. Clean shutdown restores RTOS logging when it was enabled before startup.

Options

Run:

adbuart --help
adbuart --version

Important options:

• -n, --name creates /tmp/<name> and is required.
• -s, --serial selects an adb device. If omitted, exactly one device must be connected.
• --remote-tty selects the target UART device path. Default: /dev/ttyHS1.
• --baud sets the initial remote UART baud rate. Default: 2000000.
• --cmd-before runs a remote shell command before bridging. Repeatable.
• --cmd-after runs a remote shell command during teardown. Repeatable.

By default the tool sets persist.rtoslogd.uart to 0 before bridging so Android log collection releases the UART. During teardown it restores the property to 1 only when it was 1 at startup.

Operating notes

• The bridge owns the target UART exclusively while it is running. Stop it before flashing, resetting, or opening the same UART through another tool.
• The local node is protected with a lock file, but unrelated tools can still collide at the device UART level.
• Avoid kill -9; it skips teardown and can leave RTOS logging disabled or a stale /tmp/<name> symlink.
• Serial disconnects during target reset are normal. Restart the bridge after the adb UART stream closes.

Development

python3 -m pip install -e '.[dev]'
pytest -q
python3 -m build

License

MIT