// the find
armin-bauer/libstdbar
A library for reading barcodes and working with barcode scanners and on top of that a cool demo on using evdev
A C library from 2012 that reads barcode scanner input via Linux evdev, bypassing the default keyboard-emulation behavior that pollutes stdin. Solves a real problem: USB barcode scanners typically appear as HID keyboards, so their input fires into whatever app has focus. This routes it to a dedicated channel instead. Linux-only, 14 years abandoned.
Uses evdev directly rather than relying on stdin redirection, which is the correct approach for HID-as-keyboard devices. Includes scanner detection logic (isscanner.c) rather than requiring the caller to hardcode a device path. The experiments/ directory shows the author was actively exploring evdev patterns, not just cargo-culting. GPL v3 with a clear license file.
Abandoned in 2012 — no commits in 14 years, never left 'still under development' state per its own README. One star, zero forks, no release artifacts. Only EAN13 support is mentioned as actually working; 'more barcode formats' never materialized. No build system beyond a bare makefile, no pkg-config, no shared library install target, no documentation beyond the README.