USB/IP clients

A program built on this library is the USB/IP server: it provides a device and listens on TCP 3240. Something else has to import it before an operating system sees a USB device, and that importer is the USB/IP client - the OS's own, or another process using the host API. The client is not part of this library.

flowchart LR
    server["<b>your program</b><br>USB: device<br>USB/IP: SERVER<br>listens :3240"]
    client["<b>client</b> (the importer)<br>USB: host<br>USB/IP: CLIENT"]
    stack["OS USB stack"]
    driver["driver"]
    client -- "connects" --> server
    client --> stack --> driver

(The role table in Getting Started spells out the inversion.) Listen where the client can reach you: dev.plug(via=usbip.USBIP("0.0.0.0", 3240)) binds every interface, while the default local transport stays on the loopback, which a remote client can never reach.

Platform	Client	Notes
Linux	built in (vhci-hcd)	the reference environment
Windows	install one (usbip-win2 / usbip-win)	in-box drivers bind afterwards
macOS	none in-box; one experimental one needing SIP off	prefer a hardware client, or drive with the host API
Hardware clients	vendor-specific	any importer speaking the protocol - and the practical answer on macOS
No client at all	-	the host API imports and drives the device itself, on any OS