usbmuxd2

About

A socket daemon to multiplex connections from and to iOS devices over USB and WIFI

Background

This project is a reimplementation of the original usbmuxd daemon by the libimobiledevice project (which in turn is an open source implementation of Apple's own usbmuxd).

usbmuxd stands for "USB multiplexing daemon", however since the introduction of iTunes WIFI sync it also multiplexes connections over WIFI.

When usbmuxd is running it provides a socket interface in /var/run/usbmuxd that is designed to be compatible with the socket interface that is provided on macOS.

The daemon also manages pairing records with iOS devices and the host in /var/lib/lockdown (Linux) or /var/db/lockdown (macOS). Ensure proper permissions are setup for the daemon to access the directory.

Requirements

Development Package of:

• libusb (USB)
• libplist and libplist++
• libusbmuxd
• libimobiledevice
• avahi-client (WIFI)

Software:

• make
• autoheader
• automake
• autoconf
• libtool
• pkg-config
• clang (This project was developed and tested with clang compiler)

BUILD

usbmuxd2 is intended to be run on Linux only!
A compiler with C++17 and libstdc++fs (C++17 standard) is required!

This project does NOT support Windows!
This project is not meant to be run on macOS! (You really don't need it on macOS!)

Actually building

Be sure to checkout the require submodule after cloning.

git submodule init
git submodule update

To compile run:

./autogen.sh
make

If debug symbols and extra logging is desired, build with

./autogen.sh --enable-debug
make

Running on macOS

This project is not meant to be run on macOS!
macOS already ships a usbmuxd which is capable of multiplexing connections through USB and WIFI, you really don't want to run this on macOS!!!!

If you for some reason stil really need to run this, you can get usbmuxd2 in USB-only mode to work on macOS (tested on macOS High Sierra 10.13.6).
WIFI is not supported on macOS!

DO NOT TRY TO BUILD USING THE XCODE PROJECT!
Follow the same build instructions shown above and these extra steps for running.

For usbmuxd to work on macOS it is neccessary to delete AppleMobileDevice.kext as well as to unload Apple's usbmuxd. Otherwise it is not possible to claim iOS devices over USB.

#delete kext
sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Extensions/AppleMobileDevice.kext
sudo reboot
#Make sure not to install Xcode extensions after reboot,
#or the kext will be back
#Now unload apple's usbmuxd
sudo launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.usbmuxd.plist

If you want to reinstall the kext, just open Xcode and install it's extensions.