FR: USB/IP Client support

[linuxsky]

This server implementation does not include client functionality.

[beriberikix]

Hi @linuxsky! This is very much a WIP and server functionality is the main initial goal.

Client is on the long term roadmap, though! What's your use case?

[linuxsky]

Hi @linuxsky! This is very much a WIP and server functionality is the main initial goal.

Client is on the long term roadmap, though! What's your use case?

The MacBook is generally the device used for local debugging. My debugging devices are all in a remote laboratory, so I think the USB client function is also very important to me. Currently, the USBIP client only has Windows and Linux clients, and there is none for Mac yet（opensource or free）. I'm looking forward to its realization as soon as possible.

[beriberikix]

Still not implemented, but there is now a concrete path — and it came from an unexpected direction.

Apple declined this project's DriverKit entitlement request in February 2026, and the denial redirected to a different entitlement:

Please request the com.apple.developer.usb.host-controller-interface instead of DriverKit (review IOUSBHostControllerInterface).

That entitlement does not help the server — IOUSBHostControllerInterface is for implementing a USB host controller, presenting devices to macOS, which does nothing to detach a device from its existing driver. But that is precisely what a client needs: it is how a Mac would consume a device shared by another machine, the equivalent of Linux's vhci_hcd.

So Apple has effectively pointed at the API this feature request would be built on.

Two practical notes for anyone considering attempting it:

• No entitlement is needed to prototype. IOUSBHostControllerInterface works for a process running as root on a system with SIP disabled. The entitlement is for shipping to users who will not do that.
• Someone has already started. carlossless/usbip-macos is an experimental USB/IP client for macOS using this API, taking exactly the root-plus-SIP-disabled route. Worth reading before starting from scratch.

The entitlement itself is managed but low-volume enough that it was never added to the developer portal, so it is requested through Feedback Assistant rather than the Capability Requests tab — the denial email specifies the exact format.

I am not planning to take this on in the near term; the server side has only just reached the point of genuinely working (v0.5.1). But this is no longer a vague "someone should write a client" — the API is named, the entitlement path is known, and a prototype exists. Leaving this open, and contributions welcome.

[nottisa]

Super excited for this. A use case for us is for DFU mode. Some things like ASU and Apple Configurator only run on MacOS. Macs are expensive and frankly don't have fully what we want techs using. ASU is headless by design and Apple Configurator can be ran headlessly via a CLI which makes usbipd a good target for us to use.

tldr; we want to use it to save cost and management efforts by using Linux as our frontend and Macs on the backend to handle the proprietary stuff