AravisSharp — Cross-Platform .NET Bindings for Aravis

AravisSharp is a C# binding for the Aravis industrial camera library, targeting the stable Aravis 0.8.36 / libaravis-0.8 ABI and supporting USB3 Vision and GigE Vision cameras on Windows, Linux, and macOS.

Think of it as an open-source alternative to vendor SDKs like Basler Pylon — one library, any GenICam camera.

Platform Support

Platform	Runtime ID	Status	Tested Camera
Linux x64	linux-x64	✅ Full support	Basler acA720-520um
Linux ARM64	linux-arm64	✅ Compatible	—
Windows x64	win-x64	✅ Full support	Basler acA720-520um
macOS x64/ARM	osx-x64	⚠️ Untested	—

Quick Start

1. Install Dependencies

🐧 Linux (Ubuntu / Debian)

Option A — System package (easiest for development):

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y libaravis-0.8-0

Option B — NuGet runtime package (no system install needed):

dotnet add package AravisSharp.runtime.linux-x64

Option C — Build Aravis 0.8.36 from source:

./build_aravis_linux_nuget.sh

Verify all runtime deps are present:

./check-setup.sh

The following shared libraries are required at runtime (most are pre-installed on desktop Ubuntu):

Library	Package (apt)
libaravis-0.8.so.0	libaravis-0.8-0 or NuGet
libglib-2.0.so.0	libglib2.0-0
libgobject-2.0.so.0	libglib2.0-0
libgio-2.0.so.0	libglib2.0-0
libgmodule-2.0.so.0	libglib2.0-0
libxml2.so	libxml2
libusb-1.0.so.0	libusb-1.0-0
libz.so	zlib1g

USB3 Vision cameras — udev permissions:

./setup-usb-permissions.sh
# Log out and back in for group changes to take effect

🪟 Windows

dotnet add package AravisSharp.runtime.win-x64

The NuGet package bundles all required native DLLs (libaravis-0.8-0.dll, GLib, GObject, libxml2, libusb, zlib, …) — no system-wide install necessary.

USB3 Vision cameras require the WinUSB driver (one-time setup via Zadig). GigE cameras work without driver changes. See WINDOWS_SETUP.md for step-by-step instructions.

🍎 macOS

brew install aravis

2. Build & Run

cd AravisSharp
dotnet run

Example Code

using AravisSharp;
using AravisSharp.Native;

// Register the cross-platform native library resolver (call once at startup)
AravisLibrary.RegisterResolver();

// Discover cameras
CameraDiscovery.UpdateDeviceList();
var cameras = CameraDiscovery.DiscoverCameras();
foreach (var cam in cameras)
    Console.WriteLine(cam);

// Open the first camera
using var camera = new Camera();

// Read device info
Console.WriteLine(camera.GetVendorName());
Console.WriteLine(camera.GetModelName());

// Configure
camera.SetExposureTime(10000);   // 10 ms
camera.SetGain(5.0);
camera.SetRegion(0, 0, 640, 480);

// Access GenICam features via the NodeMap
var device = camera.GetDevice();
var nodeMap = device.NodeMap;
nodeMap.SetStringFeature("PixelFormat", "Mono8");
long width = nodeMap.GetIntegerFeature("Width");

// Acquire a single frame
camera.StartAcquisition();
using var buffer = camera.AcquireImage(timeout: 5000);
if (buffer?.Status == ArvBufferStatus.Success)
{
    var data = buffer.GetDataSpan();   // zero-copy
    Console.WriteLine($"Frame {buffer.FrameId}: {buffer.Width}x{buffer.Height}, {data.Length} bytes");
}
camera.StopAcquisition();

Architecture

AravisSharp/
├── Native/
│   ├── AravisNative.cs        # Audited hand-written P/Invoke bindings (aravis-0.8)
│   ├── GLibNative.cs          # GLib / GObject P/Invoke (gobject-2.0, glib-2.0)
│   ├── AravisLibrary.cs       # Cross-platform DllImportResolver
│   └── GErrorStructure.cs     # GError marshalling
├── GenICam/
│   ├── NodeMap.cs             # GenICam feature access (read/write/browse)
│   ├── GenICamNode.cs         # Individual node wrapper
│   ├── FeatureDetails.cs      # Feature introspection (type, range, choices)
│   └── FeatureAccessMode.cs   # RO / RW / WO / NA enums
├── Camera.cs                  # High-level camera wrapper
├── CameraDiscovery.cs         # Device enumeration
├── Stream.cs                  # Video stream management
├── Buffer.cs                  # Image buffer (zero-copy via Span<byte>)
├── Device.cs                  # Low-level GenICam device access
├── AravisException.cs         # Aravis-specific exceptions
├── Utilities/
│   ├── ImageHelper.cs         # Image format helpers (save PGM / raw)
│   └── AcquisitionStats.cs    # Real-time FPS & throughput monitor
└── Examples/                  # Interactive demo examples

Native Library Resolution

AravisSharp uses a NativeLibrary.SetDllImportResolver to map logical library names to platform-specific files at runtime:

Logical Name	Windows	Linux	macOS
aravis-0.8	libaravis-0.8-0.dll	libaravis-0.8.so.0	libaravis-0.8.dylib
gobject-2.0	libgobject-2.0-0.dll	libgobject-2.0.so.0	libgobject-2.0.dylib
glib-2.0	libglib-2.0-0.dll	libglib-2.0.so.0	libglib-2.0.dylib

The resolver probes system paths first, then falls back to runtimes/{rid}/native/ (NuGet layout).

NuGet Packages

Package	Contents
AravisSharp	Managed library (Camera, Stream, Buffer, NodeMap, …)
AravisSharp.runtime.win-x64	libaravis-0.8-0.dll + all transitive DLLs (GLib, libxml2, …)
AravisSharp.runtime.linux-x64	libaravis-0.8.so.0 (GLib etc. come from OS packages)

On Windows, the runtime package includes every dependency. On Linux, only libaravis is bundled — GLib / libxml2 / libusb / zlib are expected from the OS package manager.

Features

• Camera discovery — enumerate USB3 Vision and GigE Vision devices
• High-level API — Camera, Stream, Buffer with IDisposable and proper GObject ref-counting
• GenICam feature browser — introspect features with type, access mode, range, and enumeration choices
• Audited native surface — high-value 0.8.36 calls are hand checked; broad GIR generation is kept out of the public API until regenerated safely
• 80 hand-crafted bindings — curated, documented, with correct error handling
• Zero-copy image access — ReadOnlySpan<byte> via buffer.GetDataSpan()
• Image export — PNG / JPEG via SixLabors.ImageSharp, raw / PGM via ImageHelper
• Performance monitoring — AcquisitionStats for real-time FPS and throughput
• Cross-platform — single codebase, platform-specific loading at runtime

Documentation

Guide	Description
QUICKSTART.md	Install, connect, capture — quick reference
WINDOWS_SETUP.md	Windows installation + WinUSB driver setup
CROSS_PLATFORM_GUIDE.md	NuGet packaging, Docker, distribution strategies
FEATURE_BROWSER_GUIDE.md	GenICam feature introspection & interactive browser
PROJECT_SUMMARY.md	Project architecture and status

Build Requirements

Requirement	Version
.NET SDK	10.0
Aravis	0.8.36 target (libaravis-0.8; compatible with the 0.8 ABI)
SixLabors.ImageSharp	3.1.12 (NuGet)

License

Aravis is licensed under LGPL-2.1-or-later, which permits use in proprietary applications as long as the LGPL library can be replaced by the end user. AravisSharp license TBD.