# linux-can/can-utils

Linux-CAN / SocketCAN user space applications

Repository: https://github.com/linux-can/can-utils
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/can-utils
Language: C
License Family: other
Topics: can-bus, automotive, industrial-automation, linux
Last push: 2026-05-12T13:48:35+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 60/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 82, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4200, "days_push": 113, "days_rel": 582, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 1}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2908, forks 791 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:29.149123+00:00)

## What it is
A collection of Linux user-space utilities for the SocketCAN subsystem, written in C. It includes tools to display, send, generate, record, replay, and analyze CAN and CAN FD traffic, plus ISO-TP and J1939 tooling.

## Use cases
- dump and log CAN bus traffic on Linux
- replay recorded CAN log files
- generate random CAN frames for testing
- sniff ISO-TP messages over CAN
- test J1939 communication on an agricultural vehicle bus
- measure CAN bus load
- bridge TCP/IP to ISO-TP or SocketCAN

## When to choose
- you work with SocketCAN on Linux and need standard command-line CAN tools
- you develop or debug automotive or industrial CAN/CAN FD devices
- you need ISO-TP (ISO 15765-2) or SAE J1939 utilities
- you want to record, convert, and replay CAN traffic

## When to avoid
- you need CAN tooling on Windows or macOS without Linux SocketCAN support
- you want a GUI CAN analyzer rather than command-line tools
- you need a high-level application-layer protocol stack rather than utilities

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: developer-tools, networking, testing, logging, parser, cli
- domain: embedded-systems, developer-tools, operating-systems
- platform: cli, c
- tags: socketcan, can-bus, automotive, isotp, j1939, can-fd, industrial-automation, command-line, automation, linux

## Member repositories
- linux-can/can-utils (main) score 60

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:29.149123+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T07:34:22.340855+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/linux-can/can-utils (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:29.149123+00:00, sha c4e18008331b)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.