CANgaroo

An open source can bus analyzer with support for transmit/receive of standard and FD frames and DBC decoding of incoming frames

Supported interfaces:

• CANable SLCAN interfaces on Windows and Linux
• CANable 2 SLCAN interfaces on Windows and Linux with FD support
• Candlelight interfaces on Windows
• Socketcan interfaces on Linux
• CANblaster socketCAN over UDP server with auto-discovery
• GrIP Driver

Written by Hubert Denkmair hubert@denkmair.de

Further development by:

• Ethan Zonca e@ethanzonca.com
• WeAct Studio
• Schildkroet (https://github.com/Schildkroet/CANgaroo)
• Wikilift (https://github.com/wikilift/CANgaroo)

Building on Linux

• Install all required packages in a vanilla Ubuntu 24.04 (Qt6):
  • sudo apt install -y build-essential git cmake qt6-base-dev qt6-base-private-dev qt6-tools-dev libqt6serialport6-dev libqt6charts6-dev libnl-3-dev libnl-route-3-dev libgl1-mesa-dev
• build with:
  • qmake6
  • make
  • make install
• For Debian/Ubuntu users, can go to Releases and download .deb*

Building on Windows

• Qt Creator (Community Version is okay) brings everything you need
• except for the PCAN libraries.
  • Get them from http://www.peak-system.com/fileadmin/media/files/pcan-basic.zip
  • Extract to .zip to src/driver/PeakCanDriver/pcan-basic-api
  • Make sure PCANBasic.dll (the one from pcan-basic-api/Win32 on a "normal" 32bit Windows build) is found when running cangaroo, e.g. by putting it in the same folder as the .exe file.
• if you don't want Peak support, you can just disable the driver: remove the line "win32:include($$PWD/driver/PeakCanDriver/PeakCanDriver.pri)" from src/src.pro
• if you want to deploy the cangaroo app, make sure to also include the needed Qt Libraries. for a normal release build, these are: Qt5Core.dll Qt5Gui.dll Qt5Widgets.dll Qt5Xml.dll

Changelog

v0.3.1 (2025-02)

This release introduces major improvements to the trace window, user interface, and import/export capabilities.

New: Full trace import/export (.ctrace)

• Added new JSON-based file format .ctrace.
• Export now includes:
  • timestamps
  • raw ID, ID string, DLC and payload
  • RX/TX direction
  • per-message comments
  • per-ID colors
  • per-ID aliases
• Import fully reconstructs the trace model, restoring all colors, aliases and comments.

New: Per-message comments

• Added editable comments in Linear Trace View (separate for each message).
• Comments are persisted in .ctrace.

New: ID aliases

• Aliases may now be assigned to CAN IDs.
• Quoted in the UI and exported/imported in .ctrace.

New: ID color assignment

• Color assignation per ID.
• Custom color override via color picker.
• Colors persisted in .ctrace.

New: Add language options menu and Spanish translate

• Added i18n_es_ES
• Full UI retranslation on LanguageChange.
• Menu entry for language selection.

v0.3.0

• Migrate to Qt6
• Added GrIP driver

v0.2.4.1

• General bugfixes
• Add WeAct Studio Support
• Initial Translation support

v0.2.4

• Add initial support for CANFD
• Add support for SLCAN interfaces on Windows and Linux (CANable, CANable 2.0) including FD support
• Add support for CANblaster socketCAN over UDP server with auto-discovery
• Add live filtering of CAN messages in trace view

v0.2.1

• make logging easier
• refactorings
• scroll trace view per pixel, not per item (always show last message when autoscroll is on)

v0.2.0 released 2016-01-24

• docking windows system instead of MDI interface
• windows build
• windows PCAN-basic driver
• handle muxed signals in backend and trace window
• do not try to extract signals from messages when DLC too short
• can status window
• bugfixes in setup dialog
• show timestamps, log level etc. in log window

v0.1.3 released 2016-01-16

• new can interface configuration GUI (missing a suid binary to actually set the config)
• use libnl-route-3 for socketcan device config read
• query socketcan interfaces for supported config options
• new logging subsystem, do not use QDebug any more
• some performance improvements when receiving lots of messages
• bugfix with time-delta view: timestamps not shown when no previous message avail

v0.1.2 released 2016-01-12

• fix device re-scan ("could not bind" console message)
• fix some dbc parsing issues (signed signals, ...)
• implement big endian signals

v0.1.1 released 2016-01-11

• change source structure to better fit debian packaging
• add debian packaging info

v0.1 released 2016-01-10

initial release \o/

TODO

backend

• support non-message frames in traces (e.g. markers)
• implement plugin API
• embed python for scripting

can drivers

• allow socketcan interface config through suid binary
• socketcan: use hardware timestamps (SIOCSHWTSTAMP) if possible
• cannelloni support
• windows vector driver

import / export

• export to other file formats (e.g. Vector ASC, BLF, MDF) (no changes)
• import CAN-Traces ✔ done in v0.3.1: full .ctrace import/export with colors, comments and aliases

general ui

• give some style to dock windows
• load/save docks from/to config
• ✔ done in v0.3.1: runtime language switching (new menu, .qm loader)

log window

• filter log messages by level

can status window

• display #warnings, #passive, #busoff, #restarts of socketcan devices

trace window

• assign colors to can interfaces / messages ✔ done in v0.3.1: posible asignation colors by id
• limit displayed number of messages
• show error frames and other non-message frames
• sort signals by startbit, name or position in candb
• ✔ done in v0.3.1: per-message comments + persistence
• ✔ done in v0.3.1: per-ID aliases + persistence

CanDB based generator

• generate can messages from candbs
• set signals according to value tables etc.
• provide generator functions for signal values
• allow scripting of signal values

replay window

• replay can traces
• map interfaces in traces to available networks

graph window

• test QCustomPlot
• allow for graphing of interface stats, message stats and signals

packaging / deployment

• provide clean debian package ✔ done in v0.3.1: go to releases
• Flatpak
• provide static linked binary
• add windows installer