Linux: DBus

Automation Mechanism

DBus is the standard message bus system for Linux desktop environments, supported by most desktop applications.

IPC Method: DBus IPC

• DBus provides inter-process message passing
• This is the standard IPC mechanism for Linux desktops

Example

Python

import dbus

bus = dbus.SessionBus()
mail_obj = bus.get_object('org.example.Mail', '/org/example/Mail')
mail_iface = dbus.Interface(mail_obj, 'org.example.Mail')

mail_iface.send_email("alice@example.com", "Hello", "Hi Alice...")

Integration Guide

Existing automation support

If the application already supports DBus, zero code is needed to integrate with AAI:

1. Confirm DBus service name, object path, interface
2. Write aai.json configuration file
3. Place in ~/.aai/<appId>/aai.json
4. Done!

No automation support

If the application has no automation support, you need to:

1. Implement DBus interface
2. Write aai.json configuration file

aai.json Fields

Field	Type	Description
platforms.linux.automation	string	Automation type: dbus
platforms.linux.service	string	DBus service name (e.g., org.example.Mail)
platforms.linux.object	string	DBus object path (e.g., /org/example/Mail)
platforms.linux.interface	string	DBus interface name (e.g., org.example.Mail)
platforms.linux.tools[].method	string	DBus method name (e.g., SendEmail)
platforms.linux.tools[].output_parser	string	Output parsing method: json (assumes JSON return), string
platforms.linux.tools[].timeout	integer	Timeout in seconds, default 30

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