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<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE part PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.1.2//EN"
"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd" [
<!ENTITY version SYSTEM "version.xml">
]>
<part id="overview">
  <title>ModemManager Overview</title>

  <chapter id="overview-modemmanager">
    <title>ModemManager</title>
    <para>
      ModemManager provides a unified high level API for communicating with
      (mobile broadband) modems. While the basic commands are standardized,
      the more advanced operations (like signal quality monitoring while
      connected) varies a lot.
    </para>

    <formalpara>
      <title>Using</title>
      <para>
        ModemManager is a system daemon and is not meant to be used directly from
        the command line. However, since it provides DBus API, it is possible to use
        'dbus-send' command to control it from the terminal. There's an example
        program (tests/mm-test.py) that demonstrates the basic API usage.
      </para>
    </formalpara>

    <formalpara>
      <title>Implementation</title>
      <para>
        ModemManager is a DBus system bus activated service (meaning it's started
        automatically when a request arrives). It is written in C. The devices are
        queried from udev and automatically updated based on hardware events. There's
        a GInterface (MMModem) that defines the modem interface and any device specific
        implementation must implement it. There are two generic MMModem implementations
        to support the basic operations (one for GSM, one for CDMA,) which are common
        for all cards.
      </para>
    </formalpara>

    <formalpara>
      <title>Plugins</title>
      <para>
        Plugins are loaded on startup, and must implement the MMPlugin interface. It
        consists of a couple of methods which tell the daemon whether the plugin
        supports a port and to create custom MMModem implementations. It most likely
        makes sense to derive custom modem implementations from one of the generic
        classes and just add (or override) operations which are not standard. There's a
        fully working plugin in the plugins/ directory for Huawei cards that can be
        used as an example for writing new plugins. Writing new plugins is highly
        encouraged!
      </para>
    </formalpara>

  </chapter>
</part>