---
name: "libgphoto2"
section: "3"
platform: "linux"
package: "libgphoto2"
version: "2.5.34-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/libgphoto2"
---

# libgphoto2(3)

cross-platform digital camera library

## NAME

libgphoto2 - cross-platform digital camera library

## SYNOPSIS

```
#include <gphoto2/gphoto2.h>
```

## DESCRIPTION

The gphoto2 library provides applications with access to a variety of cameras.

This man page will be extended with autogenerated documentation of the interface types and methods used for communication between the gphoto2 library and a frontend.

## FILES

- *~/.gphoto/settings*

  Here gphoto2 applications may store their configuration used to access gphoto2.

To track down errors, you can add the **--debug** parameter to the **gphoto2** command line and, if dealing with USB problems, setting the environment variable **USB\_DEBUG***=1*.

## ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

- **CAMLIBS**

  If set, defines the directory where the libgphoto2 library looks for its camera drivers (camlibs). You only need to set this on Windows systems and broken/test installations.

- **IOLIBS**

  If set, defines the directory where the libgphoto2\_port library looks for its I/O drivers (iolibs). You only need to set this on Windows systems and broken/test installations.

- **LD\_DEBUG**

  Set this to *all* to receive lots of debug information regarding library loading on **ld** based systems.

- **USB\_DEBUG**

  If set, defines the numeric debug level with which the libusb library will print messages. In order to get some debug output, set it to *1*.

## SEE ALSO

[gphoto2(1)](/gphoto2/1.md), [libgphoto2\_port(3)](/libgphoto2_port/3.md), The gPhoto2 Manual, automatically generated API docs, \[1\]*gphoto website*

## AUTHOR

The gPhoto2 Team. \
 Hans Ulrich Niedermann \<gp@n-dimensional.de\>. (man page)

## REFERENCES

- 1\. gphoto website

  http://www.gphoto.org/