How to Install libnfc for PN532 NFC Readers on Linux

Installing libnfc for PN532 based NFC reader is not exactly as described in the documentation. Some information is scattered in the documentation. This installation guide has been tested with the GO2NFC GO2NFC141U NFC Reader and the Adafruit PN532 NFC/RFID controller breakout board.

1) Install the dependencies:

sudo apt-get install libusb-0.1-4 libusb-dev libpcsclite1 libpcsclite-dev libccid pcscd

2) Create the configuration directory

sudo mkdir -p /etc/nfc/devices.d/

3) Create the file /etc/nfc/devices.d/pn532_uart.conf containing

name = "PN532 board via UART"
connstring = pn532_uart:/dev/ttyACM0
allow_intrusive_scan = true


Replace ttyACM0 with ttyUSB0 if you are using the Adafruit reader.

5) Create the file /etc/nfc/libnfc.conf containing

allow_autoscan = true

6) Download the libnfc library at https://bintray.com/nfc-tools/sources/libnfc. Decompress the archive somewhere. Go into the libnfc-x.x.x directory.

7) Build the library

sudo ./configure --sysconfdir=/etc --prefix=/usr --with-drivers=pn532_uart
sudo make
sudo make install


8) Test your installation. Execute the command utils/nfc-scan-device. You should get an output similar to this one:

nfc-scan-device uses libnfc 1.7.1
1 NFC device(s) found:
- pn532_uart:/dev/ttyACM0:
pn532_uart:/dev/ttyACM0