Linux Barcode Scanner

Here’s how you can build a lightweight barcode scanner with Python. The command-line interface accepts a single image path as input and the Scanbot SDK license key is embedded directly in the source code.

Head over to the Linux Barcode Scanner SDK documentation for quick start guides for C, Java, and Node.js.

Step 1: Install Python and OpenCV

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y python3-venv python3-opencv

If you want to use GPU acceleration on an NVIDIA Jeston, you’ll need at least Jetpack 6.1, CUDA 12.6, and TensorRT 10.3.

sudo apt install -y nvidia-l4t-cuda libnvinfer10 libnvinfer-plugin10 libnvonnxparsers10

Step 2: Install the Scanbot SDK

Create and activate a virtual environment.

python3 -m venv .env --system-site-packages
source .env/bin/activate
pip install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel

When installing the Scanbot SDK, replace <SCANBOT_SDK_VERSION> with the version number you want to install.

For ARM64:

export SCANBOT_SDK_VERSION=<SCANBOT_SDK_VERSION>
pip install https://github.com/doo/scanbot-sdk-example-linux/releases/download/standalone-sdk%2Fv${SCANBOT_SDK_VERSION}/scanbotsdk-${SCANBOT_SDK_VERSION}-py3-none-linux_aarch64.whl

For x86_64:

export SCANBOT_SDK_VERSION=<SCANBOT_SDK_VERSION>
pip install https://github.com/doo/scanbot-sdk-example-linux/releases/download/standalone-sdk%2Fv${SCANBOT_SDK_VERSION}/scanbotsdk-${SCANBOT_SDK_VERSION}-py3-none-linux_x86_64.whl

You can verify the installation like this:

python -c "import scanbotsdk; print('scanbotsdk OK')"

On an NVIDIA Jetson, you can temporarily max out the clocks and fan to avoid throttling.

sudo jetson_clocks --store
sudo jetson_clocks
sudo jetson_clocks --restore

Now create a minimal project folder with a single entry-point script.

mkdir -p barcode-quickstart-python && \
touch barcode-quickstart-python/main.py

Step 3: Initialize the Scanbot SDK

Before using any feature of the Scanbot SDK in Python, initialize the SDK.

import scanbotsdk
from scanbotsdk import LicenseStatus

SCANBOT_LICENSE_KEY = "<SCANBOTSDK-LICENSE-KEY>"

def initialize_sdk() -> None:
    scanbotsdk.initialize(SCANBOT_LICENSE_KEY)

    license_info = scanbotsdk.get_license_info()
    print(f"License Status: {license_info.status}")

    if license_info.status != LicenseStatus.OKAY:
        raise SystemExit("Invalid or expired license. Exiting.")

Step 4: Create and run the Barcode Scanner

After successful initialization, create a scanner configuration and run it on an ImageRef.

def run_barcode_scanner(image: ImageRef):
    config = BarcodeScannerConfiguration()
    scanner = BarcodeScanner(configuration=config)

    result = scanner.run(image=image)

    if not result.barcodes:
        print("No barcodes found.")
        return

    for idx, barcode in enumerate(result.barcodes, 1):
        print(f"{idx}) {barcode.text} [{barcode.format}]")

Here’s the complete example:

import sys
import scanbotsdk
from scanbotsdk import (
    LicenseStatus,
    DeviceSession,
    ImageRef,
    BarcodeScanner,
    BarcodeScannerConfiguration,
)

SCANBOT_LICENSE_KEY = "<SCANBOTSDK-LICENSE-KEY>"

def initialize_sdk() -> None:
    scanbotsdk.initialize(SCANBOT_LICENSE_KEY)
    license_info = scanbotsdk.get_license_info()
    print(f"License Status: {license_info.status}")
    if license_info.status != LicenseStatus.OKAY:
        raise SystemExit("Invalid or expired license. Exiting.")

def run_barcode_scanner(image: ImageRef) -> None:
    config = BarcodeScannerConfiguration()
    scanner = BarcodeScanner(configuration=config )
    result = scanner.run(image=image)
    if not result.barcodes:
        print("No barcodes found.")
        return
    for idx, barcode in enumerate(result.barcodes, 1):
        print(f"{idx}) {barcode.text} [{barcode.format}]")

def main():
    if len(sys.argv) < 2:
        print("Usage: python main.py <image_path>")
        return
    image_path = sys.argv[1]
    initialize_sdk()

    image = ImageRef.from_path(image_path)
    run_barcode_scanner(image)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Run the script like this:

python main.py /path/to/image_with_barcodes.jpg

That’s it! You’ve built a minimal barcode scanner in Python on Linux.

In this quick start guide, we use the SDK’s default scanner settings. However, you can freely customize the configuration, supported barcode types, and performance options.