diff --git a/99-spidev-open.rules b/99-spidev-open.rules
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..63be8cd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/99-spidev-open.rules
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+KERNEL=="spidev0.0", OWNER="amm"
diff --git a/config.h b/config.h
index 6448663..486825d 100644
--- a/config.h
+++ b/config.h
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 #include <stdint.h>
 typedef uint16_t uint_16;
-typedef uint8_t uint_8;
\ No newline at end of file
+typedef uint8_t uint_8;
diff --git a/sock_spi_bridge/Makefile b/sock_spi_bridge/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a55f620
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sock_spi_bridge/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+all: sock_spi_bridge sock_spi_test_client
+
+sock_spi_bridge: sock_spi_bridge.c
+	gcc -Wall -o sock_spi_bridge sock_spi_bridge.c
+
+sock_spi_test_client: sock_spi_test_client.c libspiproto.a ../spi_proto.h
+	gcc -Wall -o sock_spi_test_client sock_spi_test_client.c -L. -lspiproto
+
+clean:
+	rm -f sock_spi_bridge sock_spi_test_client spi_forwarding_server
+	rm -f libspiproto.a
+	rm -f spi_proto.o crc16.o
+
+spi_proto.o: spi_proto.c spi_proto.h
+	gcc -c spi_proto.c
+
+crc16.o: crc16.c
+	gcc -c crc16.c
+
+libspiproto.a: spi_proto.o crc16.o
+	ar rc libspiproto.a spi_proto.o crc16.o
+	ranlib libspiproto.a
+
diff --git a/sock_spi_bridge/sock_spi_bridge.c b/sock_spi_bridge/sock_spi_bridge.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0fd1b0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sock_spi_bridge/sock_spi_bridge.c
@@ -0,0 +1,135 @@
+//spi forwarder program
+//runs as root, opens a unix socket and listens on it for fixed-length messages
+//opens one SPI fd, configurable (this is the only configuration, recompile to change length)
+
+#include <stdint.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <getopt.h>
+#include <fcntl.h>
+#include <sys/ioctl.h>
+#include <linux/types.h>
+#include <linux/spi/spidev.h>
+#include <sys/socket.h>
+#include <sys/un.h>
+
+#define TRANSFER_SIZE 36
+
+static const char *device = "/dev/spidev0.0";
+static uint8_t mode;
+static uint8_t bits = 8;
+static uint32_t speed = 8388608U; // TODO
+static uint16_t delay;
+
+static void pabort(const char *s)
+{
+	perror(s);
+	abort();
+}
+
+static void transfer(int fd, uint8_t *sendbuf, uint8_t *rcvbuf)
+{
+	int ret;
+	struct spi_ioc_transfer tr = {
+		.tx_buf = (unsigned long)sendbuf,
+		.rx_buf = (unsigned long)rcvbuf,
+		.len = TRANSFER_SIZE,
+		.delay_usecs = delay,
+		.speed_hz = speed,
+		.bits_per_word = bits,
+	};
+
+	ret = ioctl(fd, SPI_IOC_MESSAGE(1), &tr);
+	//TODO better error handling i.e. don't just crash
+	if (ret < 1)
+		pabort("can't send spi message");
+	
+}
+
+int
+setup_spi_params(int fd)
+{
+	int ret;
+	/*
+	 * spi mode
+	 */
+	ret = ioctl(fd, SPI_IOC_WR_MODE, &mode);
+	if (ret == -1)
+		pabort("can't set spi mode");
+
+	ret = ioctl(fd, SPI_IOC_RD_MODE, &mode);
+	if (ret == -1)
+		pabort("can't get spi mode");
+
+	/*
+	 * bits per word
+	 */
+	ret = ioctl(fd, SPI_IOC_WR_BITS_PER_WORD, &bits);
+	if (ret == -1)
+		pabort("can't set bits per word");
+
+	ret = ioctl(fd, SPI_IOC_RD_BITS_PER_WORD, &bits);
+	if (ret == -1)
+		pabort("can't get bits per word");
+
+	/*
+	 * max speed hz
+	 */
+	ret = ioctl(fd, SPI_IOC_WR_MAX_SPEED_HZ, &speed);
+	if (ret == -1)
+		pabort("can't set max speed hz");
+
+	ret = ioctl(fd, SPI_IOC_RD_MAX_SPEED_HZ, &speed);
+	if (ret == -1)
+		pabort("can't get max speed hz");
+
+	printf("spi mode: %d\n", mode);
+	printf("bits per word: %d\n", bits);
+	printf("max speed: %d Hz (%d KHz)\n", speed, speed/1000);
+}
+
+int main(int argc, char **argv)
+{
+	int spi_fd = open(device, O_RDWR);
+	if (spi_fd < 0) {
+		pabort("unable to open SPI device"); // TODO maybe print more info like which one
+	}
+	//TODO acquire the SPI fd and do all IO settings first -- that seems more likely to fail
+	setup_spi_params(spi_fd);
+	
+	int sock_fd = socket(AF_UNIX, SOCK_STREAM, 0); // TODO confirm param choices
+	if (sock_fd == -1) {
+		//TODO report error message and fail
+	}
+	
+	struct sockaddr_un saddr = { AF_UNIX, "spi_forwarding_server"};
+	bind(sock_fd, (struct sockaddr *)&saddr, sizeof(saddr));
+	
+	listen(sock_fd, 1); //only talk to one other guy. maybe should be 0?
+		
+	int conn_fd = accept(sock_fd, NULL, NULL);
+	
+	while (1) {
+		uint8_t send_msg[TRANSFER_SIZE];
+		uint8_t rcv_msg[TRANSFER_SIZE];
+		//TODO continuously read until we have the full packet in case it's not the full size
+		ssize_t amt_read = read(conn_fd, send_msg, TRANSFER_SIZE);
+		if (amt_read >= 0) {
+			printf("got the folling over the unix socket:\n");
+			for (int i = 0; i < amt_read; i++) {
+				printf("%02x", send_msg[i]);
+			}		
+			printf("\n");
+		}
+		transfer(spi_fd, send_msg, rcv_msg);
+		
+		//TODO do an SPI transaction
+		
+		write(conn_fd, rcv_msg, TRANSFER_SIZE);
+	}
+	
+	//TODO maybe write some closing logic or something
+	close(spi_fd);
+	close(conn_fd);
+}
diff --git a/sock_spi_bridge/sock_spi_test_client.c b/sock_spi_bridge/sock_spi_test_client.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..57d8de9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sock_spi_bridge/sock_spi_test_client.c
@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+#include <sys/socket.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#include <sys/ioctl.h>
+#include <sys/un.h>
+#include <stdint.h>
+#include <time.h>
+
+#include "../spi_proto.h"
+
+#define TRANSFER_SIZE 36
+#define SPI_TRANSFER_LEN TRANSFER_SIZE
+
+void
+print_bytes(char *c, int n, int breaklen)
+{
+	if (!c) return;
+	for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
+		printf("%02x", c[i]);
+		if (i % breaklen == (breaklen-1)) {
+			printf("\n");
+		} else {
+			printf(" ");
+		}
+	}
+	puts("");
+}
+
+void
+linux_test_callback(struct spi_packet *p)
+{
+	print_bytes((char *) p, sizeof(struct spi_packet), 12);
+}
+int
+main(int argc, char *argv[])
+{
+	int sock;
+	int conn;
+
+	struct sockaddr_un saddr = {AF_UNIX, "spi_forwarding_server"};
+
+	sock = socket(AF_UNIX, SOCK_STREAM, 0);
+
+	conn = connect(sock, (struct sockaddr *)&saddr, sizeof(saddr));
+
+	if (conn) {
+		perror("connect didn't work");
+		abort();
+	}
+	struct timespec time_1ms;
+	time_1ms.tv_sec = 0;
+	time_1ms.tv_nsec = 1*1000000;//1 * 1ms
+	
+	char recvbuf[TRANSFER_SIZE];
+	char sendbuf[TRANSFER_SIZE] = {};
+	struct spi_state s;
+	spi_proto_initialize(&s);
+	int send_on_or_off = 0;
+	char on_msg[3] = {0x01, 0x01, 0x01};
+	int on_msg_len = 3;
+	char off_msg[3] = {0x01, 0x01, 0x00};
+	int off_msg_len = 3;
+	while (1) {
+		if (send_on_or_off) {
+			spi_proto_send_msg(&s, on_msg, on_msg_len);
+		} else {
+			spi_proto_send_msg(&s, off_msg, off_msg_len);
+		}
+		send_on_or_off ^= 1;
+		
+		//message sending
+		int ret = spi_proto_prep_msg(&s, sendbuf, SPI_TRANSFER_LEN);
+		printf("spi_proto_prep_msg ret: %d\n", ret);
+	
+		//edbug output
+		puts("sending");
+		print_bytes(sendbuf, SPI_TRANSFER_LEN,12);
+	
+		//do transaction
+		//transfer(spi_fd);
+		write(sock, sendbuf, TRANSFER_SIZE);
+		nanosleep(&time_1ms, NULL);
+		int amt_read = read(sock, recvbuf, TRANSFER_SIZE);
+		printf("amt_read = %d\n", amt_read);
+	
+		//process buffer into struct
+		struct spi_packet pack;
+		memcpy(&pack, recvbuf, SPI_TRANSFER_LEN);
+		//TODO maybe fixup the CRC byte order?
+	
+		//process received message
+		spi_proto_rcv_msg(&s, &pack, linux_test_callback);
+	
+		print_spi_state(&s);
+		puts("received the following over the socket:");	
+		print_bytes(recvbuf, TRANSFER_SIZE, 16);
+	}
+
+	return 0;
+}
diff --git a/spi_linux_test_endpoint/Makefile b/spi_linux_test_endpoint/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a5c5ee4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spi_linux_test_endpoint/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+linux_test_end: linux_test_end.c ../spi_proto.h ../spi_proto.c ../crc16.c
+	gcc -o linux_test_end linux_test_end.c ../spi_proto.c ../crc16.c -std=c99
+
+clean:
+	rm linux_test_end
+
diff --git a/linux_test_end.c b/spi_linux_test_endpoint/linux_test_end.c
similarity index 91%
rename from linux_test_end.c
rename to spi_linux_test_endpoint/linux_test_end.c
index 01f3163..5ce4ad0 100644
--- a/linux_test_end.c
+++ b/spi_linux_test_endpoint/linux_test_end.c
@@ -20,9 +20,10 @@
 #include <sys/ioctl.h>
 #include <linux/types.h>
 #include <linux/spi/spidev.h>
+#include <time.h>
 
 #include <string.h>
-#include "spi_proto.h"
+#include "../spi_proto.h"
 
 #define SPI_TRANSFER_LEN sizeof(struct spi_packet)
 
@@ -59,7 +60,7 @@ static void transfer(int fd)
 	ret = ioctl(fd, SPI_IOC_MESSAGE(1), &tr);
 	if (ret < 1)
 		pabort("can't send spi message");
-
+	return;
 	for (ret = 0; ret < ARRAY_SIZE(spi_out_buf); ret++) {
 		if (!(ret % 12))
 			puts("");
@@ -201,12 +202,17 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	printf("bits per word: %d\n", bits);
 	printf("max speed: %d Hz (%d KHz)\n", speed, speed/1000);
 
+	//struct timespec time_100ms;
+	//time_100ms.tv_sec = 0;
+	//time_100ms.tv_nsec = 1*1000000;//10 * 1ms
+
+	//time_100ms.tv_nsec = 1*5;//10 * 1ms
 	struct spi_state s;
 	spi_proto_initialize(&s);
 	first_loop();
-	for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
+	for (;;){//(int i = 0; i < 500; i++) {
 		loop(&s, fd);
-		sleep(1);
+		//nanosleep(&time_100ms, NULL);
 	}
 	//transfer(fd);
 
@@ -218,6 +224,12 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 void
 linux_test_callback(struct spi_packet *p)
 {
+	if (!p->msg[0]) return;
+	char strbuf[33];
+	memcpy(strbuf, p->msg, 32);
+	strbuf[32] = 0;
+	printf("got msg:[ %s ]\n", strbuf);
+	return;
 	//TODO print it out or something
 	uint8_t *s = (uint8_t *) p;
 	for (int i = 0; i < sizeof(struct spi_packet);i++)
@@ -259,8 +271,8 @@ loop(struct spi_state *s, int spi_fd)
 	spi_proto_prep_msg(s, spi_out_buf, SPI_TRANSFER_LEN);
 	
 	//edbug output
-	puts("sending");
-	print_bytes(spi_out_buf, SPI_TRANSFER_LEN);
+	//puts("sending");
+//	print_bytes(spi_out_buf, SPI_TRANSFER_LEN);
 	
 	//do transaction
 	transfer(spi_fd);
@@ -271,7 +283,8 @@ loop(struct spi_state *s, int spi_fd)
 	//TODO maybe fixup the CRC byte order?
 	
 	//process received message
+	//puts("before rcv_msg");
 	spi_proto_rcv_msg(s, &pack, linux_test_callback);
-	
-	print_spi_state(s);
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+	//puts("after rcv_msg");	
+//	print_spi_state(s);
+}
diff --git a/spi_proto.h b/spi_proto.h
index 89eacd5..ed44cef 100644
--- a/spi_proto.h
+++ b/spi_proto.h
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@
 //Queue is 16 so that all seq and ack values are valid indexes
 #define SPI_MSG_QUEUE_SIZE 16
 
+#ifdef CPP
+extern "C" {
+#endif
+
 struct __attribute__((packed)) spi_packet {
 	uint8_t magic; // includes at least a version number
 	uint8_t seq : 4;
@@ -62,11 +66,15 @@ void
 print_spi_packet(struct spi_packet *p);
 
 void
-spi_proto_rcv_msg(struct spi_state *s, struct spi_packet *p, , spi_msg_callback_t cb);
+spi_proto_rcv_msg(struct spi_state *s, struct spi_packet *p, spi_msg_callback_t cb);
 int
 spi_proto_prep_msg(struct spi_state *s, void *buf, int n);
 int
 spi_proto_send_msg(struct spi_state *s, void *buf, int n);
 
 uint16_t
-spi_msg_crc(struct spi_packet *p);
\ No newline at end of file
+spi_msg_crc(struct spi_packet *p);
+
+#ifdef CPP
+} // extern C
+#endif
diff --git a/spi_proto.c b/spi_proto_lib/spi_proto.c
similarity index 92%
rename from spi_proto.c
rename to spi_proto_lib/spi_proto.c
index a902601..b3222d3 100644
--- a/spi_proto.c
+++ b/spi_proto_lib/spi_proto.c
@@ -2,16 +2,26 @@
 #include <stdint.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 
+#ifdef CPP
+extern "C" {
+#endif
 #include "config.h"
 #include "misc/crc16.h"
+#ifdef CPP
+}
+#endif
 
 #include "spi_proto.h"
 
-//TODO replace all 16s with 15s so that 0b1111 can be used as a dummy SEQ number
+//TODO this was made CPP to fix a linker error, instead determine what was causing the cross-language linking to fail and fix that so this can be pure C
 
 //update the protocol state with a message. Doesn't do any processing of the message itselves
+#ifdef CPP
+extern "C" {
+#endif
+
 void
-spi_proto_rcv_msg(struct spi_state *s, struct spi_packet *p)
+spi_proto_rcv_msg(struct spi_state *s, struct spi_packet *p, spi_msg_callback_t f)
 {
 	uint16_t rcvd_crc = p->crc;
 	uint16_t calc_crc = spi_msg_crc(p);
@@ -67,6 +77,9 @@ spi_proto_rcv_msg(struct spi_state *s, struct spi_packet *p)
 		//set up last_round values for future use
 		s->last_round_rcvd_seq = p->seq;
 		s->last_round_rcvd_preack = p->preack;
+
+		//FINALLY call the actual user to do something
+		f(p);
 	} else {
 		//no action. XXX possibly increment send counter but seems likely we will have to go back anyway so don't
 		puts("bad crc!");
@@ -161,6 +174,7 @@ spi_proto_initialize(struct spi_state *s)
 void
 print_spi_state(struct spi_state *s)
 {
+	return;
 #define PRINTIT(x) printf( #x ": %d\n", s-> x)
 	if (s) {
 		printf("our_seq: %d\n", s->our_seq);
@@ -191,6 +205,7 @@ print_spi_state(struct spi_state *s)
 void
 print_spi_state_full(struct spi_state *s)
 {
+	return;
 	print_spi_state(s);
 	if (s) {
 		//TODO print out spi queue
@@ -203,7 +218,8 @@ print_spi_state_full(struct spi_state *s)
 void
 print_spi_packet(struct spi_packet *p)
 {
-	unsigned char *pp = (void *) p;
+	return;
+	unsigned char *pp = (unsigned char *) p;
 	for (unsigned int i = 0; i < SPI_PACKET_LEN;i++) {
 		printf("0x%02x ",pp[i]);
 	}
@@ -231,7 +247,10 @@ uint16_t
 spi_msg_crc(struct spi_packet *p)
 {
 	//run crc16 over all of message except for last two bytes (which are crc)
-	uint16_t crc_res = crc16_block(0, (void *) p, sizeof (struct spi_packet) - 2);
+	uint16_t crc_res = crc16_block(0, (uint8_t *) p, sizeof (struct spi_packet) - 2);
 	//p->crc = crc_res;
 	return crc_res;
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
+#ifdef CPP
+} // extern C
+#endif
diff --git a/spi_proto_tests.c b/spi_proto_tests.c
index 3462208..efcd935 100644
--- a/spi_proto_tests.c
+++ b/spi_proto_tests.c
@@ -25,8 +25,8 @@ test_spi_proto_initialize(void)
 	int slave_write_ret = spi_proto_prep_msg(&slave, &slave_to_master, SPI_PACKET_LEN);
 	
 	//receive messages
-	spi_proto_rcv_msg(&slave, &master_to_slave);
-	spi_proto_rcv_msg(&master, &slave_to_master);
+	spi_proto_rcv_msg(&slave, &master_to_slave, NULL);
+	spi_proto_rcv_msg(&master, &slave_to_master, NULL);
 	
 	//TODO print out data structures
 	print_spi_state(&master);
@@ -77,8 +77,8 @@ test_spi_proto_one_round(unsigned char *m2s, unsigned char *s2m, int len)
 	print_spi_packet(&master_to_slave);
 	
 	//receive messages
-	spi_proto_rcv_msg(&slave, &master_to_slave);
-	spi_proto_rcv_msg(&master, &slave_to_master);
+	spi_proto_rcv_msg(&slave, &master_to_slave, NULL);
+	spi_proto_rcv_msg(&master, &slave_to_master, NULL);
 	
 	//TODO extract messages
 	//TODO compare with sent messages
@@ -128,13 +128,14 @@ test_spi_longer(unsigned int rounds)
 		int slave_write_ret = spi_proto_prep_msg(&slave, &slave_to_master, SPI_PACKET_LEN);
 	
 		//receive messages
-		spi_proto_rcv_msg(&slave, &master_to_slave);
-		spi_proto_rcv_msg(&master, &slave_to_master);
+		spi_proto_rcv_msg(&slave, &master_to_slave, NULL);
+		spi_proto_rcv_msg(&master, &slave_to_master, NULL);
 		
 		//TODO do output
 		print_spi_state(&master);
 		puts("------------------");
 	}
+	return 0;
 }
 
 int
@@ -180,13 +181,14 @@ test_spi_longer_some_noise(unsigned int rounds, float noise_chance)
 			slave_to_master.msg[5] ^= 0xff;
 		}
 		//receive messages
-		spi_proto_rcv_msg(&slave, &master_to_slave);
-		spi_proto_rcv_msg(&master, &slave_to_master);
+		spi_proto_rcv_msg(&slave, &master_to_slave, NULL);
+		spi_proto_rcv_msg(&master, &slave_to_master, NULL);
 		
 		//TODO do output
 		print_spi_state(&master);
 		puts("------------------");
 	}
+	return 0;
 }
 
 int