+       serialize_header(h, dev->buffer);
+       ret = send_data(dev, dev->buffer, AM7XXX_HEADER_WIRE_SIZE);
+       if (ret < 0)
+               error(dev->ctx, "failed to send data\n");
+
+       return ret;
+}
+
+/* When level == AM7XXX_LOG_FATAL do not check the log_level from the context
+ * and print the message unconditionally, this makes it possible to print
+ * fatal messages even early on initialization, before the context has been
+ * set up */
+static void log_message(am7xxx_context *ctx,
+                       int level,
+                       const char *function,
+                       int line,
+                       const char *fmt,
+                       ...)
+{
+       va_list ap;
+
+       if (level == AM7XXX_LOG_FATAL || (ctx && level <= ctx->log_level)) {
+               if (function) {
+                       fprintf(stderr, "%s", function);
+                       if (line)
+                               fprintf(stderr, "[%d]", line);
+                       fprintf(stderr, ": ");
+               }
+
+               va_start(ap, fmt);
+               vfprintf(stderr, fmt, ap);
+               va_end(ap);
+       }
+
+       return;
+}
+
+static am7xxx_device *add_new_device(am7xxx_context *ctx)
+{
+       am7xxx_device **devices_list;
+       am7xxx_device *new_device;
+
+       if (ctx == NULL) {
+               fatal("context must not be NULL!\n");
+               return NULL;
+       }
+
+       devices_list = &(ctx->devices_list);
+
+       new_device = malloc(sizeof(*new_device));
+       if (new_device == NULL) {
+               fatal("cannot allocate a new device (%s)\n", strerror(errno));
+               return NULL;
+       }
+       memset(new_device, 0, sizeof(*new_device));
+
+       new_device->ctx = ctx;
+
+       if (*devices_list == NULL) {
+               *devices_list = new_device;
+       } else {
+               am7xxx_device *prev = *devices_list;
+               while (prev->next)
+                       prev = prev->next;
+               prev->next = new_device;
+       }
+       return new_device;
+}
+
+static am7xxx_device *find_device(am7xxx_context *ctx,
+                                 unsigned int device_index)
+{
+       unsigned int i = 0;
+       am7xxx_device *current;
+
+       if (ctx == NULL) {
+               fatal("context must not be NULL!\n");
+               return NULL;
+       }
+
+       current = ctx->devices_list;
+       while (current && i++ < device_index)
+               current = current->next;
+
+       return current;
+}
+
+typedef enum {
+       SCAN_OP_BUILD_DEVLIST,
+       SCAN_OP_OPEN_DEVICE,
+} scan_op;
+
+/**
+ * This is where the central logic of multi-device support is.
+ *
+ * When 'op' == SCAN_OP_BUILD_DEVLIST the parameters 'open_device_index' and
+ * 'dev' are ignored; the function returns 0 on success and a negative value
+ * on error.
+ *
+ * When 'op' == SCAN_OP_OPEN_DEVICE the function opens the supported USB
+ * device with index 'open_device_index' and returns the correspondent
+ * am7xxx_device in the 'dev' parameter; the function returns 0 on success,
+ * 1 if the device was already open and a negative value on error.
+ *
+ * NOTES:
+ * if scan_devices() fails when called with 'op' == SCAN_OP_BUILD_DEVLIST,
+ * the caller might want to call am7xxx_shutdown() in order to remove
+ * devices possibly added before the failure.
+ */
+static int scan_devices(am7xxx_context *ctx, scan_op op,
+                       unsigned int open_device_index, am7xxx_device **dev)
+{
+       int num_devices;
+       libusb_device** list;
+       unsigned int current_index;
+       int i;
+       int ret;
+
+       if (ctx == NULL) {
+               fatal("context must not be NULL!\n");
+               return -EINVAL;
+       }
+       if (op == SCAN_OP_BUILD_DEVLIST && ctx->devices_list != NULL) {
+               error(ctx, "device scan done already? Abort!\n");
+               return -EINVAL;
+       }
+
+       num_devices = libusb_get_device_list(ctx->usb_context, &list);
+       if (num_devices < 0) {
+               ret = -ENODEV;
+               goto out;
+       }
+
+       current_index = 0;
+       for (i = 0; i < num_devices; i++) {
+               struct libusb_device_descriptor desc;
+               unsigned int j;
+
+               ret = libusb_get_device_descriptor(list[i], &desc);
+               if (ret < 0)
+                       continue;
+
+               for (j = 0; j < ARRAY_SIZE(supported_devices); j++) {
+                       if (desc.idVendor == supported_devices[j].vendor_id
+                           && desc.idProduct == supported_devices[j].product_id) {
+
+                               if (op == SCAN_OP_BUILD_DEVLIST) {
+                                       am7xxx_device *new_device;
+                                       info(ctx, "am7xxx device found, index: %d, name: %s\n",
+                                            current_index,
+                                            supported_devices[j].name);
+                                       new_device = add_new_device(ctx);
+                                       if (new_device == NULL) {
+                                               /* XXX, the caller may want
+                                                * to call am7xxx_shutdown() if
+                                                * we fail here, as we may have
+                                                * added some devices already
+                                                */
+                                               debug(ctx, "Cannot create a new device\n");
+                                               ret = -ENODEV;
+                                               goto out;
+                                       }
+                               } else if (op == SCAN_OP_OPEN_DEVICE &&
+                                          current_index == open_device_index) {
+
+                                       *dev = find_device(ctx, open_device_index);
+                                       if (*dev == NULL) {
+                                               ret = -ENODEV;
+                                               goto out;
+                                       }
+
+                                       /* the usb device has already been opened */
+                                       if ((*dev)->usb_device) {
+                                               debug(ctx, "(*dev)->usb_device already set\n");
+                                               ret = 1;
+                                               goto out;
+                                       }
+
+                                       ret = libusb_open(list[i], &((*dev)->usb_device));
+                                       if (ret < 0) {
+                                               debug(ctx, "libusb_open failed\n");
+                                               goto out;
+                                       }
+
+                                       libusb_set_configuration((*dev)->usb_device, 2);
+                                       libusb_claim_interface((*dev)->usb_device, 0);
+                                       goto out;
+                               }
+                               current_index++;
+                       }
+               }
+       }
+
+       /* if we made it up to here we didn't find any device to open */
+       if (op == SCAN_OP_OPEN_DEVICE) {
+               error(ctx, "Cannot find any device to open\n");
+               ret = -ENODEV;
+               goto out;
+       }
+
+       /* everything went fine when building the device list */
+       ret = 0;
+out:
+       libusb_free_device_list(list, 1);
+       return ret;
+}
+
+/* Public API */
+
+AM7XXX_PUBLIC int am7xxx_init(am7xxx_context **ctx)
+{
+       int ret = 0;
+
+       *ctx = malloc(sizeof(**ctx));
+       if (*ctx == NULL) {
+               fatal("cannot allocate the context (%s)\n", strerror(errno));
+               ret = -ENOMEM;
+               goto out;
+       }
+       memset(*ctx, 0, sizeof(**ctx));
+
+       /* Set the highest log level during initialization */
+       (*ctx)->log_level = AM7XXX_LOG_TRACE;
+
+       ret = libusb_init(&((*ctx)->usb_context));
+       if (ret < 0)
+               goto out_free_context;
+
+       libusb_set_debug((*ctx)->usb_context, 3);
+
+       ret = scan_devices(*ctx, SCAN_OP_BUILD_DEVLIST , 0, NULL);
+       if (ret < 0) {
+               error(*ctx, "scan_devices() failed\n");
+               am7xxx_shutdown(*ctx);
+               goto out;
+       }
+
+       /* Set a quieter log level as default for normal operation */
+       (*ctx)->log_level = AM7XXX_LOG_ERROR;
+       return 0;
+
+out_free_context:
+       free(*ctx);
+       *ctx = NULL;
+out:
+       return ret;
+}
+
+AM7XXX_PUBLIC void am7xxx_shutdown(am7xxx_context *ctx)
+{
+       am7xxx_device *current;
+
+       if (ctx == NULL) {
+               fatal("context must not be NULL!\n");
+               return;
+       }
+
+       current = ctx->devices_list;
+       while (current) {
+               am7xxx_device *next = current->next;
+               am7xxx_close_device(current);
+               free(current);
+               current = next;
+       }
+
+       libusb_exit(ctx->usb_context);
+       free(ctx);
+       ctx = NULL;
+}
+
+AM7XXX_PUBLIC void am7xxx_set_log_level(am7xxx_context *ctx, am7xxx_log_level log_level)
+{
+       ctx->log_level = log_level;
+}
+
+AM7XXX_PUBLIC int am7xxx_open_device(am7xxx_context *ctx, am7xxx_device **dev,
+                      unsigned int device_index)
+{
+       int ret;
+
+       if (ctx == NULL) {
+               fatal("context must not be NULL!\n");
+               return -EINVAL;
+       }
+
+       ret = scan_devices(ctx, SCAN_OP_OPEN_DEVICE, device_index, dev);
+       if (ret < 0) {