[Pkg-bluetooth-maintainers] Bug#325495: bluez-utils: Re-pairing bluetooth hid devices without help from other input devices

[Mourad De Clerck]

On 03/07/09 17:51, Filippo Giunchedi wrote:
> do you see this bug with bluez 4 as well? AFAIK hid connections should be
> restored plus the device if the device is in hid mode then there should be
> no problem

Hi Filipo,

Well, my use case has become a bit more complicated:

1) my dongle with HID proxy support died, so it's not in HID mode. Let's
disregard HID mode for this use case.

2) sometimes the link key of the keyboard changes: empty batteries,
paired it with another OS, pc, whatever.

3) when it boots and it tries to mount my crypto root - there's my first
hurdle: typing in a password while in the initramfs environment. Another
problem is the initramfs root console for troubleshooting or if there's
a fsck that needs manual intervention or some such problems. Any
keyboard interaction in early boot is a problem.

Ideally there'd be some support in the initramfs to check if there's a
bt keyboard around, check if we have connected to it before, and connect
or initiate a pairing with a pregenerated random number if the link keys
have changed (with a basic agent for the console).

So the problem is that there's no agent that's usable early on in the
boot, that can pair a keyboard without help of another input device.

Now the question is: do we care about those BT dongles that don't have
HID proxy support, and do we care about keyboard interaction in early
boot without a wired keyboard nearby.

I leave it up to you if you want to close this bug or leave it as a
wishlist bug.

Regards,

Mourad


PS: As an aside, if you can reach the GDM login without keyboard, then
there's the possibility of dealing with it there (see an old thread I
initiated here):
http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gdm-list/2007-August/msg00018.html
and the following GDM bugs:
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=467657
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=467658