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

[Filippo Giunchedi]

Hello Mourad,

On Fri, Jul 03, 2009 at 10:37:08PM +0200, Mourad De Clerck wrote:
> 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.

I see, that's indeed a problem without HID

> 
> 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.

The problem here is that starting a pairing will require bluetoothd, which in
turn will require dbus which is a big no-go in initramfs I fear

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

I'll leave the bug open if someone wants to pick it up but I don't think it is a
priority at all, after all HID emulation is designed exactly for that

thanks for your report,
filippo
-- 
Filippo Giunchedi - http://esaurito.net - 0x6B79D401

Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place.
Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by
definition, not smart enough to debug it.
-- Brian W. Kernighan