[systemd-devel] WebUSB

[Lars Knudsen]

Hi,

I am currently looking into how we can make using WebUSB devices less
painful for users on Linux.

The main purpose of WebUSB (as far as I can see) is to enable certain CDC
(in particular - but not limited to) devices communicate directly with
browsers visiting certain trusted sites (listed inside a binary object
store - sent on initial handshake).

The spec is here: https://wicg.github.io/webusb/ (already running fine in
chrome stable)
Examples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1Nk2hH2wFE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7wGt9RfHVA
https://twitter.com/denladeside/status/817451203076427783

I'm guessing the solution will consist of 2 parts:

1. make sure no WebUSB device is picked up by modemmanager (modemmanager
task)

2. make sure that webusb devices will be somehow accessible to be used by a
browser running with user permissions (current temp solution listed here:
adding user to plugdev, adding 0664 permissions to device:
https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2016/03/access-usb-devices-on-the-web
)  (udev/systemd task).

For 2. we need to either making all webusb devices accessible or find some
other way the browsers can - in a generic way - gain access.  In all cases,
it's important that no USB interfaces has been pre-claimed by the system
(e.g. by cdc_acm) or it should be possible for the browser to throw off the
claims.

thoughts?

br
Lars
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