[xorg-bugzilla-noise] [Bug 968] New input driver for linux input devices (evdev)

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https://freedesktop.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=968        
   




------- Additional Comments From krh at bitplanet.net  2004-09-21 09:10 -------
I did read through the patches used by gentoo before writing this driver.  The
driver I've written differs from the gentoo patches in two ways:

1) The evdev driver I've written is a standalone, generic evdev driver. 
Standalone in the sense that it isn't another protocol for the "mouse" and
"keyboard" drivers, it's a new driver, "evdev".  Generic in the sense that it
works for both keyboard and mice and the evdev ioctl probing is shared between
the two parts.  The probing works by asking the evdev device what types of
events it can generate and the add the corresponding input classes to the X
input device.  I think adding evdev as a new protocol to the "mouse" and
"keyboard" drivers as the gentoo patches does, is also a valid decision, but the
 new-driver-approch allows us to drop the entire mouse and keyboard legacy code
(serial io, mouse protocol auto-detection, etc) for a driver that's smaller that
the gentoo patch. 

2) My driver deliberately does not handle input device hotplugging, where the
gentoo patches hardcodes an adhoc discovery mechanism which uses an simple
protocol over a socket in /tmp/.X11-uinx and is specific to evdev devices and
linux.  

Of the two, 2) is really my biggest beef with the gentoo patches.  I'd like to
see a hotplugging solution that works for all devices, drivers and platforms,
and where the discovery mechanism is outside the server.  The external hotplug
mechanism should be able to tell the server to add a new device, loading a new
driver if necessary.  This will work with the existing range of drivers (notably
wacom and synaptics).  Also, it can work for buses that don't generate hotplug
events (i.e. if you plug in a serial wacom tablet), by explicitly running a
program that adds the device.  See bug #971 for a prototype of this idea.        
   
   
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