New Linux VT Keyboard Mode "Off"

[Arthur Taylor]

Currently the linux-next branch of the linux kernel contains a patch to
add a new vt keyboard mode "off." In this new mode all special kernel
keys are ignored, like how they are ignored in raw mode, but no key
events are buffered to the vt input buffer.

The patch adding the new mode has been included because it has the
potential to clean up and fix a corner case of the xserver vt input
handling in hw/xfree86/os-support/linux/lnx_init.c.

In the interest of full disclosure, I authored the patch. A complete
saga is at http://art.ified.ca/?p=278

This also fixes the corner case of if AllowEmptyInput is false but
input-kbd isn't loaded the VT input buffer can overflow. Also, calling
flush per-keystroke seems to be more of a band-aid than a real fix.

Expect a sample patch using the new mode soon.

Cheers
-Art


-- 
Arthur Taylor
art at ified.ca
theycallhimart at gmail.com