Keyboard mapping

Adam Jackson ajax at nwnk.net
Sun May 22 14:43:54 PDT 2005


On Sunday 22 May 2005 17:29, Jon Smirl wrote:
> My EGL driver also ignores the kernel VC mechanism. There is only one
> VC in Linux which makes it incompatible with multiuser. In the future
> something can be implemented that looks just like VCs but follows the
> rules to make it compatible with Xgl.

You do not necessarily need a VC to run an X server.  You just need a 
framebuffer.  Look at the ruby patches, or bug #2216 (which I am admittedly 
tardy on delivering).

> That leaves keyboard. The right solution here might be to go with the
> X maps and work towards eliminating the in-kernel one. It is certainly
> possible to implement something that looks just like kernel VCs but
> that runs in user space. Running in user space means it can use
> libraries in common with XGL.

Except you don't need VCs.  evdev can address single devices, with exclusive 
ownership.  In particular you do not need multiple VCs to run multiple 
parallel X servers.

I've run two servers, with independent input device sets, on a machine with no 
vga console at all.  This is really a non-issue.

> Another part missing is console groups. There's no mechanism for
> indicating that this video/mouse/keyboard is a group. You need this
> when you have five video cards, mice and keyboards plugged in. The
> console group also needs to be coordinated with PAM so that logging in
> assigns ownership of the devices to the logged in user.

Config file.  Not a hard problem.  In fact, solved problem with the classic 
server, you have multiple xorg.conf's with different eventX devices selected 
for your mouse and keyboard.

> My current Xgl server code does not need root to run. That's important
> for multiuser and security. With multiuser each user will start their
> own X server. For security that's a big chunk of code that doesn't
> need root anymore. Now only the device drivers need security audits.

I don't think this is news to anyone here.

- ajax
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