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hotplug capability enhancement needed

Asked by cornbread

I have an idea that would bring us one step closer to solving the #1 bug:

A section of the hardware database where fixes that the community and hardware maintainers would be able to post fixes for specific hardware.

The fixes would then be converted into hotplugs and the any new users of that hardware would be notified of fixes and their description somewhat like in the software manager but for hardware.

For example: I have an x60 tablet I have added automatic rotate for screen resolution in a script file, added a line in xorg.conf to enable my scroll button to work, and patched my version of compiz to make rotate work. It would be great to be able to submit these changes for my laptop so all other x60 users could enjoy these fixes.

In the future this could also be expanded to enhancements.

I have submitted a blueprint.

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Launchpad Janitor (janitor) said : 		#1

This question was expired because it remained in the 'Open' state without activity for the last 15 days.

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Marc Tardif (cr3) said : 		#2

This is an interesting question which deserves an answer.

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Marc Tardif (cr3) said : 		#3

The hotplug capability is something which I would also find very practical myself. I hate manual labor, so being able to click on a button to have some script automatically modify a few configuration files could potentially save everyone some repetitive typing. However, there are a few problems to consider:

1. As an exeperienced user, I would first carefully read the script to understand what it will do exactly before blindly clicking on a button. This is especially true for scripts provided by the community at large. Furthermore, less experienced users might not be able to understand these scripts so this can be a potential security risk.

2. Sometimes, a script might work for one person and not for another person because of slightly different configurations. Even when running the same hardware and the same release of Ubuntu, a different set of installed packages could make a difference. This is actually the reason why packages have dependencies.

3. In the event some script doesn't quite work and the user wants to undo these commands, the script would have to support a purge option. However, this is the reason why packages have purge capabilities.

To address these problems, the objective of hwtest is simply to report whether hardware works with Ubuntu. In the event some hardware doesn't work, it should be reported so that the distro team can make it work out of the box. As far as solving the #1 bug, this would be the ideal solution towards which I am leaning.

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