[sane-devel] scanbd daemon does not load firmware

[Wilhelm]

Am 30.08.2013 19:44, schrieb Ilya V. Ivanchenko:
> Hi Wilhelm,
>
> Thanks! I checked out the code from svn and found the markers without
> problems.
>
> It is first time I reviewed scanbd code, so I got few questions, maybe
> you can answer and save me some time.

I hope so ...

>
> It looks like the backend selection sane vs. scanbuttond is exclusive
> (compiled with #ifdef). What I gathered is in sane branch the calling
> sequence will be sane_init(), sane_get_devices(). I peeked into sanei
> code, and it seems it will call sane_open() from sane_get_devices().
> sane_open() does load firmware for the scanner if it is required (each
> sane backend has its own implementation). So my understanding is that
> scanbd with sane backend will load the firmware and have no problem. Is
> that correct?

yes!


> Now to the scanbuttonbd backend of scanbd. It looks like it won't call
> into sane backends as it has its own backends library. And scanbuttond
> backend has no code that loads firmware. As such, the bug of not loading
> the firmware is only happens with scanbuttond backend. Am I right?

yes!


> Now I have to select an appropriate fix for the firmware issue, and my
> #1 option is to call sane_get_devices(), even when using scanbuttond
> backend which now is exclusive from sane backend. Will that be a
> problem?

The scanbuttons backends exists only for old scanners / for historical 
reasons. So, the preferred way is to use sane-backends.

Because there are scanbuttond backends for scanners with no sane-backend 
I don't want to couple scanbuttond and sane together. Therefore I would 
suggest a generic solution to call an external programm / script in the 
case a device is inserted / removed. This external programm / script can 
then load the firmware by any means - even calling simply scanimage if 
sane is configured correctly.

One can aruge that using scanbd/scanbuttond for a scanner with no 
sane-support is sort of useless in case the buttons should trigger a 
scan-operation. But there might be other scan-applications than sane ...

> If it is, then I don't have an option #2... or better said it
> gets very complicated very quickly.
>
> --
> Ilya
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* Wilhelm <wilhelm.meier at fh-kl.de>
> *To:* Ilya V. Ivanchenko <iva2k at yahoo.com>
> *Cc:* "w.meier at unix.net" <w.meier at unix.net>;
> "sane-devel at lists.alioth.debian.org" <sane-devel at lists.alioth.debian.org>
> *Sent:* Thursday, August 29, 2013 12:33 PM
> *Subject:* Re: scanbd daemon does not load firmware
>
> Am 29.08.2013 16:03, schrieb Ilya V. Ivanchenko:
>  >> >>  2. When using scanbuttond-backends, fix loading firmware on USB
> insert.
>  >>>
>  >>> what I could imagine is to fix this problem with a special
>  >>> shell-callback, when scanbd detects a device inserion / removal.
>  >>
>  >>Forgot to say: would you like to write a patch for that? I will provide
>  >>you with the neccessary info to do that. Shouldn't be too much work ;-)
>  >
>  > Not a problem. I'm a software/systems engineer, so I know what I (will
>  > be) doing. Only I have short window before I leave for a business trip.
>
> I just marked the code with four place to insert code to start such a
> callback:
>
> // TODO: call the device insertion / removal callback
>
> (if you use qtcreator you'll quickly find them)
>
>
> I'm looking forward to your patches ;-)
>
>  >
>  >>>  >>  2. When using scanbuttond-backends, fix loading firmware on
> USB insert.
>  >>>  >
>  >>>  >what I could imagine is to fix this problem with a special
>  >>>  >shell-callback, when scanbd detects a device inserion / removal.
>  >>> This is in the nutshell how I patched the problem from udev.
>  >>
>  >>yes, but you had to stop / restart the scanbd and that's more a
>  >>workaround than a solution ...
>  >
>  > I agree.
>  >
>  > --
>  > Ilya
>
>
> --
> Wilhelm
> w.meier at unix.net <mailto:w.meier at unix.net>
>
>


-- 
Wilhelm
w.meier at unix.net