Blueman not displaying code transmitted by keyboard when trying to connect

[aussiedaniel]

blueman:
BlueZ:
Distribution:
Desktop environment:

->When trying to connect my bluetooth keyboard blueman asks for the code. I don't have the code. The code is a random number transmitted by the keyboard that needs to be displayed by blueman. Once this code is displayed it is entered on the bluetooth keyboard to connect.

I submitted a defect on bugzilla but the assigned engineer didn't have access to a bluetooth keyboard and suggested I should report the issue upstream. The following is a link to this bugzilla defect report.
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2192091

[infirit]

Blueman will create a notification with the number. Which is actually in the log you posted on the rhbz.

[aussiedaniel]

The log I submitted of the number being displayed was from the now unsupported product blueberry. I submitted this log to show what should happen in blueman.

[infirit]

This log, https://bugzilla-attachments.redhat.com/attachment.cgi?id=1961437.

BluezAgent:164 _on_request_pin_code: Agent.RequestPinCode will create a notification with pin to be displayed by whatever notification deamon you are using. 7 seconds later it expires Notification:248 do_g_signal: The notification expired..

Blueman relies on a proper notification deamon running.

[aussiedaniel]

The mate-notification-daemon only runs briefly to display the message. There is a test of the notification daemon inside the mate control control panel. The test was successful.

Do have access to a bluetooth keyboard to test? If the bluetooth keyboard works correctly on your system, then it is just a matter of finding what is different between your system and my system.

[infirit]

It shows the notification fine on plasma including the number to be entered in bold. Can you pair it through the commandine with bluetoothctl.

You mention mate notification daemon, you running MATE as desktop?

[aussiedaniel]

Yes, I'm running MATE as desktop

Here is the output from bluetoothctl:
[bluetooth]# scan on
Discovery started
[CHG] Controller D0:AB:D5:93:52:46 Discovering: yes
[NEW] Device 58:71:33:66:7B:97 Bluetooth Keyboard
[bluetooth]# connect 58:71:33:66:7B:97
Attempting to connect to 58:71:33:66:7B:97
[CHG] Device 58:71:33:66:7B:97 Connected: yes
[CHG] Device 58:71:33:66:7B:97 Modalias: bluetooth:v04E8p7021d0100
[CHG] Device 58:71:33:66:7B:97 UUIDs: 00001124-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
[CHG] Device 58:71:33:66:7B:97 UUIDs: 00001200-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
[CHG] Device 58:71:33:66:7B:97 ServicesResolved: yes
[CHG] Device 58:71:33:66:7B:97 WakeAllowed: yes
Connection successful
Request PIN code
[agent] Enter PIN code: [DEL] Device 58:71:33:66:7B:97 Bluetooth Keyboard
[bluetooth]#

It asking for the code, but no code was displayed from the keyboard
It then times out and deletes the keyboard

[infirit]

Yes, I'm running MATE as desktop

Here is the output from bluetoothctl:

[bluetooth]# scan on
Discovery started
[CHG] Controller D0:AB:D5:93:52:46 Discovering: yes
[NEW] Device 58:71:33:66:7B:97 Bluetooth Keyboard
[bluetooth]# connect 58:71:33:66:7B:97
Attempting to connect to 58:71:33:66:7B:97
[CHG] Device 58:71:33:66:7B:97 Connected: yes
[CHG] Device 58:71:33:66:7B:97 Modalias: bluetooth:v04E8p7021d0100
[CHG] Device 58:71:33:66:7B:97 UUIDs: 00001124-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
[CHG] Device 58:71:33:66:7B:97 UUIDs: 00001200-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
[CHG] Device 58:71:33:66:7B:97 ServicesResolved: yes
[CHG] Device 58:71:33:66:7B:97 WakeAllowed: yes
Connection successful
Request PIN code
[agent] Enter PIN code: [DEL] Device 58:71:33:66:7B:97 Bluetooth Keyboard

It asking for the code, but no code was displayed from the keyboard It then times out and deletes the keyboard

Apologies, RequestPinCode does not display a pincode. I was thinking of DisplayPinCode. What should happen is that a dialog is opened where the user, you @aussiedaniel , need to enter a pin code. Does the applet show you a dialog? It may be hidden under other windows.

[cschramm]

I think we have the reason: BlueZ only calls PIN callbacks if there is an existing bonding_req for the device. That's the case when you try to pair it, but not when you try to connect to an unpaired device. So you should get a PIN code displayed when explicitly pairing but you always will be requested to enter one when connecting.

I will forward that to BlueZ, but am still looking into the consequences.

[infirit]

blueberry calls GnomeBluetooth().Client.connect_service which ends up calling the Connect method on a Device1 dbus proxy. Blueman does the same with the (generic) Connect menu entry so 🤷 ?

@aussiedaniel I see you also have gnomebluetooth running with an agent. Blueman and gnomebluetooth don't coexist well so make sure gnomebluetooth isn't running (or better uninstall it). Also try the Pair menu entry instead of Connect, see how that works.

[aussiedaniel]

I tried the Pair menu entry and I get multiple connect/disconnect notifications. I have attached the log.
I aborted the blueberry agent.

bluetoothd2.txt

[aussiedaniel]

I noticed a new bluez update and I thought I would try blueman again. When I double click on the keyboard I get a notification the keyboard connected, but the keyboard doesn't work. If I pair the device from the drop down menu I get a notification with a 6 digit number. Upon entering the 6 digit number into the keyboard and pressing enter, I get a disconnect notification. If I click connect from the drop down menu, I get a connect notification and I have a Working keyboard. This is a great improvement.
I think I should have a working keyboard as soon as I enter the 6 digit number into the keyboard and press enter. I also think the 6 digit number should be displayed when I double click the keyboard.

[cschramm]

Quick wrap up: I opened #2178 for this. The underlying problem is that we dropped blueman's broken PIN database in favor of BlueZ' autopair plugin, but it turns out that the plugin only comes into action when the pairing is initiated locally. When you try to connect to the un-paired device, the remote device initiates the pairing. gnome-bluetooth still has its PIN database. I'd love to see a more generic autopair in BlueZ so that PIN databases do not get duplicated everywhere, but unfortunately nobody stepped up to discuss that yet (I might give it another try at some point when I find more time).

I actually thought about posting to #2178 as the recent issues due to a changed default setting upstream and in distributions seem to affect pretty much the same devices. It's exactly what you just described.