Support for device=input

May 4, 2024

T

Oleksandr Kalko

Hello, everyone

Currently, the app I maintain, DevilutionX, a source port for Diablo 1/Hellfire expansion needs an overly permissive device=all permission to support game controllers

I have noticed, that since November 2023, there’s a new permission that addresses this, device=input, and it’s available since flatpak 1.15.6

github.com/flatpak/flatpak

Add --device=input permission

flatpak:main ← foresto:device-input

opened 01:15AM - 16 Jul 23 UTC

This new permission exposes the host's /dev/input directory, providing minimal …game controller support without resorting to --device=all. (It originally handled /dev/uinput and /dev/hidraw* as well, for the sake of motion controls, Steam Input, and similar advanced features, but that functionality has since been removed.) I made this for my own use, but thought it might be a helpful contribution, since I've noticed multiple suggestions for something like it. Ref: https://github.com/flatpak/flatpak/issues/7 https://github.com/flatpak/flatpak/issues/4405#issuecomment-916792716

It’s even on the current list of standard permissions: Sandbox Permissions - Flatpak documentation

However, when I tried to use a new permission, Flathub builders rejected it
error: Unknown device type input, valid types are: dri, all, kvm, shm

I suspect this is because flathub builders are still on 1.14 version
So, when can I expect Flathub to support this new permission? This will greatly help the app, and would get rid of “Potentially Unsafe” label, that currently on the app because of device=all permission

R

Kolja

I’m not sure of when this will happen, but be aware, that you will break it for all users, still running the older flatpak versions (I would guess mostly ubuntu)

H

Hubert Figuière

Support or device=input has landed without compatibility consideration.

See Device permission compatibility · Issue #5681 · flatpak/flatpak · GitHub

Don’t use it.