linux-kernel - Re: SAK and screen readers

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Date:	Tue, 05 Dec 2006 19:26:37 -0500
From:	Thomas Tuttle <linux-kernel@...ttle.net>
To:	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Cc:	Samuel Thibault <samuel.thibault@...-lyon.org>,
	mrkiko.rs@...il.com, dave@...lke.cc, sebastien.hinderer@...ia.fr
Subject: Re: SAK and screen readers

On December 05 at 18:50 EST, Samuel Thibault hastily scribbled:
> The problem comes when using SAK: brltty gets killed because it owns an
> fd on /dev/tty0.  This is a problem since the blind user then just can't
> use her computer any more...
> <snip>
> Could there be a solution for brltty yet not being killed by SAK? (like
> letting brltty just nicely close his fd for the current VT, and then
> re-open it later)

How about this?

brltty launches a child process that opens the VT and pipes data back
and forth to the parent process via pipes or fifos.

When the SAK is pressed, the child process will die, and the parent
process will simply relaunch it.

It seems like any solution that involves the kernel not killing brltty
will compromise the (admittedly rudimentary) security that the SAK
offers.

Hope this helps,

Thomas Tuttle

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