Re: kern/55103: /dev/wsmouse returns EINVAL

[Michael van Elst <mlelstv%serpens.de@localhost>]

The following reply was made to PR kern/55103; it has been noted by GNATS.

From: Michael van Elst <mlelstv%serpens.de@localhost>
To: Paul Goyette <paul%whooppee.com@localhost>
Cc: gnats-bugs%netbsd.org@localhost
Subject: Re: kern/55103: /dev/wsmouse returns EINVAL
Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2020 07:21:24 +0200

 On Wed, Apr 01, 2020 at 07:38:52PM -0700, Paul Goyette wrote:
 
 > Looking at the original code, it seems pretty clear that the intent was
 > to restrict use of version-0 to compat code, and that without compat
 > code one should use WSEVENT_VERSION.  And that is what the current code
 > implements, as far as I can tell.
 
 So, in your opinion, everything is correct now because reading the
 mouse without a special program that negotiates the non-default
 protocol version is forbidden. It wasn't forbidden in the beginning,
 it wasn't forbidden when the protocol was updated, but it is now
 forbidden after compat code was removed from the default for
 unrelated reasons but it was still the intent all the time and
 must be honored and that's why autoloading the compat module
 on some platforms, which is the opposite of that intent, also
 exists but is also correct.
 
 Please understand that I cannot believe this.
 
 I say that the final consequence wasn't thought about then and
 reading the mouse with simple tools like cat or hexdump is
 something that is useful and that ability should be restored.