[BRLTTY] The brltty service gets in the way of other serial port applications

[Jason J.G. White]

On 15/12/23 10:23, John wrote:
> I am new to this mailing list and recently had an experience with brltty
> that I would like to report. I can't see any access to historical posts
> so am unable to determine whether this subject has been mentioned
> already so I apologies upfront fpor any duplication.
>
The topic has been mentioned before, and the BRLTTY developers are doing 
their best to keep BRLTTY working correctly without interfering with 
devices that are not braille displays.
> Whereas I appreciate the necessity of having such software for those who
> need Braille, I don't understand why it was installed automatically as a
> mainstream service as part of an OS update? I would expect such a
> program to be installed on an as-needs basis?
For some of those who rely on BRLTTY, it is not possible to interact 
with the system at all without the braille support, so they can't 
install optional software without the competent help of another person. 
Such help may not be easily available, depending on the individual's 
circumstances, which is why the braille needs to be available by 
default, not as an optional extra.
>
> Secondly, disabling the service ought to have been sufficient to prevent
> the software from disrupting the operation of the system, but it wasn't.
> It had to be completely removed. Is this a bug? If so, where do I report
> it? I see the 'issues' function on the Github repository is not enabled.
Perhaps your Linux distribution's bug tracker, if it's ultimately a 
packaging issue.
>
> Finally, if a program or update is likely to disrupt what might
> generally be considered 'normal' operation of the system (I "generally"
> because I accept that for users of Braille, having brltty installed is
> their 'normal'), shouldn't the software at least warn the user of this
> and request confirmation before installing itself?
No, it shouldn't. If the braille isn't working, some users won't even 
know that such a prompt is there. They can't read anything that would be 
displayed on screen, so they can't read the prompt or know how to 
respond to it. I would respectfully suggest thinking this through from 
the perspective of someone who has no other means of using the operating 
system at all, if their braille display is not presenting the output.