Re: Smart card device support!

On Tue, 23 Jan 2007, Marc Tooley wrote:

> Okay; so after running what I think was an exhaustive
search for information 
> about drivers on NetBSD for any SmartCard device (those
credit-card-sized 
> devices with the microprocessors built-in) I thought
I'd try one last-ditch 
> run at the mailing list to find out if anyone here has
actually gotten 
> smartcards of any sort working under NetBSD.

You should have no problem finding working readers...

Most USB readers developed for general use are using the
CCID device class 
[1], and they are usually accessed through the libusb.  So
you do not 
need any kernel mode drivers (more than ugen).

Serial and PCMCIA readers usually have very proprietary
protocols, but 
there are some readers that have open source drivers [2]. 
The PCMCIA 
drivers are mostly Linux-only (as they are running in kernel
mode) but the 
serial drivers are running in user space and should be
trivial to get to 
work on NetBSD too.


> I know there are a tonne of smartcard devices out there
but support for them 
> on Open Source platforms (aside from Linux) appears to
be lacking. Aside from 
> the above, is there some technology or software that
I'm just not aware of?

Have you looked at the MUSCLE stuff? [3]

The "correct" framework to use to access smart
cards is the PC/SC [4]. 
The PC/SC framework is "built-in" into Windows and
OS X (and Solaris?) and 
the implementation consist of a PC/SC manager daemon and the
drivers are 
loaded dynamically from shared libraries.

The MUSCLE project implemented a PC/SC manager that is
available in 
pkgsrc-wip as wip/pcsc-lite, and you'll find a CCID driver
there too (as 
wip/ccid).  The CCID driver did not work on NetBSD last time
I looked at 
it, but is should be trivial to fix. (I have been planning
to fix it and 
import it in pkgsrc for some time.  I can raise its priority
on my TODO in 
case you need to use it...)

    /Krister


[1] 
http://www.usb.org/developers/devclass_docs#approved
[2] http://www
.linuxnet.com/sourcedrivers.html
[3] http://www.linuxnet.com/

[4] http://www.pcscworkgrou
p.com/

On Sunday 28 January 2007 12:43, Krister Walfridsson wrote:
> On Tue, 23 Jan 2007, Marc Tooley wrote:
> > Okay; so after running what I think was an
exhaustive search for
> > information about drivers on NetBSD for any
SmartCard device (those
> > credit-card-sized devices with the microprocessors
built-in) I
> > thought I'd try one last-ditch run at the mailing
list to find out
> > if anyone here has actually gotten smartcards of
any sort working
> > under NetBSD.
>
> You should have no problem finding working readers...
>
> Most USB readers developed for general use are using
the CCID device
> class [1], and they are usually accessed through the
libusb.  So you
> do not need any kernel mode drivers (more than ugen).
>
> Serial and PCMCIA readers usually have very proprietary
protocols,
> but there are some readers that have open source
drivers [2].  The
> PCMCIA drivers are mostly Linux-only (as they are
running in kernel
> mode) but the serial drivers are running in user space
and should be
> trivial to get to work on NetBSD too.

Ah, perfect then. This is precisely the kind of information
I was after.

> Have you looked at the MUSCLE stuff? [3]

I did at one point, but that was back when my desktops were
primarily 
Linux. I was interested in lower-level code than that at the
time and 
so I was looking at MUSCLE and then found SOSSE too. It's
nice to see 
things have been progressing elsewhere.

> The "correct" framework to use to access
smart cards is the PC/SC
> [4]. The PC/SC framework is "built-in" into
Windows and OS X (and
> Solaris?) and the implementation consist of a PC/SC
manager daemon
> and the drivers are loaded dynamically from shared
libraries.
>
> The MUSCLE project implemented a PC/SC manager that is
available in
> pkgsrc-wip as wip/pcsc-lite, and you'll find a CCID
driver there too
> (as wip/ccid).  The CCID driver did not work on NetBSD
last time I
> looked at it, but is should be trivial to fix. (I have
been planning
> to fix it and import it in pkgsrc for some time.  I can
raise its
> priority on my TODO in case you need to use it...)

Ah! pkgsrc-wip. I knew there was a reason I began syncing up
with the 
wip tree. Thank you for the pointer, it's most helpful. Of
course 
interesting things would have to be sitting there right
under my 
nose. 

Thanks again,
Marc

>     /Krister
>
> [1] 
http://www.usb.org/developers/devclass_docs#approved
> [2] http://www
.linuxnet.com/sourcedrivers.html
> [3] http://www.linuxnet.com/

> [4] http://www.pcscworkgrou
p.com/