Bug#603842: RFS: triggerhappy

[Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>]

Stefan Tomanek wrote:
> Dies schrieb Jonathan Nieder (jrnieder@gmail.com):

>> How does this compare to Rick van Rein's funkey[1]?
>
> Hm, funkey does require a kernel patch und looks quite dated?
>
> "Funky Daemon which demonstrates how to parse the /dev/funkey character device."

Thanks for a quick response.  Sorry, I did not read the following
carefully enough:

	This patch is not being actively maintained, unlike my
	BadRAM patch.  There is an alternative[1] that is said to
	work without kernel patching on current Linux systems.
	We keep this page around for historic service,
	especially because the information about keyboard
	modes is still useful.

	[1] http://www.burghardt.pl/wiki/software/esekeyd

How does triggerhappy compare to Krzysztof Burghardt's esekeyd?

> As I said, triggerhappy uses the /dev/input/eventX files, anything that fires
> SW_, KEY_ or BTN_ events can be used t launch programs.

That sounds like very useful information for the package description.
Currently it says:

| Description: global, user and session independent hotkey daemon
|  Triggerhappy observes all connected input devices and launches
|  configured commands when certain keys are pressed. The daemon
|  works as a system wide service and is independent of any user
|  session.

To nitpick (please don't take this the wrong way --- when a person
spends time on things like this, that usually means she thinks your
package is valuable):

It is easy to misunderstand the short description.  I think it is
meant to say that that the hotkey daemon is not tied to a user
session, but now it conjures up images of "user-independent hotkeys".
Maybe:

 Description: hotkey daemon for Linux
  Triggerhappy watches connected input devices for certain key presses
  (like Suspend and Volume Control) and runs administrator-configured
  commands when they are pressed. Unlike <suchandsuch>, it runs as a
  persistent, systemwide service and therefore can be used even
  outside the context of a user or X11 session.
  .
  It can also handle remote controls, as they are presented as
  keyboards. No kernel patch is required. The daemon is a userspace
  program that polls the /dev/input/event? interfaces for incoming key
  presses.
  .
  For example, this package might be useful on a headless system to
  use input events generated by a remote control to control an
  mpd server.