Kubuntu Feisty does not ask for bluetooth pin. Pinhelpers seem not to work

[RobertBrunhuber]

Binary package hint: kdebluetooth

Tried to pair a mobile phone (nokia 6230) with kdebluetooth. This setup worked just great with edgy.

1. Tried to use security "auto" and the standard pin 1234. -> No success
2. Changed /etc/bluetooth/hcid.conf and added pin_helper /usr/lib/kdebluetooth/kbluepin; -> Does not show up, no success
3. Tried bluepin as pin_helper -> no success
4. Tried to use passkey-agent --default /usr/lib/kdebluetooth/kbluepin -> no success.

[RobertBrunhuber (ubuntu-rbrunhuber)]

There are already there is already an bug in the kde bt:
http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=133634

and at least two bugs in debian:

http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=383877
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=382771

Hope this helps

[RobertBrunhuber (ubuntu-rbrunhuber)]

Just a hint: The debian package kdebluetooth_0.99+1.0beta2-3_i386.deb works good for the pin helper thing. But I had to use --force-overwrite because it overwrites pinhelper which is also in bluez-utils.

I'm sorry I can't you provide more information on this.

[RobertBrunhuber (ubuntu-rbrunhuber)]

I marked this bug as confirmed because it already has duplicate.

[Stefan Skotte (screemo)]

I can confirm this bug too. Tried with a few phones aswell, and pin_helper doesnt show.

Anyone know what has changed between edgy and feisty regarding bluetooth (dbus?) ?

[Waldemar Silva Júnior (wsjunior)]

Confirmed.
Doesn't work here too.
The interface for PIN helpers changed with bluez 3.x, and broke kbluepin.

[gpothier (gpothier)]

In today's updates there was a mention of a change regarding pin helper in bluetooth packages:

debian/patches/010-kubuntu-pin-helper.patch:
     - updated for with 3.9

As far as I'm concerned I still cannot pair with my bluetooth phone (SonyEricsson K700i).

I also tried "security auto" in hcid.conf so that the local pin is used, but I still could not connect. Is there something special to do to use the pin stored in /etc/bluetooth/pin or the one in "passkey" in hcid.conf?

[Anthony Mercatante (tonio)]

gpothier : pinhelper is not restarted with kbluepin.
What happens after you restart your computer ?

[Anthony Mercatante (tonio)]

changing to fix-released as it works for everyone but gpothier, probably local issue or just needs passkey-agent to be restarted

[Anthony Mercatante (tonio)]

chaging status for bluez-utils too, as the patch is there.

[gpothier (gpothier)]

Still no luck after restarting the machine. I do not see any pinhelper or passkey-agent process (tried 'ps aux |grep pin' and 'ps aux |grep pass'). When is the pin helper started? How can I start it by hand?

[Waldemar Silva Júnior (wsjunior)]

It is working flawlessly here. I'm using bluez-utils 3.9-0ubuntu2 and kdebluetooth 0.99+1.0beta2-1ubuntu5. Answering gpothier: /usr/bin/passkey-agent --default /usr/lib/kdebluetooth/kbluepin

[gpothier (gpothier)]

I was able to pair with my phone starting passkey-agent by hand. So the problem is that passkey-agent is not started on boot. Which script is in charge of starting the passkey-agent?

Software versions:
bluez-utils 3.9-0ubuntu2
bluez-pin 0.30-2.1ubuntu3
kdebluetooth 0.99+1.0beta2-1ubuntu5

[stuartmarsden (stuartmarsden)]

I have the same issue with passkey-agent not being started at boot.

[Marcel Holtmann (holtmann)]

Any passkey agent has to be started in the user session. Starting a passkey agent at boot time is totally wrong. This is a KDE bug. GNOME handles this correctly.

[Gletscher (gletscherspalte)]

on feisty fawn beta i confirm that the pinhelper wouldnt show up, pairing is not possible

[Alexander Rødseth (alexanro)]

Maybe this can help someone:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/8379

(trayer is not needed if you use kicker)

[vrabcak (t-tichy)]

I can confirm this bug, passkey agent must be started by hand, it is not started during KDE startup.

[Mark Rijckenberg (markrijckenberg)]

Hi,

Here is a small procedure I have written that allows pairing bluetooth telephone with Kubuntu, that allows using the bluetooth phone as a remote control for Kubuntu and describes how to exchange files with a bluetooth phone using bluetooth protocol

1. Make sure /usr/sbin/hcid is running by entering "ps -aux|grep hci"
2. Make sure bluetooth service is started by entering "sudo /etc/init.d/bluetooth restart" in the konsole terminal
3. Enter "hcitool scan" in konsole terminal to retrieve the hardware address AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF of the bluetooth device you wish to pair with Kubuntu
4. Start "/usr/bin/bluetooth-applet" using the konsole terminal or a startup script
5. right click on bluetooth-applet icon, choose preferences. On first tab, choose mode of operation: "visible and connectable for other devices". In second tab, enable all bluetooth services. In third tab, enable "automatically authorize incoming requests"
5. Enter "hidd --connect AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF" in konsole terminal using the bluetooth hardware address you found instead. When connecting to certain Sony Ericsson bluetooth phones, this command will allow you to use the phone as a remote control for the laptop, handy when doing a presentation
6. The bluetooth-applet will ask you for the pin and the mobile device pairs up correctly!
7. In Krusader: enter "obex://[AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF]/" to transfer files between laptop and phone
Bluetooth transfer speeds on my pc are around 30 to 40 kilobytes/second
8. if file transfers still do not work for you, make sure your hcid.conf file looks like mine, reboot your
pc, and try again.

Here is my working /etc/bluetooth/hcid.conf file configuration:
#
# HCI daemon configuration file.
#

# HCId options
options {
# Automatically initialize new devices
autoinit yes;

# Security Manager mode
# none - Security manager disabled
# auto - Use local PIN for incoming connections
# user - Always ask user for a PIN
#
security auto;

# Pairing mode
# none - Pairing disabled
# multi - Allow pairing with already paired devices
# once - Pair once and deny successive attempts
pairing multi;

# PIN helper
pin_helper /usr/bin/passkey-agent;

# D-Bus PIN helper
/usr/bin/bluez-pin --dbus;

# Default PIN code for incoming connections
passkey "1234";

}

# Default settings for HCI devices
device {
# Local device name
# %d - device id
# %h - host name
name "Kubuntu Laptop";
discovto 0;

# Local device class
#class 0x3e0100;

# Default packet type
#pkt_type DH1,DM1,HV1;

# Inquiry and Page scan
iscan enable; pscan enable;

# Default link mode
# none - no specific policy
# accept - always accept incoming connections
# master - become master on incoming connections,
# deny role switch on outgoing connections
lm accept;

# Default link policy
# none - no specific policy
# rswitch - allow role switch
# hold - allow hold mode
# sniff - allow sniff mode
# park - allow park mode
lp rswitch,hold,sniff,park;

# Authentication and Encryption (Security Mode 3)
#auth enable;
#encrypt enable;
}

Regards,

Mark Rijckenberg

[Mark Rijckenberg (markrijckenberg)]

One more thing: make sure you first install the following obex utilities (especially gnome-vfs-obexftp) before trying to exchange files between your laptop and bluetooth phone:

ulysses@desktop:~$ apts obex
i cobex - Connector for mobile devices
i gnome-vfs-obexftp - GNOME VFS module for OBEX FTP
i libobexftp-dev - object exchange file transfer library
v libopenobex-dev -
i A libopenobex1 - OBEX protocol library
i A libopenobex1-dev - OBEX protocol library - development files
i obexfs - mount filesystem of ObexFTP capable devices
i obexftp - file transfer utility for devices that use the OBEX protocol
i obexpushd - program for receiving files via Bluetooth or IRDA
i obextool - graphical frontend for obexftp written in TCL/TK
i openobex-apps - Applications for OpenOBEX
c qobex - Swiss army knife for the OBject EXchange (obex) protocol
ulysses@desktop:~$

[Mark Rijckenberg (markrijckenberg)]

I have been doing a little more experimenting and noticed that the bluetooth stack on my Sony Ericsson can crash from time to time. So if my procedure for accessing your phone files via OBEX does not work anymore all of a sudden, don't blame it on the Linux bluetooth stack, blame it on the phone's bluetooth stack.

In that case, I just turn off the phone, turn it on again and voila..... the OBEX connection works again. Now if I only could get Linux to run on the phone too ;-)

I put /usr/bin/bluetooth-applet in my procedure, because bluetooth pairing using /usr/bin/kbluetooth on Kubuntu Gutsy Gibbon did not work for me....

One more thing: if my procedure for pairing the bluetooth phone works for you, you should also be able to use wammu (frontend gui for gammu) to make a backup of all your phonecalls and phonebook.