Why does hal think my USB devices are fixed?

[Warren Block]

On Wed, 14 Oct 2009, Joe Marcus Clarke wrote:
>
> I don't have any card readers, but as Hans pointed out, this part will
> come from the SCSI subsystem.  If CAM says the device is not removable,
> then hal will go with that.

Light sledgehammering in /usr/local/share/hal/fdi/preprobe/20thirdparty 
and the card reader can be made to work:

First, stop hal trying to automount a card twice, once for the redundant 
"computer_storage" version of a disk:

10-ignore-computer_storage.fdi :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<deviceinfo version="0.2">
   <device>
     <!-- ignore duplicate entries for storage devices -->
     <match key="block.storage_device" string="/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/computer_storage">
       <merge key="info.ignore" type="bool">true</merge>
     </match>
   </device>
</deviceinfo>

Then set some options for the card reader:

20-check-media.fdi :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<deviceinfo version="0.2">
   <device>
     <!-- check for media changes in card reader -->
     storage.media_check_enabled
     <match key="freebsd.driver" string="da">
       <merge key="storage.media_check_enabled" type="bool">true</merge>
       <merge key="storage.hotpluggable"        type="bool">true</merge>
     </match>
   </device>
</deviceinfo>

hal still sometimes doesn't notice new cards being connected, and the 
card reader's USB cable has to be reconnected.  But at this point, it's 
at least as good as it was under 7-STABLE.

-Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota USA