pcsc-lite 1.6.0, new major version

A new major version of pcsc-lite is now available.
This version includes a lot of new code and changes. But I do not
expect regressions.
I will describe the changes and new features later on my blog.

As usual, report any bug. Thanks

Changes:

  • redesign the client/server communication:
    • no more shared memory used (allow pcscd and libpcsclite1.so to be on different computer and talk over a network)
    • no more difference between short and extended APDU
    • no more use of a /var/run/pcscd/pcscd.events/ directory. events are sent through the socket
    • simpler command format between client and server
    The side effect is that you are not able to mix an old pcscd with a new libpcsclite1.so or the reverse. SCardEstablishContext() will fail unless you update both sides of the communication.
  • Use lists instead of fixed size arrays to store handles.
    It is now possible to have:
    • 200 simultaneous PC/SC clients instead of 16
    • 200 SCardConnect per client instead of 16
    • 200 clients per reader instead of 16
    The default value of 200 can be changed by giving an argument to pcscd --max-thread --max-card-handle-per-thread --max-card-handle-per-reader
    Thanks to Jean-Luc Giraud for the big patch
  • Make SCardReconnect(), SCardStatus() and SCardTransmit() block instead
    of returning SCARD_E_SHARING_VIOLATION immediately. These functions will then behave like on Windows.
    This can happen if these functions are called when the reader is locked by a PCSC transaction
    (SCardBeginTransaction/SCardEndTransaction).
    You can define the environment variable PCSCLITE_NO_BLOCKING to use the old behavior.
    Thanks to Jean-Luc Giraud for the patch.
    http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/dev/muscle/2010-q1/0041.html
  • SCardEstablishContext(): try to start the pcscd daemon if not already running.
    • pcscd will suicide itself after 60 seconds of inactivity if it is started using --auto-exit. This is the default behavior when pcscd is started by libpcsclite
    • Set PCSCLITE_PCSCD_ARGS with the argument you want to pass to pcscd in autostart Only one argument is passed. The space character is not a separator. example: export PCSCLITE_PCSCD_ARGS=-dfa
  • SCardListReaders(): can use SCARD_AUTOALLOCATE
  • SCardGetAttrib(): return SCARD_E_INSUFFICIENT_BUFFER if the driver returns IFD_ERROR_INSUFFICIENT_BUFFER
    • add support of SCARD_ATTR_DEVICE_FRIENDLY_NAME as it is better implemented in pcscd (it knows the friendly name)
  • SCardGetStatusChange(): Calling with cReaders == 0 will now just return SCARD_S_SUCCESS
    • Use the special reader name "\\?PnP?\Notification" to wait for a
      reader event notification
  • SCardTransmit(): do not limit the minimum size of an APDU to 4 bytes. non ISO 7816-4 compliant cards (like Mifare DESFIRE) may use shorter commands
  • SCardStatus(): returns SCARD_E_SHARING_VIOLATION if the reader is already used More conform to Windows
  • PCSC/reader.h: update sruct PIN_PROPERTIES_STRUCTURE to be conform with Revision 2.02.06, April 2009 of PCSCv2 part 10 Fields wLcdMaxCharacters and wLcdMaxLines
    have been removed
    • rename FEATURE_MCT_READERDIRECT in FEATURE_MCT_READER_DIRECT to be
      conform with ch. 2.3 of PCSC v2 part 10
    • add FEATURE_GET_TLV_PROPERTIES and FEATURE_CCID_ESC_COMMAND from
      PC/SC part 10 v2.02.07 March 2010
    • Add PCSCv2_PART10_PROPERTY_* defines
  • SCardControl() return SCARD_E_UNSUPPORTED_FEATURE if the driver returned
    IFD_ERROR_NOT_SUPPORTED or IFD_NOT_SUPPORTED This is used to separate an unsupported value of ControlCode from a general error
  • Use the standard --sysconfdir=DIR ($prefix/etc by default) instead of --enable-confdir=DIR for defining the directory containing reader.conf
  • remove SCF support (PC/SC over Smart Card Framework). I never used this feature and SCF is now dead and replaced by JSR 268 (javax.smartcardio)
  • Better handling of PCSCLITE_STATIC_DRIVER as can be used on platforms using µClinux (without dynamic loader). This is used to statically link the reader driver to pcscd. Since the link is static you must define the IFDHandler API version at compilation time. Either define IFDHANDLERv1, IFDHANDLERv2 or IFDHANDLERv3
  • Use dynamic instead of static allocation for the driver library filename. The filename is no more limited to 100 characters.
    Closes: [#312332] MAX_LIBNAME too short?
  • force the return codes SCARD_* to be long since the SCard* functions return a LONG type
  • Add the ability to parse all the configuration files of a directory instead of just one configuration file. update-reader.conf is then now obsolete.
  • Add --enable-embedded (default is no) to build pcsc-lite for an embedded system. This will activate the NO_LOG option to disable logging and limit RAM and disk consumption.
  • If NO_LOG is defined then no log are displayed. The idea is to limit the binaries size on disk and RAM consumption at execution time. With NO_LOG defined we gain 26% (17 kB) for the .text segment of pcscd and 15% (4 kB) for the .text segment of libpcsclite.so (for i386)
  • Define a minimal pcsc_stringify_error() if NO_LOG is defined. Only the error code in hex is displayed in this case.
    Gain: 2kB of .text (10%) for libpcsclite
  • Add --disable-serial and --disable-usb options
    • --disable-serial removes support of /etc/reader.conf gain: 8.0kB of .text (12%) and 160 bytes of .bss (4%) for pcscd
    • --disable-usb removes support of USB hotplug gain: 9.7kB of .text (14%) and 960 bytes of .bss (23%) for pcscd
    • If you use both options (and use a static driver configuration) gain: 17.7kB of .text (26%) and 1152 bytes of .bss (28%) for pcscd
  • Better support of Android
  • some other minor improvements and bug corrections