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updating-pcsc-lite.md

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Updating the PC/SC-Lite daemon

Note: This page is mainly intended for the ChromeOS Smart Card Connector project maintainers.

Background

The ChromeOS Smart Card Connector app is shipped with a specific (pinned) version of the PC/SC-Lite daemon. This daemon exposes the PC/SC API to client extensions/apps, transforming this API calls into commands to the drivers (currently, we have only one driver - the CCID Free Software driver).

Reasons for pinning to a specific version of the daemon:

  • Potentially, adjustments in our code or in the building scripts might be required after updating to new versions (note that we don't run the daemon verbatim, but instead port it under the Native Client technology to run inside the JavaScript-based App);
  • We can test the daemon version and assure its quality on ChromeOS.

However, this approach also implies some amount of maintenance work to update the daemon (say, every few months). It also means that the users typically get a somewhat outdated version of the PC/SC-Lite daemon.

Update procedure

  1. The currently used version of the daemon is located under the //third_party/pcsc-lite/ directory. Specifically, the //third_party/pcsc-lite/README.google file contains the version number, and the //third_party/pcsc-lite/src/ directory contains the original files of the daemon.

  2. Download a new release of the PC/SC-Lite daemon from the official project page: https://pcsclite.apdu.fr/.

  3. Clean the compilation artifacts from the old version of the PC/SC-Lite daemon by running this command in the directories related to PC/SC-Lite:

    CONFIG=Debug make clean && CONFIG=Release make clean

    The list of directories where this has to be done:

    • //third_party/pcsc-lite/naclport/common/build/
    • //third_party/pcsc-lite/naclport/cpp_client/build/
    • //third_party/pcsc-lite/naclport/cpp_demo/build/
    • //third_party/pcsc-lite/naclport/server/build/
    • //third_party/pcsc-lite/naclport/server_clients_management/build/

  4. Delete all files of the previous version from //third_party/pcsc-lite/src/, and unpack the new files from the downloaded archive into this directory. (Hint: Pay attention to the directory structure; e.g., you should have the AUTHORS file located at //third_party/pcsc-lite/src/AUTHORS in the end.)

  5. Apply the patches from the //third_party/pcsc-lite/patches/ directory to the files unpacked at the previous step. (Hint: We only have a single tiny patch currently, so probably it's the simplest to just manually apply the modification shown in that patch file.)

  6. Edit the URL and the version in the //third_party/pcsc-lite/README.google file.

  7. Compile the Smart Card Connector app and all other targets, by running the make-all.sh script.

  8. In case of any errors discovered at the previous step, investigate and fix them. (Hint: In case a new file was created in the daemon, you have to add it into //third_party/pcsc-lite/naclport/server/build/Makefile into one of the sections.)

  9. Start the just-built Smart Card Connector app (e.g., by running make run in the //smart_card_connector/build/ directory) and perform some manual QA testing using physical reader(s).

  10. If everything is OK, prepare a commit / a Pull Request with all these changes.

Additional tasks to be performed later, when rolling out a new version of the Smart Card Connector app via Web Store:

  1. Mention the update of the PC/SC-Lite daemon at the Release's description on GitHub. It's also nice to add a link to the PC/SC-Lite release notes (which are typically published at https://blog.apdu.fr/).