# Petefoth SailfishOS: Bluetooth in Android AppSupport Pete documents his solutions to allowing android apps (the lxc container) bluetooth access in his repo: [https://codeberg.org/petefoths-projects/SfOS-Bluetooth-in-AAS/](https://codeberg.org/petefoths-projects/SfOS-Bluetooth-in-AAS/) or [https://codeberg.org/poetaster/SfOS-Bluetooth-in-AAS](https://codeberg.org/poetaster/SfOS-Bluetooth-in-AAS) Implementation of a method in SailfishOS (SfOS) to allow user to switch Bluetooth (BT) support between SfOS and Android AppSupport (AAS). ## Current status As stated in [this forum post](https://forum.sailfishos.org/t/potential-bluetooth-support-in-the-android-app-support-aas/9686/212?u=petefoth) > I have something similar working using `qCommand` app: switching BT to AAS is working fine; switching it back to SfOS is still ‘work-in-progress’ - sometimes it works, sometimes not. Current status of my qCommand stuff. (For both commands I've commented out the `if systemctl is-active` condition, because it's not working as expected) **`qc_BT-to-Android`** : mostly works. I can connect to and sync my watch in the Garmin Connect Android app, and connect to and control my hearing aids in the BeMore Android app.
Code ```text if [[ ! $(whoami) = "root" ]]; then echo "must be run as root" >&2 exit 1 fi # start by setting up the config file,even if it exists already echo "[Config]" > /opt/appsupport/etc/appsupport.conf.d/99-passthrough.conf echo "Proxies=android.hardware.bluetooth@1.1::IBluetoothHci,android.hardware.bluetooth@1.0::IBluetoothHci/default" >> /opt/appsupport/etc/appsupport.conf.d/99-passthrough.conf # Stop the BT services in SfOS systemctl stop bluetooth systemctl stop bluebinder # Start AAS if it isn't running already: # returns 3 if inactive # 0 if active if [[ ! $(systemctl is-active --quiet appsupport@defaultuser.service) = 0 ]]; then echo "starting appsupport" systemctl reload-or-restart appsupport@defaultuser fi # Start the Android BT process appsupport-attach pm enable com.android.bluetooth ```
**`qc-BT-to-SfOS`**: mostly works. Occasionally gives an error when starting `bluebinder` times out. (I haven't checked the status of BT in SfOS if the error occurs. Nor have I looked into detail in "journalctl -xe". That, and sorting out the operations conditional on `systemctl is-active` are the next jobs :slight\_smile:
Code ```text if [[ ! $(whoami) = "root" ]]; then echo "must be run as root" >&2 exit 1 fi # If AAS is running, stop / disable its BT process #if [[ $(systemctl is-active --quiet appsupport@defaultuser.service) = 0 ]]; then echo "DisablingBT in Android" appsupport-attach pm disable com.android.bluetooth echo "Stopping AAS" systemctl stop appsupport@defaultuser #fi # Start the BT services in SfOS echo "Starting bluebinder" systemctl start bluebinder echo "Starting AAS" systemctl start appsupport@defaultuser echo "Restarting bluetooth" systemctl restart bluetooth ```
Occasional error ```text Job for bluebinder.service failed because a timeout was exceeded. See "systemctl status bluebinder.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details.` ``` ## Background The means to allow BT access for Android apps running under AAS is described in [this post in the SfOS communtiy forum](https://forum.sailfishos.org/t/potential-bluetooth-support-in-the-android-app-support-aas/9686/155). As described in that post and replies, BT can be available EITHER to SfOS OR to AAS, but not to both. The aim of this project is to proved a means for users to switch BT availability between SfOS and AAS.[](https://codeberg.org/petefoths-projects/SfOS-Bluetooth-in-AAS/#use-cases) ## Use cases My use cases: 1. Garmin Smartwatch: download golf course data from Garmin Connect Android app running on the phone. As far as I know, this is the only way to achieve this: it is not possible to download Golf Course data from PC to watch. (Note this is a multi-sport watch and golf courses ***are not*** pre-loaded: they must be loaded from the phone. For dedicated Golf watches, with courses preloaded, course updates ***can*** be downloaded from PC or Web) 2. [BeMore Hearing Aid control app](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gnhearing.gnbemore). Proprietary Android app that allows fine-grained control of hearing aids - volume, noise filters, favourite settings These operations are both short in duration: the workflow would be 1. Enable BT in AAS 2. Perform the operation 3. Disable BT in AAS and re-enable it in SfOS The proposed solution would also meet the needs of users who wish to have BT access available to AAS 1. all the time: never available to SfOS 2. for as long as AAS is running ## Implementation I think this solution can be implemented by 1. Creating two shell scripts: - `bt-to-aas.sh` enables BT in AAS - `bt-to-sfos.sh` enables BT in SfOS 2. Implementing a mechanism to call thses scritps from the SfOS UI *Enable BT in AAS* (`bt-to-aas.sh`) 1. stop AAS if it is running - (is this doable from a script?). Or leave it running while we do steps 2 & 3, and ***restart*** ASS in step 4 2. stop bluetooth and bluebinder services 3. add (or uncomment) this line (using `sed`?) to `/opt/appsupport/etc/appsupport.conf.d/10-hybris.conf` `Proxies=android.hardware.bluetooth@1.1::IBluetoothHci,android.hardware.bluetooth@1.0::IBluetoothHci/default` 4. start (or restart) AAS - (is this doable from a script, rather than from SFOS settings menu) *Enable BT in SfOS* (`bt-to-sfos.sh)` I am less sure about what is needed here. A 'quick and dirty solution might be to edit the `10-hybris.conf` file then reboot the phone. I would prefer a slightly more elegant and less destructive solution :slight\_smile: 1. do I need to stop bluetooth and bluebinder services again, or are they still not still not running since being stopped in the `bt-to-aas.sh` script? 2. stop AAS 1. is this necessary or can we just restart it once we have changed the `10-hybris.conf` file? 2. is this: do-able from a script ? 3. OR disable AAS Android Bluetooth package, but leave AAS running 4. remove (or comment) this line( using `sed`?) to `/opt/appsupport/etc/appsupport.conf.d/10-hybris.conf` `Proxies=android.hardware.bluetooth@1.1::IBluetoothHci,android.hardware.bluetooth@1.0::IBluetoothHci/default` 5. restart bluetooth bluebinder and services 6. restart AAS (optional: we could leave this to be done manually) ### Problems to solve - [ ] How to stop - [ ] AAS if running: normally do this from from SFOS settings menu. Can we do it via a script? - [x] Stop bluetooth and bluebinder services: Solved in forum post > `systemctl stop bluetooth` > > `systemctl stop bluebinder` - [ ] How to change the contents of `10-hybris.conf`? - answer probably involves `sed`. I need to experiment to find out how to 1. add the needed line in `10-hybris.conf` 2. remove the added line in `10-hybris.conf` - [ ] Better approach: don't touch `10-hybris.conf`, use a different file. - Delete it to enable BT in SfOS - Create it to enable BT in AAS > `echo "Proxies=android.hardware.bluetooth@1.1::IBluetoothHci,android.hardware.bluetooth@1.0::IBluetoothHci/default" > /opt/appsupport/etc/appsupport.conf.d/99-passthrough.conf - [ ] Where in the device filesystem will the scripts live? And how will they get there? - [x] How to invoke the scripts so that they have root / `devel-su` access to perform privileged operations (e.g. starting / stopping `systemd` services)? - answered [in SfOS forum](https://forum.sailfishos.org/t/potential-bluetooth-support-in-the-android-app-support-aas/9686/197) > You can run scripts as root by using qCommand app or Sailcron (at selected time). Scripts which don’t need root are possible to run from launcher by creating \*.desktop file. Scripts which don’t need root are possible to run from launcher by creating \*.desktop file. Both our scripts will need root I think