v0.9.6 FINAL

This is the last planned v0.9 maintenance release. The development branch will now refactor a lot of code heading towards v0.10, and only critical bug fixes will follow in v0.9.

There has been no release in a long time, so some important bug fixes accumulated. Thanks a lot for your patience, and especially our contributors for helpful code and testing.

Headlines:

• docs: Elite S2 Profiles carry over
• xpadneo: Add support for GuliKit KingKong2 PRO controllers
• xpadneo, hid: Move paddles to range BTN_TRIGGER_HAPPY5
• xpadneo, init: Actually save rumble test values before we replace them
• xpadneo: Support GameSir T4 Cyclone models
• xpadneo v0.9, hid: Fix documentation about Share button

Kai Krakow (16):
      xpadneo: Move bit swap helper to include file
      xpadneo, init: Fix rumble testing logic on connect
      xpadneo, init: Actually save rumble test values before we replace them
      xpadneo: Add support for GuliKit KingKong2 PRO controllers
      docs: Fix headline for GuliKit controllers
      xpadneo: Upgrade CI to Ubuntu 22.04
      xpadneo: Remove Ubuntu 18.04 from CI
      Makefile: Use kernel build symlink from `/lib/modules`
      xpadneo v0.9, hid: Fix documentation about Share button
      xpadneo, init: Do not report paddles unconditionally
      xpadneo, hid: Move paddles to range BTN_TRIGGER_HAPPY5
      xpadneo, init: Really exclude the keyboard event from the HID bitmap
      xpadneo, init: Detect HW profile support on current firmwares
      xpadneo v0.9, init: Disable bogus buttons replaced by known features
      xpadneo: Support GameSir T4 Cyclone models
      xpadneo, docs: Reintroduce hint about using SDL_JOYSTICK_HIDAPI=0

Kevin Locke (1):
      Add BUILD_EXCLUSIVE_CONFIG to dkms.conf

Willster Johnson (1):
      docs: Elite S2 Profiles carry over

thiccaxe (1):
      Update TROUBLESHOOTING.md

v0.9.5 HOTFIX

This is a hotfix release to fix broken SDL/Steam mappings (again). It also removes some outdated documentation.

Headlines:

• xpadneo: Evade SDL-mismapping once again

Aniket (1):
      Remove outdated secure boot docs

Kai Krakow (1):
      xpadneo: Evade SDL-mismapping once again

v0.9.4 RE-RELEASE

This is mostly a re-release of hotfix v0.9.3 which adds a missing uhid warning and fixes the module version number.

Kai Krakow (5):
      docs: Update description for the xone project
      docs: Use capitalization for headlines consequently
      docs: Don't exceed line length
      docs: Fix typo
      docs, installer: Add notes about needed kernel features

v0.9.3 HOTFIX

This is a hotfix release to fix the Xbox button which broke in v0.9.2.

Headlines:

• xpadneo, fixups: Adapt SDL fixup to fix the Xbox button

Kai Krakow (3):
      xpadneo, fixups: Apply SDL fixups unconditionally
      xpadneo, fixups: Adapt SDL fixup to fix the Xbox button

v0.9.2 MAINTENANCE

This is a maintenance release of xpadneo v0.9 to fix several issues found in the current v0.10 development branch.

Thanks to contributors Emil Velikov, @PetitMote, @Mikaka27 and @rdrms, we now have better compatibility with kernels 5.12 or later, latest DKMS versions, and improved documentation.

We also fixed an issue conforming to the Linux input spec better which improves compatibility with jinput and probably also the Chrome browser by not exposing keyboard mapping bits on a joystick device. Thanks to @markpaters for pointing that out.

Also, the current firmware generation seems to be unstable with our previous rumble throttling interval and we had to increase this to 50ms. This actually matches what the kernel is supposed to use for ff-memless emulation (but apparently it may still send rumble commands faster). Thus, it's recommended that anybody updates to this driver version.

Current kernels seem to cache devices when rebinding drivers. This affects our udev rules, and needed fixups won't be properly applied because the original VID/PID is no longer visible to us. We fixed this by reverting to the original VID/PID on device unbinding.

Due to the various compatibility fixes, this is a highly recommended update.

Compatibility issues

We found an issue with the OpenRGB and QMK Firmware projects which enabled world read/write permissions on rawhid devices unconditionally. While this may be a security issue on its own, it also enabled SDL to access our hidraw device in an incompatible way, leading to mapping problems for both axes and buttons, and also rumble instabilities. Both projects seem to have fixed this issue meanwhile but you may want to double-check you're updated to the latest versions, especially if you're experiencing issues with Steam Proton games.

Heads-up for package maintainers

Distributions shipping kernels 5.12 or later should no longer disable Bluetooth ERTM unconditionally. In fact, it may even harm connection stability when rumble is in use. For better stability, it's generally recommended to upgrade controllers to the new BLE firmware variant (version 5.x and above) for improved connection stability. To ease support, the firmware version will now be logged to dmesg with a warning if an old unstable firmware is found.

You should also inform users who experience input or rumble latency issues to adjust the Bluetooth latency parameters but this may be fixed in later bluez versions.

Headlines:

• dkms: Explicitly add version to the install phase
• dkms: Suggest trusting the git directory if version detection failed
• docs: Document Bluetooth LE issues and work-arounds
• docs: Document workarounds for the Xbox Wireless controller
• xpadneo: Revert fixups on device removal
• xpadneo, rumble: Fix rumble throttling for modern firmware
• xpadneo v0.9, hid: Fix event ids to not fall into the keyboard range
• xpadneo: Work around invalid mapping in Steam Link

Kai Krakow (27):
      docs: Update pairing instruction to mitigate stability issues
      misc, docs: Remove ERTM patches and update docs
      hid-xpadneo: Map instead of disable duplicate button "AC Back"
      docs: Document Bluetooth LE issues and work-arounds
      docs: Remove `Privacy=device` in favor of JustWorks re-pairing
      docs: Mention the xone project which has gone public now
      docs: List distribution packages
      hid-xpadneo, rumble: Do not lose rumble strength while throttled
      docs: Fix report descriptor syntax errors
      xpadneo: Work around invalid mapping in Steam Link
      xpadneo, hidraw: Also work around SDL2 hidraw mode conflicts
      dkms: Create version instance in DKMS source archives
      dkms: Explicitly add version to the install phase
      dkms, installer: Increase verbosity
      xpadneo: Drop CI for Ubuntu 16.04
      docs: Add note about audio support
      xpadneo: Revert fixups on device removal
      xpadneo: Update devices db for PID 0x0B13
      xpadneo: Add support for XB1S BLE firmware update
      xpadneo: Add XBE2 firmware 5.13 support
      xpadneo: Add paddles support
      xpadneo, rumble: Fix rumble throttling for modern firmware
      xpadneo v0.9, hid: Fix event ids to not fall into the keyboard range
      xpadneo, core: Warn about old firmware version with stability issues
      dkms: Suggest trusting the git directory if version detection failed
      dkms: Add another status line variant to split module and version
      docs: Update documentation about the XBE2 paddles

Emil Velikov (1):
      dkms: remove REMAKE_INITRD

Moté (1):
      docs: Document workarounds for the Xbox Wireless controller

mikaka (1):
      Don't disable ERTM if kernel 5.12 or later

ryanrms (1):
      Adding openSUSE to readme.md

v0.9.1 MAINTENANCE

This is a maintenance release of xpadneo v0.9 to fix several issues found in the current v0.10 development branch.

Also, we've switched official maintainership to Kai Krakow and updated the donation links accordingly. Coffee donations now directly reach the current maintainer tho I may use it to buy hardware instead of coffee. :-)

The highlights of this release are better compatibility with current Proton versions, fixes to Xbox One S|X controller support, removal of old dead configuration options, updated and improved documentation, better integration with DKMS, improved logging to aid issue resolving, future proofing the systemd and udev integration, and deprecating support for directional rumble which never properly worked.

This should be a smooth release for everyone.

Configuration script

The configure.sh script no longer requires DKMS to be installed. On the downside, it won't stop when the driver installation is missing but it will instead complain and warn if the xpadneo driver is not loaded. Also, supplying no options is evaluated as an error now.

Heads up for package maintainers

This version handles DKMS installs and dynamic version file re-generation a little different, you may need to adjust to package install scripts.

Headlines:

• dev: Fix gitignore
• docs: Replace Ko-fi link to attribute donations to current maintainer (#274)
• hid-xpadneo: Move share button quirk to xpadneo_devices database
• installer, dkms: Fix trying to install the wrong udev filename

Kai Krakow (47):
      Makefile: Create version.h on the fly
      configure: Do not require dkms for configuration
      configure: No options is an error, don't do anything
      configure: Remove disable-ff in favor of trigger-rumble-mode
      dev: Fix gitignore
      dkms: Fix CI
      dkms: Install files with proper permission
      dkms: Simplify installation
      docs: Add missing text about profile support
      docs: Add note about holding the Guide button for too long
      docs: Amend list of bugs with known fixes
      docs: Document more of the quirk flags
      docs: Document rumble behavior with SDL_JOYSTICK_HIDAPI
      docs: Fix typo
      docs: Improve troubleshooting instructions
      docs: Link xow author
      docs: List incompatible Bluetooth chipsets and settings
      docs: Make original driver announcement a quote
      docs: Put Ko-fi on a separate line
      docs: Replace Ko-fi link to attribute donations to current maintainer (#274)
      docs: Use Xbox Series X|S controller name consistently
      hid-xpadneo, Makefile: Make version.h an intermediate target
      hid-xpadneo, udev: Move udev rules up in rules priority
      hid-xpadneo: Allow modparams for manual re-installation
      hid-xpadneo: Deprecate directional rumble
      hid-xpadneo: Drop dead module parameter `combined_z_axis`
      hid-xpadneo: Fix SDL2 button mapping for XBXS
      hid-xpadneo: Fix logging SDL2 work-around on wrong condition
      hid-xpadneo: Fix typo in comment
      hid-xpadneo: Ignore more files from current kernel tool chain
      hid-xpadneo: Improve SDL2 work-arounds to fix XBE2 button mappings
      hid-xpadneo: Improve descriptor logging
      hid-xpadneo: Log and record the original descriptor size
      hid-xpadneo: Move SDL work-arounds to parent device
      hid-xpadneo: Move share button quirk to `xpadneo_devices` database
      hid-xpadneo: Print version during load
      hid-xpadneo: Send KEY_MODE for the Xbox button
      hid-xpadneo: Use jiffies converter functions instead of HZ
      installer, dkms: Fix trying to install the wrong udev filename
      installer: Fix indentation
      src: re-indent with newer indent version
      udev: Update rules for upcoming systemd update
      xpadneo, udev: Add Xbox One X|S PIDs to udev and modalias
      xpadneo, udev: Properly re-order modalias
      xpadneo: Add current maintainer to module authors
      xpadneo: Drop dynamic version file handling

Florian Dollinger (1):
      Update README.md

P.S.: Oh, and I mis-spelled "Atar-Axis" - Asche auf mein Haupt. Fixed.

v0.9: Good News, Everyone!

Quote of the day:

Good News, Everyone!

Much hard work of several weeks has gone into this release, so there's a big reason to say thanks to all contributors, be it testing, suggestions, bug reporting, or - of course - programming.

First of all, Michael Schmitt donated an Xbox Elite 2 controller, so we now have full support for basic functionality of this controller, with support for the advanced features coming in the v0.10 version of the driver. This builds upon contributions done in the previous version of the driver.

Additionally, Ben Schattinger contributed support for the new Xbox Series X|S controllers that were released by Microsoft with their new console generation. Support for the new share button is still not finalized but it will generate a key code. This new controller uses BLE (Bluetooth low energy) to connect to PC, so you need a Bluetooth dongle that supports that features (most should do).

Both of you, Michael and Ben, qualified for the quote of the day. You guys rock.

Also, some donations were provided by several people via Ko-fi. Thanks for that, it's really appreciated. You guys are awesome!

Let's not forget all the people who contributed to the project patiently providing feedback, bug reports, and testing, or even just a "thank you": This release is our "thank you" back to the community.

Finally, we've got a logo now.

Here the gist of what the new version delivers:

• Discord community (shared with xow, ask to join your project)
• Code generation assertions
• Start of code-redesign for splitting the driver core
• Start of profile support (not implemented yet)
• Dropped old debug mode
• Better compliance with the Linux Gamepad specification
• Improved driver documentation
• Improved hardware documentation
• Improved hardware support
• Improved quirks handler to more easily handle hardware quirks
• Improved HID handler performance
• Improved dmesg logging
• Improved DKMS installer
• Improved rumble timing and precision
• Improved rumble damping setting
• Improved continuous integration testing
• Added support for new hardware-level device functions
• Added high-precision mode for the thumb sticks
• Added option for disabling dead-zones for better Proton support

Many of the bug fixes have been backported to the v0.8 branch which has now received its end of life. If you're having problems with the new features, please report that and use the v0.8 branch until that specific bug is fixed.

Known Problems

The Bluetooth stability of the Xbox controllers is still a known issue which we probably can't fix in the driver. Some work-arounds are in place but that's not a 100% guarantee. Some of these problems can even be observed when using the controller with Windows. All the problems seem to mostly focus around using rumble, so you may need to disable rumble.

The other class of problems is connecting/pairing the controller properly. This seems to be a Linux kernel issue or a Bluez daemon issue, or a combination of both. Usually, Windows doesn't show any problems here. Apparently, we cannot fix this in the driver. You may want to report this to the kernel or Bluez developers.

Always use the controller updated to its latest firmware before trying other steps: Microsoft fixed some connection problems, and also HID implementation details in the past with firmware updates.

Breaking Changes

This release fixes button mappings for 8BitDo controllers to actually match their names on the controller instead of matching positions with original Xbox controllers. The X,Y and A,B buttons will be swapped compared to previous versions.

This change is controversial but let me tell you that we are going to work on changes that let you easily choose and switch behavior in v0.10.

The module parameter debug_level has been dropped. Some other parameters have been dropped in favor of better replacements. Please reconfigure your parameters and settings.

The Future

The new controllers provide some new functionality at the hardware level which we are going to try to emulate at the driver level for older generation controllers. The prominent example for this is mapping profiles support: Until we figured out how this is implemented in hardware for the Xbox Elite 2 controller, we won't implement any emulation support in the driver. This is because we want to end up with an emulation that is 100% compatible with the hardware implementation, and not end up with some customization functions that needs emulation for the Xbox Elite 2 controller.

We are also going to split the driver into components to easily add support for USB or GIP dongle connections, with USB probably coming first because the GIP dongle still has licensing issues for using its firmware.

Headlines:

• hid-xpadneo, quirks: We need to carry a quirk for Linux button mappings
• hid-xpadneo, rumble: Migrate damping to generic attenuation parameter
• installer: Change to base directory first
• xpadneo, deadzones: Implement a high-precision mode without dead zones
• xpadneo, udev: Work around libinput using the controller as touchpad

Kai Krakow (78):
      hid-xpadneo: Drop `debug_level`
      hid-xpadneo, quirks: Pass quirks from driver data
      udev: Expose all xpadneo input devices as user-readable
      hid-xpadneo, profiles: Prepares profile switching for customization
      Update bug_report.md
      docs, news: Document breaking changes.
      hid-xpadneo, rumble: Migrate damping to generic attenuation parameter
      xpadneo, udev: Work around libinput using the controller as touchpad
      hid-xpadneo: Tell the user which controller connected
      hid-xpadneo, quirks: Fix a typo
      hid-xpadneo, quirks: Expand flags to 32 bit
      hid-xpadneo, quirks: We need to carry a quirk for Linux button mappings
      xpadneo, quirks: Add Nintendo mappings quirk for 8BitDo controllers
      docs: Fix a syntax problem in SDL link
      xpadneo, deadzones: Use smaller dead zone and fuzz for precision
      xpadneo, deadzones: Implement a high-precision mode without dead zones
      docs: Document another storage location for SDL gamepad mappings
      docs: Document SDL HIDAPI breakage
      hid-xpadneo, init: Ignore HID_CONNECT_FF
      hid-xpadneo, quirks: Convert to proper bit values
      hid-xpadneo: Update copyright
      configure, cleanup: Remove the tedious whitespace
      xpadneo, cleanup: Fix missing newline at end of file
      hid-xpadneo, cleanup: Remove some more comments
      hid-xpadneo: Replace `combined_z_axis` with additional axis
      hid-xpadneo: Stop spamming the HID layer with repeated reports
      Revert "hid-xpadneo, quirks: Convert to proper bit values"
      hid-xpadneo, timing: Use clamp() instead min()/max()
      hid-xpadneo, rumble: Tighten the rumble timing
      hid-xpadneo: Fix potentially loosing input packets for XBE2 controllers
      docs: Add Repology badge
      docs: Mention MissionControl sibling project
      docs: Cleanup some whitespace
      docs: Add xpadneo logo
      docs: Add Discord badge
      installer: Drop VERSION tag file from master branch
      installer: Fix white space
      installer, dkms: Prevent showing readlink errors
      installer: Add verbose mode
      installer: Exit on unexpected errors
      installer, dkms: Skip ERTM if setting is not writable
      tests: Add verbose mode to Azure Pipeline
      tests: Also test uninstallation in Azure Pipeline
      tests: Dump make.log to stdout on verbose DKMS error
      tests: Run Azure Pipeline on multiple Ubuntu LTS versions
      hid-xpadneo: Ignore trigger scale switches
      hid-xpadneo, profiles: Log to kernel starting with lower-case
      hid-xpadneo, rumble: Remove useless use of max()
      hid-xpadneo: Optimize delay_work clamping
      hid-xpadneo, rumble: Use proper integer rounding in calculations
      hid-xpadneo, rumble: Limit command duration
      hid-xpadneo: Fix kernel coding standards
      docs: Remove bogus blank line
      docs: Do not misuse back-ticks
      docs: Document broken packet format of XBE2 v1
      hid-xpadneo: Handle XBE2 v2 packet format
      hid-xpadneo: Add XBE2 trigger scale setting
      docs: Fix collaboration referral
      docs: Fix a typo
      hid-xpadneo: Reserve another bit for the new XBXS share button
      hid-xpadneo: Document XBXS modes and PIDs
      docs: Document XBXS controller support in the README
      docs: Restructure text about profile support
      docs: Add BLE note for the XBXS controller
      docs: Move profile switching section
      hid-xpadneo: Make assertions of hardware buffer sizes
      hid-xpadneo: Make rumble motor bits a full enum type
      installer: Move version information to separate include file
      installer: Remove excessive blank lines
      installer: "INSTALLED" is an array
      configure: Use braces around variables
      installer: Change to base directory first
      hid-xpadneo: Alias the Share button
      hid-xpadneo: Fix a comment about rumble timing
      hid-xpadneo: Improve PID documentation
      docs: Document Bluetooth low energy requirements
      installer: Also fix the updater
      hid-xpadneo: Move headers to separate file

Ben Schattinger (2):
      docs: Document Xbox Series X/S controller
      hid-xpadneo: Add Xbox Series X / S controller support

v0.8.5 FINAL

This release adds a lot of small improvements from v0.9 which catch some errors in the installer, improve the documentation, fix the XBE2 controller after updating it to a new firmware, and fine-tune the rumble worker.

This is the final release of the v0.8 branch, only critical bug fixes would follow.

Headlines:

• installer: Change to base directory first

Kai Krakow (27):
      installer: Fix white space
      installer, dkms: Prevent showing readlink errors
      installer: Add verbose mode
      installer: Exit on unexpected errors
      installer, dkms: Skip ERTM if setting is not writable
      tests: Add verbose mode to Azure Pipeline
      tests: Also test uninstallation in Azure Pipeline
      tests: Dump make.log to stdout on verbose DKMS error
      tests: Run Azure Pipeline on multiple Ubuntu LTS versions
      hid-xpadneo: Ignore trigger scale switches
      hid-xpadneo, rumble: Remove useless use of max()
      hid-xpadneo: Optimize delay_work clamping
      hid-xpadneo, rumble: Use proper integer rounding in calculations
      hid-xpadneo, rumble: Limit command duration
      hid-xpadneo: Fix kernel coding standards
      docs: Do not misuse back-ticks
      docs: Document broken packet format of XBE2 v1
      hid-xpadneo: Handle XBE2 v2 packet format
      docs: Fix collaboration referral
      docs: Fix a typo
      hid-xpadneo: Make assertions of hardware buffer sizes
      hid-xpadneo: Make rumble motor bits a full enum type
      installer: Remove excessive blank lines
      installer: "INSTALLED" is an array
      configure: Use braces around variables
      installer: Change to base directory first
      hid-xpadneo: Fix a comment about rumble timing

v0.8.4 RERELEASE

Update: This version has been re-tagged to fix bumping the version code. You may need to run git tag -d v0.8.4 and update again to get back a working state.

This release improves the rumble timing.

Kai Krakow (2):
      hid-xpadneo, timing: Use clamp() instead min()/max()
      hid-xpadneo, rumble: Tighten the rumble timing

v0.8.3 HOTFIX

The previous release was missing an important commit to tell the different protocol modes of the controllers correctly apart.

Headlines:

• hid-xpadneo, quirks: Pass quirks from driver data

Kai Krakow (2):
      hid-xpadneo, quirks: Pass quirks from driver data
      Revert "hid-xpadneo, quirks: Convert to proper bit values"