MAME also uses SDL for its joystick support.
We have evdev, but no native drivers and no route to applications. It's easy enough to reuse gamepad drivers from Linux with webcamd, so drivers aren't a huge concern. Applications are somewhat tricky. Again, it's quite easy to compile SDL with evdev backend, but that will disable SDL's UHID backend which is probably not ideal.
That's really the point of me asking. We have no native drivers & no route to applications, but we should have those things. So, I asked my question in order to make sure that I'm not looking into work that may potentially be rejected. We shouldn't have to reused gamepad drivers from Linux, because we should have our own drivers & a way to route them to applications. As far as SDL is concerned, it's also high time for us to have our own game input backend to plug into SDL. Unless it's the FreeBSD community's goal to remain a second class citizen when it comes to these things. As long as this is the status quo, it's kind of difficult to provide a reason for anyone to see FreeBSD as a joke when it comes to gaming. That's something that needs to change, but I didn't want to start even the slightest bit of research into it before making sure that I'm not either stepping on anyone's toes or doing work that no may be frowned upon.
We absolutely should if we can, I see no point in repeating that work.
First, I'd update the actual FreeBSD joystick API that's already included in the source tree. Second, I'd create an actual usb hid joystick kernel driver, in the same vein as the usb hid drivers that we already have in kernel. Third, I'd create a native userspace routing library that allows joysticks to report their true features. Fourth, I'd interface that library to SDL, so that no one really notices the difference besides the fact that the new solution just works. That's the plan that I'm currently working on. No jumping through hoops or browsing every forum imaginable just to get the same support natively on FreeBSD as you get on other OSes.
To be honest, this isn't really the case, when it comes to usb joystick driver support. All usb joysticks follow the basics of the usb hid standard. Sure, there may be a few deviations here & there, but they're predominantly the same. I was only testing the waters before I start the work. From what I've seen, there's no reason for me to not do it. And since I'm vehemently against the concept of having to rely on Linux support for infrastructure that we should already have for ourselves, I tend to see such arguments as more of a reason that native solutions should be implemented.
This sounds interesting, I wasn't even aware there was a FreeBSD joystick API (do you have a link to a man page handy?)
Oh wow, that really is a blast from the past, the driver seems to be for the old school 15-pin joystick port! I probably still have my old Microsoft Sidewinder stick gathering dust somewhere from my X-Wing/Tie Fighter days! If I remember correctly that 15-pin port was actually part of the sound card (SoundBlaster?)
They used it and it was quite ok.
diff --git a/devel/sdl20/files/patch-configure.patch b/devel/sdl20/files/patch-configure.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..3cd58cbaf3f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/devel/sdl20/files/patch-configure.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+--- configure.orig 2020-03-20 05:38:47.438439000 +0300
++++ configure 2020-03-20 05:39:48.991686000 +0300
+@@ -24475,7 +24475,7 @@
+ ;;
+ esac
+ CheckTslib
+- CheckUSBHID
++ CheckInputEvents # CheckUSBHID
+ CheckHIDAPI
+ CheckPTHREAD
+ CheckClockGettime
+@@ -24526,7 +24526,7 @@
+ # Set up files for the joystick library
+ if test x$enable_joystick = xyes; then
+ case $ARCH in
+- linux)
++ linux|freebsd)
+
+ $as_echo "#define SDL_JOYSTICK_LINUX 1" >>confdefs.h
+
+@@ -24547,7 +24547,7 @@
+ # Set up files for the haptic library
+ if test x$enable_haptic = xyes; then
+ case $ARCH in
+- linux)
++ linux|freebsd)
+ if test x$use_input_events = xyes; then
+
+ $as_echo "#define SDL_HAPTIC_LINUX 1" >>confdefs.h
Out of curiosity, because I don't have any game or emulator installed, I tested my Logitech Attack 3 and a wired Xbox 360 controller using this: https://github.com/meleu/jstest-sdl and both work fine.
qt.gamepad: Available backends: ("evdev")
qt.gamepad: Loading backend "evdev"
qt.gamepad: start
qt.gamepad: Using device discovery
Did not find any connected gamepads
There is no point in such test without a specific goal, what works for one program does not necessarily work for another.
No idea.
Evdev is available either through webcamd or iichid.
No, of course not.
…with any application which requires evdev. Pretty much nothing on FreeBSD is compiled with evdev gamepad support by default.
I have a genuine Xbox One gamepad and it doesn't work as a USB HID device as well because it doesn't present itself as a USB HID device to the operating system in the first place. In general, first party console controllers do not implement this spec (at least not in a directly useful way). That is why they require specialized drivers, such as the drivers bundled with webcamd. If your gamepad is supported by other means I don't see why would you want webcamd.
Who cares about Xorg? Xorg is not a game.
That's precisely how Xorg is designed to work. You won't be able to use it for games.