Persistent soft block setting

[ChrisKeefe]

Hi folks! :slightly_smiling_face: As I'm sure you know, support requests and issues related to disabling bluetooth on LinuxMint are numerous: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

A related issue https://github.com/linuxmint/blueberry/issues/42 on this repository was closed in 2017. The user was sent to systemd, who suggested they open a request with the LinuxMint devs. The user probably gave up at that point, but the issue persists. (I'm running LM 19.2, and bluetooth still turns on by default, every boot).

Sorry if these are naive questions, but I'm a relatively new developer, and haven't played with linux configuration much yet:

1. Is it possible for blueberry to handle this by adding a bluetooth-enabled key to the org.blueberry schema that's already handling obex and tray settings?
2. Would it be better to open this issue on a repository more directly responsible for LinuxMint configuration? If so, can you point me in the right direction?

Users just need the ability to block their bluetooth in such a way that the setting persists. This needn't infringe on current defaults/backwards compatability, and it would save users from adding rfkill commands to their startup scripts or permanently shutting down their bluetooth devices as suggested in some forum posts. :nerd_face: :wrench: :gear: Blueberry does such a nice job of exposing these settings - can we take it just a little bit farther, so that our preferences aren't wiped when we reboot?

Thanks for your time and feedback. If this is appropriate for Blueberry, I'd be happy to volunteer some time this winter toward getting it done. :octopus: CK

To reproduce:

1. boot linuxmint (e.g. 19.2)
2. click blueberry tray icon and disable bluetooth (soft block). rfkill will do the same thing from the cl.
3. reboot. bluetooth will be enabled again.

Desired result

• When bluetooth is disabled, bluetooth remains disabled on reboot.
• When bluetooth is enabled, it remains so on reboot.
• This persistent behavior should be easy to toggle from: the blueberry gui and the command line. (e.g. through gsettings)
• Keyboard buttons that toggle bluetooth on/off should affect the same persistent setting.

Why?

• bluetooth on-by-default is a security liability.
• bluetooth on-by-default kills battery if we forget to disable manually.
• Asking Mint users to hack their systems to prevent unexpected behavior (settings that do not persist) is more than most Mint users want to deal with.

[LinuxOnTheDesktop]

I too think that the GUI should expose a way of not having Bluetooth re-enable itself on boot.

Also, it is a shame that, seemingly, the reporter's offer to help was not taken up. I note also, with him, that this issue tracker has many open issues. Many of them are rather old and some appear to have been wholly neglected.