Smartcard works now. *More or less.*
If the workaround from:
https://communities.vmware.com/message/2871344
is applied, a new problem will come up.
The system will break down slowly, if no one is logged in with vmware-view.
- processes hangs
- no (security) updates are applied
Reproduce:
==========
ssh into the system, make sure no one is logged in with vmware-view.
Then start:
/usr/bin/certwatch
cerwatch will hang forever. cerwatch is part of "crypto-utils" and is used by the cron
job is in "/etc/cron.daily/certwatch". The same will happen for yum updates,
because yum in RHEL uses libpcsclite.
Reason
======
The reason is the vmware pcscd, which will block any call, until a user "logs
in".
pcscd writes in this case:
00000011 bora/apps/rde/scrediragent/pcscd/pcscdaemon.c:100:SVCServiceRunLoop() A new context thread creation is requested: 6
00001192 bora/apps/rde/scrediragent/pcscd/winscard_svc.c:405:ContextThread() Thread is started: dwClientID=6, threadContext @558826152590
00000064 bora/apps/rde/scrediragent/pcscd/winscard_svc.c:420:ContextThread() Received command: CMD_VERSION from client 6
00000014 bora/apps/rde/scrediragent/pcscd/winscard_svc.c:431:ContextThread() Client is protocol version 4:2
00000008 bora/apps/rde/scrediragent/pcscd/winscard_svc.c:440:ContextThread() CMD_VERSION rv=0x0 for client 6
00000151 bora/apps/rde/scrediragent/pcscd/winscard_svc.c:420:ContextThread() Received command: ESTABLISH_CONTEXT from client 6
00000034 bora/apps/rde/scrediragent/pcscd/pcscd-ipc.c:290:IPCRequest() ipc socket is 0, wait for connection from plugin
This will only happen, of course, if no user is logged in with vmware-view,
and only the system process are working.
Workaround
==========
You can apply an obvious fix in libpcsclite.so.1.0.0.
The real solution is a fix in the vmware pcscd binary:
- it should not block
