On Thu, Dec 25, 2025 at 1:41 AM hlyg <[email protected]> wrote: > i want to transfer files between bookworm and android 10 via bluetooth > > i have tested bluetooth with blueman of bookworm, it works, it can > connect to hot spot of cell phone via bluetooth > > but how to transfer files? i see menu item "send file" in blueman, how > to use it? > Preparation
Install <https://wiki.debian.org/PackageManagement#Installing.2C_removing.2C_upgrading_software> Bluetooth support (package bluetooth <https://packages.debian.org/bluetooth>) : Read /usr/share/doc/bluez/README.Debian.gz to get some understanding of what's going on. Make sure the Bluetooth daemon is running. If it's not running, start it. # service bluetooth statusbluetooth is running # service bluetooth start Firmware If your hardware supports Bluetooth but Debian is unable to find any Bluetooth devices, you may need to install extra Firmware <https://wiki.debian.org/Firmware> packages. Add a non-free-firmware for Debian 12 bookworm and newer or a non-free component for older releases to your apt sources <https://wiki.debian.org/SourcesList> and install - bluez-firmware <https://packages.debian.org/bluez-firmware> package for dongles based on the Broadcom BCM203x and Raspberry Pi chipset, - firmware-iwlwifi <https://packages.debian.org/firmware-iwlwifi> for Intel wireless cards. Pairing For security reasons, Bluetooth devices will only talk to each other if they have been "introduced" first (a bit like in real life :-)). This is referred to as Pairing <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth#Pairing>. Note that pairing is usually only required the first time two devices interact. Afterwards, they will remember each other, and no exchange of PINs is necessary. This will however depend on the devices involved (on some devices this may be configurable). To pair devices, you need a *passkey-agent*. Options are: Pairing using a GUI tool Install <https://wiki.debian.org/PackageManagement#Installing.2C_removing.2C_upgrading_software> one of the following packages: - gnome-bluetooth <https://packages.debian.org/gnome-bluetooth> (for GNOME) - bluedevil <https://wiki.debian.org/bluedevil> (for KDE) - or blueman <https://packages.debian.org/blueman> (Gtk2) Log out of your desktop session and log back in - this is required for the pairing pop-up in the next step to appear correctly. On your Bluetooth device you can now try to pair. On the device you need to choose something like the "setup", "connect" or "Bluetooth" menu and then search for Bluetooth devices. You should find your Debian system, called something like debian-0, where debian is the hostname of your Debian system. On your device, select the Debian system. The device will then ask for a PIN, you can make one up, (choose four digits, say *2309* ). On your computer you will get a pop-up information balloon asking for the PIN, something like Pairing request from Phone (xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx) where Phone is the name of your phone and xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx is its MAC address. Click on the information balloon. Another window will pop-up. It asks for the PIN, enter the one you just made up. (e.g. 2309 ) and press [Enter]. Your phone sees that the PIN matches and shows it on its display. Both devices are now paired. Pairing using CLI If you do not want to or cannot use Gnome or KDE, you can also use *bluetooth-agent* or *bluetoothctl* for the pairing. Using bluetooth-agent Bluetooth-agent is a part of package bluez <https://packages.debian.org/bluez>, so it should already be available if Bluetooth has been configured on your system. Just start bluetooth-agent (as root), giving an arbitrary PIN, such as 4835: # bluetooth-agent 4835 Then, as described above, choose something like the "setup", "connect" or "Bluetooth" menu on the device to be paired, and search for Bluetooth devices. Select your computer once found; the device should prompt you for a PIN. Now enter the PIN you gave to bluetooth-agent, and pairing is completed. *Note:* Instead of initiating the pairing process from the phone, you can also initiate it from the computer. Start *bluetooth-agent* as explained above, then run a command that will try to connect to the phone, e.g. rfcomm connect hci0 <phone address> where <phone address> is your phone's bluetooth address, as shown by *hcitool scan* (note that this will only work if the *phone* is discoverable, though the computer need not be). This will force a connection from computer to phone, which should cause the phone to ask you to confirm the connection attempt by prompting for a PIN. Enter the pin you used with bluetooth-agent. Using bluetoothctl If bluetooth-agent is not available, try bluetoothctl: Start the bluetoothctl interactive command. Enter "help" to get a list of available commands. - Turn the power to the controller on by entering "power on". It is off by default. - Enter "devices" to get the MAC Address of the device with which to pair. - Enter device discovery mode with "scan on" command if device is not yet on the list. - Turn the agent on with "agent on". - Enter "pair *MAC Address*" to do the pairing (tab completion works). - If using a device without a PIN, one may need to manually trust the device before it can reconnect successfully. Enter "trust *MAC Address*" to do so. - Finally, use "connect *MAC address*" to establish a connection. Troubleshooting General pairing issues In order for the pairing to work as described above, your computer's bluetooth interfaces must be discoverable. A bluetooth dongle may start off in hidden mode (bug report here <http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=384379>) To fix this you can run: # dbus-send --system --dest=org.bluez /org/bluez/hci0 org.bluez.Adapter.SetMode string:discoverable Or using *hciconfig*: # hciconfig hci0 piscan Then *hciconfig* should show the flags *ISCAN PSCAN*, indicating bluetooth is discoverable (i.e. can be scanned). After you finished pairing, it's best to make your computer hidden again: # dbus-send --system --dest=org.bluez /org/bluez/hci0 org.bluez.Adapter.SetMode string:off Or using *hciconfig*: # hciconfig hci0 noscan -- With kindest regards, William. *Larry Wall invented a messy programming language -- and changed the face of the Web*
