By way of experiment, I've just enabled the PKCS#11 v2.20 implementation in the eID packages for Linux, but for now only in the packages in the "continuous" repository. In the past, enabling this has caused issues; there have been a few cases where Firefox would deadlock when PKCS#11 v2.20 was enabled, rather than the (very old and outdated) v2.11 version that we support by default. We believe we have identified and fixed all outstanding issues that caused such deadlocks, but it's difficult to be sure. So, if you have a Belgian electronic ID card and are willing to help me out and experiment a bit, here's something I'd like you to do:

• Install the eID software (link above) as per normal.

• Enable the "continuous" repository and upgrade to the packages in that repository:

  • For Debian, Ubuntu, or Linux Mint: edit /etc/apt/sources.list.d/eid.list, and follow the instructions there to enable the "continuous" repository. Don't forget the dpkg-reconfigure eid-archive step. Then, run apt update; apt -t continuous upgrade.
  • For Fedora and CentOS: run yum --enablerepo=beid-continuous install eid-mw
  • For OpenSUSE: run zypper mr -e beid-continuous; zypper up

The installed version of the eid-mw-libs or libbeidpkcs11-0 package should be v4.4.3-42-gf78d786e or higher.

One of the new features in version 2.20 of the PKCS#11 API is that it supports hotplugging of card readers; in version 2.11 of that API, this is not the case, since it predates USB (like I said, it is outdated). So, try experimenting with hotplugging your card reader a bit; it should generally work. Try leaving it installed and using your system (and webbrowser) for a while with that version of the middleware; you shouldn't have any issues doing so, but if you do I'd like to know about it.

Bug reports are welcome as issues on our github repository.

Thanks!