Gerd Hoffmann [off-list ref] writes:

Why not?  With RC5 remotes applications can get the device address
bits for example, which right now are simply get lost in the ir code
-> 
keycode conversion step.

Right, this in fact makes the input layer interface unusable for many
remotes at this time.
I think the address (aka group) should be just a part of the key
("command") code, IIRC this is what lirc RC5 does (I'm presently using
a custom "media" version of RC5).

I know that lircd does matching instead of decoding, which allows to
handle unknown encodings.  Thats why I think there will always be
cases which only lircd will be able to handle (using raw samples).

That doesn't make attempts to actually decode the IR samples a useless
exercise though ;)

Sure. Especially RC5-like protos are simple to decode, and it's very
reliable, even with a very unstable remote clock source (such as
RC-based = resistor + capacitor).
-- 
Krzysztof Halasa