"Write a single library to handle all input devices, it'll be easy" they said... on HackerTube: recommended by 1 Hacker News commenter across 1 month, 2020–2024.
talk · intermediate · evergreen
Peter Hutterer's linux.conf.au 2020 talk on creating libinput, the unified userspace input library, and the difficulties of handling the many quirks of input devices.
Cited for insight into the hard realities of Linux input handling and libinput's thinly staffed maintenance.
“One of the folks behind both Wayland and X gave a fantastic talk on the issues and the hell.”
4 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.
There are some advantages and disadvantages of the approach. However, there's just stuff that X assumes that isn't true anymore. A good example is how it handles input. How many cursors does a screen have? One machine? okay, One input device? One of the folks behind both Wayland and X gave a fantastic talk on the issues and the hell. ▶ this video
in “Window Maker: X11 window manager with the look and feel of the NeXTSTEP UI” · View on HN
That "dev" you're criticizing here has been developing libinput solo since the beginning. He asked for help numerous times and never received any. So either step up and do the work, or stop complaining. ▶ this video libinput is yet another of those fundamental libraries that receive almost no developer attention, but get all the blame when something goes wrong: [link]
in “Linux Touchpad Like MacBook Update: Touchpad Gestures Now Shipping” · View on HN
Yeah it takes a LOT of work to hide it [1] Also: For some stuff I want to be able to use the "arcane" parameters for some really obscure task where it is just the right flag or something. [1] ▶ this video
in ““This project will only take 2 hours”” · View on HN
The whole usermode side of input handling depends on a project (libinput) that's been developed by a single guy over the last decade. He asked for help numerous times, reminding everyone that libinput has a bus factor of one, and received none. So either go ahead and help, or stop complaining. ▶ this video
in “Linux 5.10” · View on HN