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https://github.com/bulletmark/libinput-gestures

Actions gestures on your touchpad using libinput
https://github.com/bulletmark/libinput-gestures

gestures libinput touchpad

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Actions gestures on your touchpad using libinput

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README 

        
### LIBINPUT-GESTURES

[![AUR](https://img.shields.io/aur/version/libinput-gestures)](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/libinput-gestures/)



[Libinput-gestures][REPO] is a utility which reads [libinput

gestures](https://wayland.freedesktop.org/libinput/doc/latest/gestures.html)

from your touchpad and maps them to gestures you configure in a

configuration file. Each gesture can be configured to activate a shell

command which is typically an [_xdotool_][XDOTOOL] command to action

desktop/window/application keyboard combinations and commands. See the

examples in the provided `libinput-gestures.conf` file. My motivation

for creating this is to use triple swipe up/down to switch workspaces,

and triple swipe right/left to go backwards/forwards in my browser, as

per the default configuration.



Note that [libinput does not interpret gestures for

touchscreens](https://wayland.freedesktop.org/libinput/doc/latest/gestures.html#touchscreen-gestures)

so this utility can only be used for a touchpad, not a touchscreen.



This small and simple utility is only intended to be used temporarily

until GNOME and other DE's action libinput gestures natively. It parses

the output of the _libinput list-devices_ and _libinput debug-events_

utilities so is a little fragile to any version changes in their output

format.



This utility is developed and tested on Arch linux using the GNOME 3 DE

on Xorg and Wayland. It works somewhat incompletely on Wayland (via

XWayland). See the WAYLAND section below and the comments in the default

`libinput-gestures.conf` file. It has been [reported to work with

KDE](http://www.lorenzobettini.it/2017/02/touchpad-gestures-in-linux-kde-with-libinput-gestures/).

I am not sure how well this will work on all Linux systems and DE's etc.



The latest version and documentation is available at

https://github.com/bulletmark/libinput-gestures.



### INSTALLATION



You need _python_ 3.7 or later, _python2_ is not supported. You also need

_libinput_ release 1.0 or later.



You **must be a member of the _input_ group** to have permission

to read the touchpad device:



    sudo gpasswd -a $USER input



After executing the above command, reboot your system.



Most/many users will require to install the following although neither are

actual dependencies because some custom configurations will not require

them. If you are unsure initially, install both of them.



|Prerequisite|Required for |

|------------|-------------|

|`wmctrl`    |Necessary for `_internal` command, as per default configuration|

|`xdotool`   |Simulates keyboard and mouse actions for Xorg or XWayland based apps|



    # E.g. On Arch:

    sudo pacman -S wmctrl xdotool



    # E.g. On Debian based systems, e.g. Ubuntu:

    sudo apt-get install wmctrl xdotool



    # E.g. On Fedora:

    sudo dnf install wmctrl xdotool



NOTE: Arch users can now just install [_libinput-gestures from the

AUR_][AUR]. Then skip to the next CONFIGURATION section.



Debian and Ubuntu users may also need to install `libinput-tools` if

that package exists in your release:



    sudo apt-get install libinput-tools



Install this software:



    git clone https://github.com/bulletmark/libinput-gestures.git

    cd libinput-gestures

    sudo ./libinput-gestures-setup install



### CONFIGURATION



It is helpful to start by reading the documentation about [what libinput

calls gestures](https://wayland.freedesktop.org/libinput/doc/latest/gestures.html).

Many users will be happy with the default configuration in which case

you can just type the following and you are ready to go:



    libinput-gestures-setup autostart start



Otherwise, if you want to create your own custom gestures etc, keep

reading ..



The default gestures are in `/etc/libinput-gestures.conf`. If you want

to create your own custom gestures then copy that file to

`~/.config/libinput-gestures.conf` and edit it. There are many examples

and options described in that file. The available gestures are:



|Gesture               |Example Mapping |

|-------               |--------------- |

|`swipe up`            |GNOME/KDE/etc move to next workspace |

|`swipe down`          |GNOME/KDE/etc move to prev workspace |

|`swipe left`          |Web browser go forward |

|`swipe right`         |Web browser go back |

|`swipe left_up`       |Jump to next open web browser tab |

|`swipe left_down`     |Jump to previous open web browser tab |

|`swipe right_up`      |Close current web browser tab |

|`swipe right_down`    |Reopen and jump to last closed web browser tab |

|`pinch in`            |GNOME open/close overview |

|`pinch out`           |GNOME open/close overview |

|`pinch clockwise`     ||

|`pinch anticlockwise` ||

|`hold on`             |Open new web browser tab. See description of [hold gestures](#hold-gestures). |

|`hold on+N` (for `N` seconds, e.g. 1.5) |After extra hold time delay, close browser tab. See description of [hold gestures](#hold-gestures). |



NOTE: If you don't use "natural" scrolling direction for your touchpad

then you may want to swap the default left/right and up/down

configurations.



You can choose to specify a specific finger count, typically [3 or more

fingers for swipe](https://wayland.freedesktop.org/libinput/doc/latest/gestures.html#swipe-gestures),

and [2 or more for pinch](https://wayland.freedesktop.org/libinput/doc/latest/gestures.html#pinch-gestures).

If a finger count is specified then the command is executed when exactly that

number of fingers is used in the gesture. If not specified then the

command is executed when that gesture is invoked with any number of

fingers. Gestures specified with finger count have priority over the

same gesture specified without any finger count.



Of course, 2 finger swipes and taps are already interpreted by your DE

and apps [for scrolling](https://wayland.freedesktop.org/libinput/doc/latest/scrolling.html#two-finger-scrolling) etc.



IMPORTANT: Test the program. Check for reported errors in your custom

gestures, missing packages, etc:



    # Ensure the program is stopped

    libinput-gestures-setup stop



    # Test to print out commands that would be executed:

    libinput-gestures -d

    ( to stop)



Confirm that the correct commands are reported for your 3 finger

swipe up/down/left/right gestures, and your 2 or 3 finger pinch

in/out gestures. Some touchpads can also support 4 finger gestures.

If you have problems then follow the TROUBLESHOOTING steps below.



Apart from simple environment variable and `~` substitutions within the

configured command name, `libinput-gestures` does not run the configured

command under a shell so shell argument substitutions and expansions etc

will not be parsed. This is for efficiency and because most don't need

it. This also means your `PATH` is not respected of course so you must

specify the full path to any command. If you need something more

complicated, you can add your commands in an executable personal script,

e.g. `~/bin/libinput-gestures.sh` with a `#!/bin/sh` shebang. Optionally

that script can take arguments. Run that script by hand until you get it

working then configure the script path as your command in your

`libinput-gestures.conf`.



In most cases, `libinput-gestures` automatically determines your

touchpad device. However, you can specify it in your configuration file

if needed. If you have multiple touchpads you can also specify

`libinput-gestures` to use all devices. See the notes in the default

`libinput-gestures.conf` file about the `device` configuration command.



### STARTING AND STOPPING



To [re-]start the app immediately and also to enable it to start

automatically at login, just type the following:



    libinput-gestures-setup stop desktop autostart start



The following commands are available:



Enable the app to start automatically in the background when you

log in with:



    libinput-gestures-setup autostart



Disable the app from starting automatically with:



    libinput-gestures-setup autostop



Start the app immediately in the background:



    libinput-gestures-setup start



Stop the background app immediately with:



    libinput-gestures-setup stop



Restart the app, e.g. to reload the configuration file, with:



    libinput-gestures-setup restart



Check the status of the app with:



    libinput-gestures-setup status



You can specify multiple user commands to `libinput-gestures-setup` to

action in sequence.



Note that on some uncommon systems then `libinput-gestures-setup start`

may fail to start the application returning you a message _Don't know

how to invoke libinput-gestures.desktop_. If you get this error message,

install the dex package, preferably from your system packages

repository, and try again.



### SYSTEMD USER SERVICE



By default, `libinput-gestures` is started with your DE as a desktop

application. There is also an option to start as a [systemd user

service](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Systemd/User). However, on

some systems this can be unreliable (on system restart, the application

will get started but occasionally will be unable to receive commands).

If you want to try it, type:



    libinput-gestures-setup stop service autostart start



You can switch back to the desktop option with the command:



    libinput-gestures-setup stop desktop autostart start



### UPGRADE



    # cd to source dir, as above

    git pull

    sudo ./libinput-gestures-setup install

    libinput-gestures-setup restart



### REMOVAL



    libinput-gestures-setup stop autostop

    sudo libinput-gestures-setup uninstall



### WAYLAND AND OTHER NOTES



This utility exploits `xdotool` for many use cases which unfortunately

only works with X11/Xorg based applications. So `xdotool` shortcuts for

the desktop do not work under GNOME on Wayland which is the default

since GNOME 3.22. However, it is found that `wmctrl` desktop selection

commands do work under GNOME on Wayland (via XWayland) so this utility

adds a built-in `_internal` command which can be used to switch

workspaces using the swipe commands. The `_internal` `ws_up` and

`ws_down` commands use `wmctrl` to work out the current workspace and

select the next one. Since this works on both Wayland and Xorg, and with

GNOME, KDE, and other EWMH compliant desktops, it is the default

configuration command for swipe up and down commands in

`libinput-gestures.conf`. See the comments in that file about other

options you can do with the `_internal` command. Unfortunately

`_internal` does not work with Compiz for Ubuntu Unity desktop so also

see the explicit example there for Unity.



Of course, `xdotool` commands do work via XWayland for Xorg based apps

so, for example, page forward/back swipe gestures do work for Firefox

and Chrome browsers when running on Wayland as per the default

configuration.



Note if you run `libinput-gestures` on GNOME with Wayland, be sure to

change or disable the your `libinput-gestures.conf` configured gestures

to not clash with the native gestures.



GNOME 40.0 and later on Wayland natively implements the following

gestures:



- 3 finger swipe up/down opens the GNOME overview.

- 3 finger swipe left/right changes workspaces



GNOME 40.0 does not use 4 finger gestures so you can freely assign them

using `libinput-gestures`.



GNOME 3.38 on Wayland and earlier natively implements the following

gestures:



- 3 finger pinch opens/close the GNOME overview.

- 4 finger swipe up/down changes workspaces



GNOME on Xorg does not natively implement any gestures.



### EXTENDED GESTURES



They are not enabled in the default `libinput-gestures.conf`

configuration file but you can enable extended gestures which augment

the gestures listed above in CONFIGURATION. See the commented out

examples in `libinput-gestures.conf`.



- `swipe right_up` (e.g. jump to next open browser tab)

- `swipe left_up` (e.g. jump to previous open browser tab)

- `swipe left_down` (e.g. close current browser tab)

- `swipe right_down` (e.g. reopen and jump to last closed browser tab)

- `pinch clockwise`

- `pinch anticlockwise`



So instead of just configuring the usual swipe up/down and left/right

each at 90 degrees separation, you can add the above extra 4 swipes to

give a total of 8 swipe gestures each at 45 degrees separation. It works

better than you may expect, at least after some practice. It means you

can completely manage browser tabs from your touchpad.



### HOLD GESTURES



Libinput version 1.19.0 added [HOLD

gestures](https://wayland.freedesktop.org/libinput/doc/latest/gestures.html#hold-gestures)

to augment the standard SWIPE and PINCH gestures. They are actioned with

1 or more fingers after holding them for a small time period and are

simply set ON as a trigger.

`libinput-gestures` interprets them to commands you can

configure in your `libinput-gestures.conf`, e.g:



    gesture hold on 4 xdotool key control+t



The above gesture will open a new tab in your browser if you rest 4

fingers statically on the touchpad. If you don't specify a finger count

then the command is executed when any number of fingers are used for the

hold.



Optionally, you can configure a time delay on hold gestures to map

longer hold times to different commands. Any extra hold time can be

specified, as an integer or float value in decimal seconds. E.g. `on+1`

is a hold + 1 extra second, `on+3.5` is a hold + 3.5 extra seconds, etc.

These can be configured in addition to `on` (which is effectively the

same as `on+0`), and also with different (or no specific) finger counts,

e.g:



    gesture hold on 4 xdotool key control+t

    gesture hold on+2.2 4 xdotool key control+w



The above will configure a second 4 finger hold gesture which, after 2.2

extra seconds to a normal hold, will close the current tab in your

browser. You can configure as many hold gestures, with different times

and finger counts (or no specific finger count), as you like but it will

quickly get unworkable if you add too many, or with close delays.



To get an idea of suitable hold times to configure, comment out all hold

gestures in your configuration file `libinput-gestures.conf` and run

with debug output. I.e. run `libinput-gestures -d` in a terminal window

(you may have to temporarily disable `libinput-gestures` first by

running `libinput-gestures-setup stop`). Then experiment with different

holds which will print the times to the screen so you can choose what to

configure for your hold gestures. Run `libinput-gestures-setup restart`

to restart `libinput-gestures` after updating your configuration.



### AUTOMATIC STOP/RESTART ON D-BUS EVENTS SUCH AS SUSPEND



There are some situations where you may want to automatically stop,

start, or restart `libinput-gestures`. E.g. some touchpads have a

problem which causes `libinput-gestures` (actually the underlying

`libinput debug-events`) to hang after resuming from a system suspend so

those users want to stop `libinput-gestures` when a system goes into

suspend and then start it again with resuming. You can use a companion

program [`dbus-action`][DBUS] to

do this. See the example configuration for `libinput-gestures` in the

default [`dbus-action`][DBUS] [configuration

file](https://github.com/bulletmark/dbus-action/blob/master/dbus-action.conf).



The [`dbus-action`][DBUS] utility can also be used any similar

situation, e.g. when you remove/insert a detachable touchpad. It can be

used to stop, start, or restart `libinput-gestures` on any D-Bus event.



### TROUBLESHOOTING



Please don't raise a github issue but provide little information about

your problem, and please don't raise an issue until you have considered

all the following steps. **If you raise an issue ALWAYS include the

output of `libinput-gestures -l` to show the environment and

configuration you are using, regardless of what the issue is about**.



1. Ensure you are running the latest version from the

   [libinput-gestures github repository][REPO] or from the [Arch AUR][AUR].



2. Ensure you have followed the installation instructions here

   carefully. The most common mistake is that you have not added your

   user to the _input_ group and rebooted your system as described

   above.



3. Perhaps temporarily remove your custom configuration to try with the

   default configuration.



4. Run `libinput-gestures-setup status` and confirm it reports the set

   up that you expect.



5. Run `libinput-gestures` on the command line in debug mode while

   performing some 3 and 4 finger left/right/up/down swipes, and some

   pinch in/outs. In debug mode, configured commands are not executed,

   they are merely output to the screen:

   ````

	libinput-gestures-setup stop

	libinput-gestures -d

	( to stop)

   ````



6. Run `libinput-gestures` in raw mode by repeating the same commands as

   above step but use the `-r` (`--raw`) switch instead of `-d`

   (`--debug`). Raw mode does nothing more than echo the raw gesture

   events received from `libinput debug-events`. You should see the

   following types of events when you move your fingers:



   - 1 and 2 finger movements should output `POINTER_*` type events

   - 3 (and above) finger movements should output `GESTURE_*` type events.



   If you do not see any `GESTURE_*` events then unfortunately your

   touchpad and/or libinput does not report multi-finger gestures so

   `libinput-gestures` can not work. The discrimination of

   gestures is done completely within libinput, before they get passed

   to `libinput-gestures`.



7. Search the web for Linux kernel and/or libinput issues relating to

   your specific touchpad device and/or laptop/pc. Update your BIOS if

   possible.



8. Be sure that a configured external command works exactly how you want

   when you run it directly on the command line, **before** you configure

   it for `libinput-gestures`. E.g. run `xdotool` manually and

   experiment with various arguments to work out exactly what arguments

   it requires to do what you want, and only then add that command +

   arguments to your custom configuration in

   `~/.config/libinput-gestures.conf`. Clearly, if the your manual

   `xdotool` command does not work correctly then there is no point

   raising an `libinput-gestures` issue about it!



9. **If you raise an issue, always include the output of

   `libinput-gestures -l` to show the environment and configuration you

   are using**. If appropriate, also paste the output from steps 4 and 5

   above. If your device is not being recognised by `libinput-gestures`

   at all, paste the complete output of `libinput list-devices`

   (`libinput-list-devices` on libinput < v1.8).



### LICENSE



Copyright (C) 2015 Mark Blakeney. This program is distributed under the

terms of the GNU General Public License.

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it

under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the

Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or any later

version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but

WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of

MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General

Public License at  for more details.



[REPO]: https://github.com/bulletmark/libinput-gestures/

[DBUS]: https://github.com/bulletmark/dbus-action/

[AUR]: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/libinput-gestures/

[XDOTOOL]: https://www.semicomplete.com/projects/xdotool/