libinput-debug-events(1)

✨ NAME ✨

okay so bestie, welcome to libinput-debug-events(1) — the debug helper for libinput, brought to you by the libinput Manual 🫶

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

libinput debug-events [options]

libinput debug-events [options] --udev <seat>

libinput debug-events [options] [--device] /dev/input/event0
[/dev/input/event1...]

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

So what does this actually do? libinput debug-events spins up a libinput context and prints all the events coming from your devices. literally all of them. it's giving main character energy for your input devices ✨

real talk though: this is a debugging tool only, and its output may change at any time. Do not rely on the output. it's not a stable API, it's a vibe check on your hardware 😭

also, heads up: this tool usually needs to be run as root so it can actually get access to the /dev/input/eventX nodes. no root, no peek at the nodes, sorry bestie 💀

🔥 OPTIONS 🔥

• --compress-motion-events — squishes those repeated motion, axis, scroll, and gesture update events down into a single line. iconic for readability, but heads up: this only kicks in if stdout is a TTY.
• --device /dev/input/event0 — use the given device(s) with the path backend. and yes, the --device argument may be omitted (slay, flexible).
• --grab — exclusively grabs every opened device. this one's serious: it will prevent events from being delivered to the host system. like, the host just doesn't get them anymore. 🫣
• --help — prints help. that's it, that's the whole vibe 💖
• --quiet — only print libinput messages, don't print anything from this tool. super useful in combination with --verbose for internal state debugging. iykyk 🔍
• --show-keycodes — okay so key events shown by this tool are partially obfuscated to keep passwords and other sensitive info from showing up in the output. use --show-keycodes to make all the keycodes visible. only do this if you're okay with what's getting printed, mwah 💋
• --udev <seat> — use the udev backend to listen for device notifications on the given seat. the default behavior is equivalent to --udev "seat0". default seat, no notes 📝
• --verbose — use verbose output. more words, more details, more everything ✨

🌸 libinput configuration options 🌸

• --apply-to="pattern" — configuration options are only applied where the device name matches the pattern. important li'l caveat: this pattern has no effect on the --disable-sendevents option. none. zero. 🚫
• --disable-sendevents="pattern" — set the send-events option to disabled for the devices matching patterns. and btw, this option is not affected by the --apply-to="pattern" option. they're doing their own thing 💅
• --enable-drag|--disable-drag — enable or disable tap-and-drag.
• --enable-drag-lock|--disable-drag-lock — enable (in timeout mode) or disable drag-lock.
• --enable-drag-lock=[sticky|timeout] — enable drag-lock in sticky or timeout mode. pick your flavor 🍓
• --enable-dwt|--disable-dwt — enable or disable disable-while-typing.
• --enable-dwtp|--disable-dwtp — enable or disable disable-while-trackpointing.
• --enable-left-handed|--disable-left-handed — enable or disable left handed button configuration.
• --enable-middlebutton|--disable-middlebutton — enable or disable middle button emulation.
• --enable-natural-scrolling|--disable-natural-scrolling — enable or disable natural scrolling.
• --enable-scroll-button-lock|--disable-scroll-button-lock — enable or disable the scroll button lock.
• --enable-tap|--disable-tap — enable or disable tap-to-click.
• --set-area="x1/y1 x2/y2" — set the tablet area to the rectangle described by the two points x1/y1 and x2/y2. all coordinates must be in the range [0.0, 1.0]. keep it in bounds bestie 📐
• --set-calibration="1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0" — set the first 6 elements of a 3x3 matrix to use for calibration. the third row of the matrix is always "0.0 0.0 0.1". always. no cap. 🧮
• --set-click-method=[none|clickfinger|buttonareas] — set the desired click method.
• --set-clickfinger-map=[lrm|lmr] — set button mapping for clickfinger.
• --set-custom-points="<value>;...;<value>" — sets the n points defining a custom acceleration function. the points are defined in a semicolon-separated list of floating point non-negative numbers. defaults to "0.0;1.0". this only applies to the custom profile 🔧
• --set-custom-step=<value> — sets the distance along the x-axis between each point, starting from 0. defaults to 1.0. this only applies to the custom profile.
• --set-custom-type=[fallback|motion|scroll] — sets the type of the custom acceleration function. defaults to fallback. this only applies to the custom profile.
• --set-eraser-button-button=[BTN_STYLUS|BTN_STYLUS2|BTN_STYLUS3] — sets the eraser button button to the given tablet tool button. only takes effect if combined with --set-eraser-button-mode=on-button-down. combo move, periodt 🎀
• --set-eraser-button-mode=[default|on-button-down] — sets the eraser button mode to the given mode.
• --set-pressure-range=<min>:<max> — set the tablet tool pressure range to min:max. min and max must be in range [0.0, 1.0]. 🌈
• --set-profile=[adaptive|flat|custom] — set pointer acceleration profile.
• --set-rotation-angle=<degrees> — set the rotation angle in degrees (0 to 360). spin it, king 🌪️
• --set-scroll-button=BTN_MIDDLE — set the button to the given button code.
• --set-scroll-method=[none|twofinger|edge|button|circular] — set the desired scroll method.
• --set-sendevents=[disabled|enabled|disabled-on-external-mouse] — set the given sendevents mode. btw this option overrides --disable-sendevents="pattern" for any devices it matches via the --apply-to="pattern" option. precedence, bestie 👑
• --set-speed=<value> — set pointer acceleration speed. the allowed range is [-1, 1]. this only applies to the flat or adaptive profile. 🏎️
• --set-tap-map=[lrm|lmr] — set button mapping for tapping.

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⭐ NOTES ⭐

ngl, this one's important: events shown by this tool may not correspond to the events seen by a different user of libinput. why? because this tool initializes a separate context. so don't go comparing its output to someone else's and thinking something's broken 🙈

🧚 LIBINPUT 🧚

part of the libinput(1) suite 💜

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and that's the whole page bestie!! 🎀 this was libinput 1.32.0's libinput-debug-events(1) from the libinput Manual — go debug those events, you absolute icon 💅✨🦋🌸