GPM.CONF(5)

💖 GPM.CONF(5) 💖

okay bestie, quick vibe check: this is gpm.conf, the startup configuration file for the gpm daemon, and it lives in the File Formats Manual section. yes it's a file format page, yes it's iconic, let's go 🦋

✨ NAME ✨

gpm.conf — the startup configuration file for gpm 💅

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so like. gpm.conf is where you write down the options that get handed to the gpm daemon when it starts up. and here's the tea 🍓: it is parsed by the init script, not by gpm itself. so don't come for gpm about it, she's not even the one reading this file.

the format is variable assignments in Bourne shell syntax:

variable=value

with no extra spaces, bestie, i'm so serious. and if you wanna embed spaces or other shell metacharacters in your values? use quotes, exactly like you would in shell scripting. blank lines and lines that start with a hash (#) are just ignored, they're not the main character 🎀

every setting here works by setting flags on the gpm command line — those flags are all documented over in gpm(8), go read her too, she ate. the variable names you get are:

• device — the device file for your primary mouse. sets -m. 🐭
• type — the protocol for your primary mouse. sets -t.
• device2, type2 — literally the same as device and type but for your secondary mouse. these set -m and -t after passing -M. and heads up: if either one of these is defined, both must be. no picking favorites.
• responsiveness — the responsiveness for your primary mouse. sets -r.
• sample_rate — the sample rate for your primary mouse. sets -s.
• repeat_type — turns on the gpm repeater and sets the repeater protocol, using the -R flag. a repeat type of none, or an empty value, will disable the repeater. bye repeater 👋
• append — anything you put here gets appended to the gpm command line. and if you're using multiple options, you'll need to wrap the value in quotes (""). no cap.

🎀 EXAMPLES 🎀

here's a simple gpm.conf for a PS/2 mouse whose protocol should be autodetected, and which should be repeated in /dev/gpmdata as a serial Microsoft Intellimouse. she's lowkey perfect:

# Sample gpm.conf

device=/dev/psaux
type=autops2
repeat_type=ms3

this will cause the daemon to be started as:

gpm -m /dev/psaux -t autops2 -Rms3

ate and left no crumbs 🔥

🦋 FILES 🦋

• /etc/gpm.conf

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• gpm(8)
• dpkg-reconfigure(8)

and ooh, little bonus lore: dpkg-reconfigure gpm can be used to generate and update the gpm.conf file automatically. so if you're feeling lazy (real), that's your girl 💜

okay that's the whole page, you're basically a gpm.conf expert now, mwah 🫶 this was Debian 3.0, dated January 5, 2005 — yeah she's vintage, she's a classic, periodt 👑