Configuration options

Below is a list of configurable options exposed to the users.

Hint

Not all configuration options are available on all devices. Use libinput list-devices to show the configuration options for local devices.

libinput’s configuration interface is available to the caller only, not directly to the user. Thus is is the responsibility of the caller to expose the various options and how these options are exposed. For example, the xf86-input-libinput driver exposes the options through X Input device properties and xorg.conf.d options. See the libinput(4) man page for more details.

Tap-to-click

See Tap-to-click behaviour for details on how this feature works. Configuration options exposed by libinput are:

how many tapping fingers are supported by this device
a toggle to enable/disable tapping
a toggle to enable/disable tap-and-drag, see Tap-and-drag.
a toggle to enable/disable tap-and-drag drag lock see Tap-and-drag
The default order is 1, 2, 3 finger tap mapping to left, right, middle click, respectively. This order can be changed to left, middle, right click, respectively.

Tapping is usually available on touchpads and the touchpad part of external graphics tablets. Tapping is usually not available on touch screens, for those devices it is expected to be implemented by the toolkit.

Send Events Mode

The Send Events Mode is libinput’s terminology for disabling a device. It is more precise in that the device only stops sending events but may not get fully disabled. For example, disabling the touchpad on a Lenovo T440 and similar leaves the top software buttons enabled for the trackpoint. Available options are enabled (send events normally), disabled ( do not send events), disabled on external mouse (disable the device while an external mouse is plugged in).

Pointer acceleration

Pointer acceleration is a function to convert input deltas to output deltas, usually based on the movement speed of the device, see Pointer acceleration for details.

Pointer acceleration is normalized into a [-1, 1] range, where -1 is “slowest” and 1 is “fastest”. Most devices use a default speed of 0.

The pointer acceleration profile defines how the input deltas are converted, see Pointer acceleration profiles. Most devices have their default profile (usually called “adaptive”) and a “flat” profile. The flat profile does not apply any acceleration.

Scrolling

“Natural scrolling” is the terminology for moving the content in the direction of scrolling, i.e. moving the wheel or fingers down moves the page down. Traditional scrolling moves the content in the opposite direction. Natural scrolling can be turned on or off, it is usually off by default.

The scroll method defines how to trigger scroll events. On touchpads libinput provides two-finger scrolling and edge scrolling. Two-finger scrolling converts a movement with two fingers to a series of scroll events. Edge scrolling converts a movement with one finger along the right or bottom edge of the touchpad into a series of scroll events.

On other libinput provides button-scrolling - movement of the device while the designated scroll button is down is converted to scroll events. The button used for scrolling is configurable.

The scroll method can be chosen or disabled altogether but most devices only support a subset of available scroll methods. libinput’s default is two-finger scrolling for multi-touch touchpads, edge scrolling for single-touch touchpads. On tracksticks, button scrolling is enabled by default.

See Scrolling for more details on how the scroll methods work.

Left-handed Mode

Left-handed mode switches the device’s functionality to be more accommodating for left-handed users. On mice this usually means swapping the left and right mouse button, on tablets this allows the tablet to be used upside-down to present the pad buttons for the non-dominant right hand. Not all devices have left-handed mode.

Left-handed mode can be enabled or disabled and is disabled by default.

Middle Button Emulation

Middle button emulation converts a simultaneous left and right button click into a middle button. The emulation can be enabled or disabled. Middle button emulation is usually enabled when the device does not provide a middle button.

Click method

The click method defines how button events are triggered on a clickpad. When set to button areas, the bottom area of the touchpad is divided into a left, middle and right button area. When set to clickfinger, the number of fingers on the touchpad decide the button type. Clicking with 1, 2, 3 fingers triggers a left, right, or middle click, respectively. The default click method is software button areas. Click methods are usually only available on clickpads.

Disable while typing

DWT is the most generic form of palm detection on touchpad. While the user is typing on an internal keyboard the touchpad is disabled, the touchpad is enabled again after a timeout. See Disable-while-typing for more info.

Disable-while-typing can be enabled or disabled, it is enabled by default on most touchpads.

Calibration

Calibration is available for some direct-input devices (touch screens, graphics tablets, etc.). The purpose of calibration is to ensure the input lines up with the output and the configuration data is a transformation matrix. It is thus not expected that the user sets this option. The desktop environment should provide an interface for this.

Rotation

The device rotation applies a corrective angle to relative input events. This is currently only available on trackpoints which may be used sideways or upside-down. The angle can be freely chosen but not all devices support rotation other than 0, 90, 180, or 270 degrees. Rotation is off (0 degrees) by default.