Device quirks
libinput requires extra information from devices that is not always readily
available. For example, some touchpads are known to have jumping cursors
under specific conditions. libinput ships a set of files containing the
so-called model quirks to provide that information. Model quirks are usually
installed under /usr/share/libinput/<filename>.quirks
and are standard
.ini
files. A file may contain multiple section headers ([some
identifier]
) followed by one or more MatchFoo=Bar
directives, followed by at least one of ModelFoo=1
or AttrFoo=bar
directive.
See the quirks/README.md
file in the libinput source repository for more
details on their contents.
Warning
Model quirks are internal API and may change at any time. No backwards-compatibility is guaranteed.
For example, a quirks file may have this content to label all keyboards on the serial bus (PS/2) as internal keyboards:
[Serial Keyboards]
MatchUdevType=keyboard
MatchBus=serial
AttrKeyboardIntegration=internal
The model quirks are part of the source distribution and should never be modified locally. Updates to libinput may overwrite modifications or even stop parsing any property. For temporary local workarounds, see Installing temporary local device quirks.
Device quirks are parsed on libinput initialization. A parsing error in the device quirks disables all device quirks and may negatively impact device behavior on the host. If the quirks cannot be loaded, an error message is posted to the log and users should use the information in Debugging device quirks to verify their quirks files.
Installing temporary local device quirks
The model quirks are part of the source distribution and should never be
modified. For temporary local workarounds, libinput reads the
/etc/libinput/local-overrides.quirks
file. Users may add a sections to
this file to add a device quirk for a local device but beware that any
modification must be upstreamed or it may cease to work at any time.
Warning
Model quirks are internal API and may change at any time. No backwards-compatibility is guaranteed. Local overrides should only be used until the distribution updates the libinput packages.
The local-overrides.quirks
file usually needs to be created by the user.
Once the required section has been added, use the information from section
Debugging device quirks to validate and test the quirks.
Debugging device quirks
libinput provides the libinput quirks
tool to debug the quirks database.
This tool takes an action as first argument, the most common invocation is
libinput quirks list
to list model quirks that apply to one or more local
devices.
$ libinput quirks list /dev/input/event19
$ libinput quirks list /dev/input/event0
AttrLidSwitchReliability=unreliable
The device event19 does not have any quirks assigned.
When called with the --verbose
argument, libinput quirks list
prints
information about all files and its attempts to match the device:
$ libinput quirks list --verbose /dev/input/event0
quirks debug: /usr/share/share/libinput is data root
quirks debug: /usr/share/share/libinput/10-generic-keyboard.quirks
quirks debug: /usr/share/share/libinput/10-generic-lid.quirks
[...]
quirks debug: /usr/share/etc/libinput/local-overrides.quirks
quirks debug: /dev/input/event0: fetching quirks
quirks debug: [Serial Keyboards] (10-generic-keyboard.quirks) wants MatchBus but we don't have that
quirks debug: [Lid Switch Ct9] (10-generic-lid.quirks) matches for MatchName
quirks debug: [Lid Switch Ct10] (10-generic-lid.quirks) matches for MatchName
quirks debug: [Lid Switch Ct10] (10-generic-lid.quirks) matches for MatchDMIModalias
quirks debug: [Lid Switch Ct10] (10-generic-lid.quirks) is full match
quirks debug: property added: AttrLidSwitchReliability from [Lid Switch Ct10] (10-generic-lid.quirks)
quirks debug: [Aiptek No Tilt Tablet] (30-vendor-aiptek.quirks) wants MatchBus but we don't have that
[...]
quirks debug: [HUION PenTablet] (30-vendor-huion.quirks) wants MatchBus but we don't have that
quirks debug: [Logitech Marble Mouse Trackball] (30-vendor-logitech.quirks) wants MatchBus but we don't have that
quirks debug: [Logitech K400] (30-vendor-logitech.quirks) wants MatchBus but we don't have that
quirks debug: [Logitech K400r] (30-vendor-logitech.quirks) wants MatchBus but we don't have that
quirks debug: [Logitech K830] (30-vendor-logitech.quirks) wants MatchBus but we don't have that
quirks debug: [Logitech K400Plus] (30-vendor-logitech.quirks) wants MatchBus but we don't have that
quirks debug: [Logitech Wireless Touchpad] (30-vendor-logitech.quirks) wants MatchBus but we don't have that
quirks debug: [Microsoft Surface 3 Lid Switch] (30-vendor-microsoft.quirks) matches for MatchName
[...]
AttrLidSwitchReliability
Note that this is an example only, the output may change over time. The tool uses the same parser as libinput and any parsing errors will show up in the output.
List of currently available device quirks
This list is a guide for developers to ease the process of submitting patches upstream. This section shows device quirks currently available in git commit d1e49c7.
Warning
Quirks are internal API and may change at any time for any reason. No guarantee is given that any quirk below works on your version of libinput.
In the documentation below, the letters N, M, O, P refer to arbitrary integer values.
Quirks starting with Model* triggers implementation-defined behaviour for this device not needed for any other device. Only the more general-purpose Model* flags are listed here.
- ModelALPSTouchpad, ModelAppleTouchpad, ModelWacomTouchpad, ModelChromebook
Reserved for touchpads made by the respective vendors
- ModelTouchpadVisibleMarker
Indicates the touchpad has a drawn-on visible marker between the software buttons.
- ModelTabletModeNoSuspend
Indicates that the device does not need to be suspended in Tablet mode switch handling.
- ModelTabletModeSwitchUnreliable
Indicates that this tablet mode switch’s state cannot be relied upon.
- ModelTrackball
Reserved for trackballs
- ModelBouncingKeys
Indicates that the device may send fake bouncing key events and timestamps can not be relied upon.
- ModelSynapticsSerialTouchpad
Reserved for touchpads made by Synaptics on the serial bus
- ModelPressurePad
Unlike in traditional touchpads, whose pressure value equals contact size, on pressure pads pressure is a real physical axis. Indicates that the device is a pressure pad.
- ModelTouchpadPhantomClicks
Some laptops are prone to registering touchpad clicks when the case is bent. Indicates that clicks should be ignored if no fingers are on the touchpad.
- AttrSizeHint=NxM, AttrResolutionHint=N
Hints at the width x height of the device in mm, or the resolution of the x/y axis in units/mm. These may only be used where they apply to a large proportion of matching devices. They should not be used for any specific device, override
EVDEV_ABS_*
instead, see Measuring and fixing touchpad ranges.- AttrTouchSizeRange=N:M, AttrPalmSizeThreshold=O
Specifies the touch size required to trigger a press (N) and to trigger a release (M). O > N > M. See Debugging touch size ranges for more details. An AttrPalmSizeThreshold of zero unsets any threshold that has been inherited from another quirk.
- AttrPressureRange=N:M, AttrPalmPressureThreshold=O, AttrThumbPressureThreshold=P
Specifies the touch pressure required to trigger a press (N) and to trigger a release (M), when a palm touch is triggered (O) and when a thumb touch is triggered (P). O > P > N > M. See Debugging touchpad pressure ranges for more details. An AttrPalmPressureThreshold of zero unsets any threshold that has been inherited from another quirk.
- AttrLidSwitchReliability=reliable|unreliable|write_open
Indicates the reliability of the lid switch. This is a string enum. Very few devices need this, if in doubt do not set. See Lid switch handling for details. libinput 1.21.0 changed the default from unreliable to reliable, which may be removed from local overrides.
- AttrKeyboardIntegration=internal|external
Indicates the integration of the keyboard. This is a string enum. Generally only needed for USB keyboards.
- AttrTPKComboLayout=below
Indicates the position of the touchpad on an external touchpad+keyboard combination device. This is a string enum. Don’t specify it unless the touchpad is below.
- AttrEventCode=+EV_ABS;-BTN_STYLUS;+EV_KEY:0x123;
Enables or disables the evdev event type/code tuples on the device. The prefix for each entry is either ‘+’ (enable) or ‘-’ (disable). Entries may be a named event type, or a named event code, or a named event type with a hexadecimal event code, separated by a single colon.
- AttrInputProp=+INPUT_PROP_BUTTONPAD;-INPUT_PROP_POINTER;
Enables or disables the evdev input property on the device. The prefix for each entry is either ‘+’ (enable) or ‘-’ (disable). Entries may be a named input property or the hexadecimal value of that property.
- AttrPointingStickIntegration=internal|external
Indicates the integration of the pointing stick. This is a string enum. Only needed for external pointing sticks. These are rare.
- AttrTabletSmoothing=1|0
Enables (1) or disables (0) input smoothing for tablet devices. Smoothing is enabled by default, except on AES devices.
List of currently available matches
Match*
statements are how quirks are assigned to a device. Quirks with multiple
match statements must match all of those to apply.
Warning
Quirks are internal API and may change at any time for any reason.
No guarantee is given that any Match
statement below works on
your version of libinput.
- MatchName, MatchUniq
Match on the
NAME
orUNIQ
udev property on this device. These properties are typically derived from the device’s kernel name or uniq but may be overridden by a udev rule. These matches usefnmatch()
globs.- MatchBus
A lower-case bus name. Currently supported are
usb
,bluetooth
,ps2
,rmi
,i2c
, andspi
.- MatchVendor, MatchProduct, MatchVersion
The hexadecmial 4-digit vendor ID, product ID or driver version as exported, without a
0x
prefix.- MatchDMIModalias, MatchDeviceTree
An
fnmatch()
glob for the DMI modalias or the DeviceTreecompatible
string. See/sys/class/dmi/id/modalias
and/sys/firmware/devicetree/base/compatible
.- MatchUdevType
One of
touchpad
,mouse
,pointingstick
,keyboard
,joystick
,tablet
,tablet-pad
. Matches the correspondingID_INPUT_*
udev property.