new Xorg + btnx

[Peter Hutterer]

On Fri, Dec 12, 2008 at 10:45:19AM +1100, Timothy S. Nelson wrote:
> On Fri, 12 Dec 2008, Peter Hutterer wrote:
>
>> On Thu, Dec 11, 2008 at 12:38:31PM -0800, William Tracy wrote:
>>> http://ubersoft.net/void-initrand/misc-wherein-i-curse-ubuntu-needlessly-breaking-something-useful
>>>
>>> 1. I don't use btnx, so I don't share his problem. Ask him for details, not me.
>>> 2. The root of the problem seems related to changes in Xorg, so I
>>> thought I'd pass it along. If it actually has more to do with a Linux
>>> kernel change, my apologies for spamming the list.
>>>
>>> Short summary: btnx is a program for remapping extra mouse buttons to
>>> different actions. A recent Xorg release (supposedly related to the
>>> introduction of evdev) seems to break the API it depends on.
>>>
>>> Now, if there's just a *different* API available now for accessing raw
>>> mouse input, and the user-visible applications just need to catch up,
>>> then fine. However, if this information is simply no longer available
>>> to clients, then this list should at least be aware of the issue.
>>
>> How exactly does btnx work?
>> The above rant is more whining than actually explaining what is broken and I
>> don't have the time to distill whatever little information there is.
>
> 	I don't use it, but I had a quick flick round, and the developer says:
>
>> It seems that the kernel input event pipes can no longer be read.

if that means the evdev grab gets in the way, that's fixed with xserver 1.5.2
and evdev 2.1, and shouldn't have been a problem in the first place since it
was easy to work around.

Cheers,
  Peter