Peter Hutterer
who-t.blogspot.com · Personal blog · on HN since 2009
Peter Hutterer, a Linux input developer, writes about libinput, X server input handling, pointer acceleration, and touchpad features.
What HN saysCommenters recommend it for anyone interested in Linux input and cite him as the person to ask about libinput and touchpads.
59HN people shared it
16linked it in comments
72stories submitted
515story points
7 months agolast shared
2009people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1Libinput's bus factor is 1 (2019)9 people · 193 points · first shared 2019 · 129 comments on HN
- 2Libinput’s Lack of Config Options7 people · 10 points · first shared 2016 · 1 comments on HN
- 3An Xorg release without Xwayland4 people · 9 points · first shared 2021 · 1 comments on HN
- 4On Commit Messages3 people · 46 points · first shared 2009 · 23 comments on HN
- 5X server pointer acceleration analysis – part 13 people · 6 points · first shared 2018 · discussion on HN
- 6Libinput and the custom pointer acceleration function3 people · 2 points · first shared 2023 · discussion on HN
- 7Input threads in the X server2 people · 35 points · first shared 2016 · 2 comments on HN
- 8High-Resolution Wheel Scrolling on Linux2 people · 8 points · first shared 2021 · discussion on HN
- 9Why is my device a touchpad and a mouse and a keyboard?2 people · 6 points · first shared 2025 · discussion on HN
- 10Why it's not a good idea to handle evdev directly2 people · 2 points · first shared 2018 · discussion on HN
- 11Synaptics pointer acceleration development horror story2 people · 2 points · first shared 2016 · discussion on HN
- 12Libinput and disable-while-typing2 people · 2 points · first shared 2016 · discussion on HN
- 13Xf86-input-synaptics is not a Synaptics, Inc. driver2 people · 1 points · first shared 2016 · discussion on HN
- 14How to DOS a developer1 people · 131 points · first shared 2011 · 33 comments on HN
- 15The case for zsh1 people · 5 points · first shared 2012 · discussion on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
jraph · 2023-12-05
Me too! Following [1].
Maybe worth checking if one is not supported to use libinput instead of processing kernel events directly though. [2]
If someone is interested in the input topic, Peter Hutterer's blog is very nice to read. I also enjoyed his talk about libinput's bus factor [3].
[1] https://who-t.blogspot.com/2013/09/libevdev-handling-input-events.html
[2] https://who-t.blogspot.com/2018/07/why-its-not-good-idea-to-handle-evd…
[3] https://who-t.blogspot.com/2019/10/libinputs-bus-factor-is-1.html
LargoLasskhyfv · 2020-10-18
I guess this would be one of the persons to ask:
[1] http://who-t.blogspot.com/
derhuerst · 2025-02-24
remotely related:
libinput (handles touchpad input in most Linux distributions) now supports three-finger dragging [0].
[0] https://who-t.blogspot.com/2025/02/libinput-and-3-finger-dragging.html
seltzered_ · 2024-08-26
You may want to talk to who-t or others if you have an interest in touchscreen calibration tools, or possibly try kde under x11: https://who-t.blogspot.com/2024/06/?m=0
AceJohnny2 · 2023-04-05
For Microsoft, it's a hardware vendor driver problem.
For Linux, Peter Hutterer [1] has been working at it for a long time, and you're quite right.
[1] http://who-t.blogspot.com/2023/01/libinput-and-custom-pointer.html
cycloptic · 2021-01-31
This post was going around a while ago, I don't think anything has really changed for the better since then: https://who-t.blogspot.com/2019/10/libinputs-bus-factor-is-1.html
KnightHawk3 · 2020-08-18
u801e · 2020-07-05
This is another good reference: http://who-t.blogspot.com/2009/12/on-commit-messages.html
archseer · 2020-04-13
Because it became a burden to maintain. https://who-t.blogspot.com/2016/04/why-libinput-doesnt-have-lot-of-con…
> In the old synaptics driver, we added options whenever something new came up and we tried to make those options generic. This was a big mistake. The driver now has over 70 configuration options resulting in a test matrix with a googolplex of combinations. In other words, it's completely untestable. To make a device work users often have to find the right combination of options from somewhere, write out a root-owned config file and then hope this works. Why do we still think this is acceptable? Even worse: some options are very specific to hardware but still spread in user forum examples like an STD during spring break.
abrowne · 2018-07-18
It's a GNOME change, not a Canonical one: http://who-t.blogspot.com/2018/04/gnome-328-uses-clickfinger-behaviour…
gue5t · 2017-07-10
Xorg used to get SIGIO on input; it's now less responsive and uses threads:
http://who-t.blogspot.com/2016/09/input-threads-in-x-server.html
groks · 2017-02-08
Some lid switches are broken:
https://who-t.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/libinput-and-lid-switch-events.ht…
azza-bazoo · 2012-07-20
I was hoping for less "here's how your commit message should be formatted", and more "here's what your message should say". Though at least the blog it links to[1] discusses the latter.
No guidance on how many changes should make up one good commit (versus several)? No rules on referencing the issue tracker, or changes made by other contributors? No suggestions for when to put useful information (like "always do x when calling y()") in the commit or in a wiki or something?
[1] http://who-t.blogspot.com.au/2009/12/on-commit-messages.html
shatteredgate · 2021-12-15
It's not really true at all. The libinput developer blogged about why having more configuration options has historically not actually been good for the project, or for users of the synaptics driver:
https://who-t.blogspot.com/2016/04/why-libinput-doesnt-have-lot-of-con…
Particularly, once you add a configuration option, you're now on the hook to support that option indefinitely as long as the project exists and users expect that option to be there. With more maintainers and testers, it may become feasible to have more configuration options, but it's still not a good idea to just keep piling them in. It might be satisfying to see a big configuration panel with a lot of settings but it's a lot less satisfying when you figure out a lot of the configuration options don't work correctly because the underlying system has bugs or is under-maintained or was just never tested with your specific configuration because input is hard and requires near constant testing against an extremely large number of hardware devices.
sergeykish · 2021-01-10
I've never noticed such issue, quick search shows that one has to start on edge and movement in vertical direction [1]. Vanilla edges are 8% of the width on each side [2]. There was a proposal to add configuration option [3], rejected — they've tried this route before, it was impossible to test.
Fortunately source is there and it is easy to patch (try to set 0%). That's quite common, for example there are several patched libinput on AUR [5].
Does your hardware has firmware palm detection mechanism? Current bug [6] (Palm exclusion zones are not worth it on some hardware).
[1] https://wayland.freedesktop.org/libinput/doc/latest/palm-detection.htm…
[2] https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/libinput/libinput/-/blob/f2baea50c01f9e…
[3] https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/libinput/libinput/-/issues/190
[4] http://who-t.blogspot.com/2016/04/why-libinput-doesnt-have-lot-of-conf…
[5] https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/?O=0&K=libinput
[6] https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/libinput/libinput/-/issues/433
WesolyKubeczek · 2020-05-01
There’s one thing that’s bothering me about this “project”. How is it supposed to work with the upstream? Is this supposed to be a rivaling fork? How am I supposed to have it on my system?
Also, it rubs me the wrong way that the blog author is seeking a person to do all the dirty work — even for compensation — and then what? Have all the credit? Basically, act as a glorified Forward button?
If I felt up to the task enough, I’d slap a sponsorship button onto my github on my own. And here’s the difference: prior to asking for the money, I’d have something to show to prove I’m not a phony.
The upstream is not without its problem as well. Right now it’s being maintained by Peter Hutterer from Red Hat, and judging by his LinkedIn, it’s pretty much his job description. Recently he did a talk about how overloaded he is with libinput[1], and how someone volunteering to comb through pull requests and issues would easily become his “number two”. Which also is striking me as odd.
libinput, given its importance for Linux ecosystem as such in general, and Red Hat ecosystem in particular (especially since they bet on Wayland as the future, and there libinput is the only choice), is important enough that Red Hat better make sure it’s well maintained. It’s Red Hat/IBM, really, who should be interested in making sure the bus factor of libinput is > 1. Thus the problem should be raised within Red Hat’s management, and they should _hire_ additional people for fair buck to help. Otherwise…