1libinput-record(1) General Commands Manual libinput-record(1)
2
6 libinput-record - record kernel events
7
9 libinput record [options] [/dev/input/event0 [/dev/input/event1 ...]]
10
12 The libinput record tool records kernel events from a device and prints
13 them in a format that can later be replayed with the libinput replay(1)
14 tool. This tool needs to run as root to read from the device.
15 The output of this tool is YAML, see FILE FORMAT for more details. By
17 default it prints to stdout unless an output file is provided. For
18 example, these are valid invocations:
19 libinput record /dev/input/event3 touchpad.yml
21 libinput record recording.yml
23 libinput record --all all-devices.yml
25 libinput record /dev/input/event3 /dev/input/event4 tp-and-keyboard.yml
27 The events recorded are independent of libinput itself, updating or
30 removing libinput will not change the event stream.
31
33 If one or more device nodes are given, this tool opens those device
34 nodes. Otherwise, a list of devices is presented and the user can
35 select the device to record. If unsure, run without any arguments.
36 --help Print help
38 --all Record all /dev/input/event* devices available on the system.
40 This option should be used in exceptional cases only, the out‐
41 put file is almost always too noisy and replaying the recording
42 may not be possible. This option requires --output-file and no
43 device nodes may be provided on the commandline.
44 --autorestart=s
46 Terminate the current recording after s seconds of device inac‐
47 tivity. This option requires that a --output-file is specified.
48 The output filename is used as prefix, suffixed with the date
49 and time of the recording. The timeout must be greater than 0.
50 -o filename.yml
52 --output-file=filename.yml
53 Specifies the output file to use. If --autorestart is given,
54 the filename is used as prefix only. Where --output-file is
55 not given and the first or last argument is not an input
56 device, the first or last argument will be the output file.
57 --show-keycodes
59 Show keycodes as-is in the recording. By default, common keys
60 are obfuscated and printed as KEY_A to avoid information leaks.
61 --with-libinput
63 Record libinput events alongside device events. THIS FEATURE
64 IS EXPERIMENTAL. See section RECORDING LIBINPUT EVENTS for
65 more details.
66
69 Sometimes it is necessary to record the events from multiple devices
70 simultaneously, e.g. when an interaction between a touchpad and a key‐
71 board causes a bug. libinput record records multiple devices with an
72 identical time offset, allowing for correct replay of the interaction.
73 If multiple devices are recorded, an output filename must be provided.
75 All devices to be recorded must be provided on the commandline, an
77 example invocation is:
78 libinput record -o tap-bug /dev/input/event3 /dev/input/event7
80 Note that when recording multiple devices, only the first device is
82 printed immediately, all other devices and their events are printed on
83 exit.
84
87 When the --with-libinput switch is provided, libinput-record initial‐
88 izes a libinput context for the devices being recorded. Events from
89 these contexts are printed alongside the evdev events. THIS FEATURE IS
90 EXPERIMENTAL.
91 The primary purpose of this feature is debugging and event analysis, no
93 caller may rely on any specific format of the events.
94 Note that while libinput and libinput-record see the same events from
96 the device nodes, no guarantee can be given about the correct order of
97 events. libinput events may come in earlier or later than the events
98 from the device nodes and for some devices, libinput may internally
99 alter the event stream before processing.
100 Note that the libinput context created by libinput-record does not
102 affect the running desktop session and does not (can not!) copy any
103 configuration options from that session.
104
107 The output file format is in YAML and intended to be both human-read‐
108 able and machine-parseable. Below is a short example YAML file, all
109 keys are detailed further below.
110 Any parsers must ignore keys not specified in the file format descrip‐
112 tion. The version number field is only used for backwards-incompatible
113 changes.
114 version: 1
116 ndevices: 2
117 libinput:
118 version: 1.10.0
119 system:
120 os: "fedora:26"
121 kernel: "4.13.9-200.fc26.x86_64"
122 dmi: "dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvrGJET72WW(2.22):bd02/21/2014:svnLENOVO:..."
123 devices:
124 - node: /dev/input/event9
125 evdev:
126 # Name: Synaptics TM2668-002
127 # ID: bus 0x1d vendor 0x6cb product 00 version 00
128 # Size in mm: 97x68
129 # Supported Events:
130 # Event type 0 (EV_SYN)
131 #.. abbreviated for man page ...
133 #
135 name: Synaptics TM2668-002
136 id: [29, 1739, 0, 0]
137 codes:
138 0: [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15] # EV_SYN
139 1: [272, 325, 328, 330, 333, 334, 335] # EV_KEY
140 3: [0, 1, 24, 47, 48, 49, 52, 53, 54, 55, 57, 58] # EV_ABS
141 absinfo:
142 0: [0, 4089, 0, 0, 42]
143 1: [0, 2811, 0, 0, 41]
144 24: [0, 255, 0, 0, 0]
145 47: [0, 4, 0, 0, 0]
146 48: [0, 15, 0, 0, 0]
147 49: [0, 15, 0, 0, 0]
148 52: [0, 1, 0, 0, 0]
149 53: [0, 4089, 0, 0, 42]
150 54: [0, 2811, 0, 0, 41]
151 55: [0, 2, 0, 0, 0]
152 57: [0, 65535, 0, 0, 0]
153 58: [0, 255, 0, 0, 0]
154 properties: [0, 2, 4]
155 hid: [12, 23, 34, 45, ...]
156 udev:
157 properties:
158 - ID_INPUT_MOUSE=1
159 - ID_INPUT=1
160 quirks:
161 - ModelAppleTouchpad=1
162 - AttrSizeHint=32x32
163 events:
164 - evdev:
165 - [ 0, 0, 3, 57, 1420] # EV_ABS / ABS_MT_TRACKING_ID 1420
166 - [ 0, 0, 3, 53, 1218] # EV_ABS / ABS_MT_POSITION_X 1218
167 - [ 0, 0, 3, 54, 1922] # EV_ABS / ABS_MT_POSITION_Y 1922
168 - [ 0, 0, 3, 52, 0] # EV_ABS / ABS_MT_ORIENTATION 0
169 - [ 0, 0, 3, 58, 47] # EV_ABS / ABS_MT_PRESSURE 47
170 - [ 0, 0, 1, 330, 1] # EV_KEY / BTN_TOUCH 1
171 - [ 0, 0, 1, 325, 1] # EV_KEY / BTN_TOOL_FINGER 1
172 - [ 0, 0, 3, 0, 1218] # EV_ABS / ABS_X 1218
173 - [ 0, 0, 3, 1, 1922] # EV_ABS / ABS_Y 1922
174 - [ 0, 0, 3, 24, 47] # EV_ABS / ABS_PRESSURE 47
175 - [ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0] # ------------ SYN_REPORT (0) ------- +0ms
176 - evdev:
177 - [ 0, 11879, 3, 53, 1330] # EV_ABS / ABS_MT_POSITION_X 1330
178 - [ 0, 11879, 3, 54, 1928] # EV_ABS / ABS_MT_POSITION_Y 1928
179 - [ 0, 11879, 3, 58, 46] # EV_ABS / ABS_MT_PRESSURE 46
180 - [ 0, 11879, 3, 0, 1330] # EV_ABS / ABS_X 1330
181 - [ 0, 11879, 3, 1, 1928] # EV_ABS / ABS_Y 1928
182 - [ 0, 11879, 3, 24, 46] # EV_ABS / ABS_PRESSURE 46
183 - [ 0, 11879, 0, 0, 0] # ------------ SYN_REPORT (0) ------- +0ms
184 # second device (if any)
185 - node: /dev/input/event9
186 evdev: ...
187 Top-level keys are listed below, see the respective subsection for
189 details on each key.
190 version: int
192 The file format version. This version is only increased for
193 backwards-incompatible changes. A parser must ignore unknown
194 keys to be forwards-compatible.
195 ndevices: int
197 The number of device recordings in this file. Always 1 unless
198 recorded with --multiple
199 libinput: {...}
201 A dictionary with libinput-specific information.
202 system: {...}
204 A dictionary with system information.
205 devices: {...}
207 A list of devices containing the description and and events of
208 each device.
209 libinput
212 version: string
213 libinput version
214 system
217 Information about the system
218 os: string
220 Distribution ID and version, see os-release(5)
221 kernel: string
223 Kernel version, see uname(1)
224 dmi: string
226 DMI modalias, see /sys/class/dmi/id/modalias
227 devices
230 Information about and events from the recorded device nodes
231 node: string
233 the device node recorded
234 evdev A dictionary with the evdev device information.
236 hid A list of integers representing the HID report descriptor
238 bytes.
239 udev A dictionary with the udev device information.
241 events A list of dictionaries with the recorded events
243 evdev
245 name: string
246 The device name
247 id: [bustype, vendor, product, version]
249 The data from the struct input_id, bustype, vendor, product,
250 version.
251 codes: {type: [a, b, c ], ...}
253 All evdev types and codes as nested dictionary. The evdev type
254 is the key, the codes are a list.
255 absinfo: {code: [min, max, fuzz, flat, resolution], ...}
257 An array of arrays with 6 decimal elements each, denoting the
258 contents of a struct input_absinfo. The first element is the
259 code (e.g. ABS_X) in decimal format.
260 properties: [0, 1, ...]
262 Array with all INPUT_PROP_FOO constants. May be an empty array.
263 udev
265 properties: list of strings
266 A list of udev properties in the key=value format. This is not
267 the complete list of properties assigned to the device but a
268 subset that is relevant to libinput. These properties may
269 include properties set on a parent device.
270 quirks: list of strings
272 A list of device quirks the key=value format.
273 events
276 A list of the recorded events. The list contains dictionaries Informa‐
277 tion about the events. The content is a list of dictionaries, with the
278 string identifying the type of event sequence.
279 { evdev: [ {"data": [sec, usec, type, code, value]}, ...] }
281 Each input_event dictionary contains the contents of a struct
282 input_event in decimal format. The last item in the list is
283 always the SYN_REPORT of this event frame. The next event frame
284 starts a new evdev dictionary entry in the parent events list.
285
288 This tool records events from the kernel and is independent of libin‐
289 put. In other words, updating or otherwise changing libinput will not
290 alter the output from this tool. libinput itself does not need to be in
291 use to record events.
292
294 Part of the libinput(1) suite
295 libinput-record(1)