1libinput-record(1) General Commands Manual libinput-record(1)
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6 libinput-record - record kernel events
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9 libinput record [options] [/dev/input/event0 [/dev/input/event1 ...]]
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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 the -o option is given.
18 The events recorded are independent of libinput itself, updating or
20 removing libinput will not change the event stream.
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23 If one or more device nodes are given, this tool opens those device
24 nodes. Otherwise, a list of devices is presented and the user can
25 select the device to record. If unsure, run without any arguments.
26 --help Print help
28 --all Record all /dev/input/event* devices available on the system.
30 This option should be used in exceptional cases only, the out‐
31 put file is almost always too noisy and replaying the recording
32 may not be possible. This option requires --output-file and no
33 device nodes may be provided on the commandline.
34 --autorestart=s
36 Terminate the current recording after s seconds of device inac‐
37 tivity. This option requires that a --output-file is specified.
38 The output filename is used as prefix, suffixed with the date
39 and time of the recording. The timeout must be greater than 0.
40 -o filename.yml
42 --output-file=filename.yml
43 Specifies the output file to use. If --autorestart is given,
44 the filename is used as prefix only.
45 --show-keycodes
47 Show keycodes as-is in the recording. By default, common keys
48 are obfuscated and printed as KEY_A to avoid information leaks.
49 --with-libinput
51 Record libinput events alongside device events. THIS FEATURE
52 IS EXPERIMENTAL. See section RECORDING LIBINPUT EVENTS for
53 more details.
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57 Sometimes it is necessary to record the events from multiple devices
58 simultaneously, e.g. when an interaction between a touchpad and a key‐
59 board causes a bug. libinput record records multiple devices with an
60 identical time offset, allowing for correct replay of the interaction.
61 If multiple devices are recorded, an output filename must be provided.
63 All devices to be recorded must be provided on the commandline, an
65 example invocation is:
66 libinput record -o tap-bug /dev/input/event3 /dev/input/event7
68 Note that when recording multiple devices, only the first device is
70 printed immediately, all other devices and their events are printed on
71 exit.
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75 When the --with-libinput switch is provided, libinput-record initial‐
76 izes a libinput context for the devices being recorded. Events from
77 these contexts are printed alongside the evdev events. THIS FEATURE IS
78 EXPERIMENTAL.
79 The primary purpose of this feature is debugging and event analysis, no
81 caller may rely on any specific format of the events.
82 Note that while libinput and libinput-record see the same events from
84 the device nodes, no guarantee can be given about the correct order of
85 events. libinput events may come in earlier or later than the events
86 from the device nodes and for some devices, libinput may internally
87 alter the event stream before processing.
88 Note that the libinput context created by libinput-record does not
90 affect the running desktop session and does not (can not!) copy any
91 configuration options from that session.
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95 The output file format is in YAML and intended to be both human-read‐
96 able and machine-parseable. Below is a short example YAML file, all
97 keys are detailed further below.
98 Any parsers must ignore keys not specified in the file format descrip‐
100 tion. The version number field is only used for backwards-incompatible
101 changes.
102 version: 1
104 ndevices: 2
105 libinput:
106 version: 1.10.0
107 system:
108 os: "fedora:26"
109 kernel: "4.13.9-200.fc26.x86_64"
110 dmi: "dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvrGJET72WW(2.22):bd02/21/2014:svnLENOVO:..."
111 devices:
112 - node: /dev/input/event9
113 evdev:
114 # Name: Synaptics TM2668-002
115 # ID: bus 0x1d vendor 0x6cb product 00 version 00
116 # Size in mm: 97x68
117 # Supported Events:
118 # Event type 0 (EV_SYN)
119 #.. abbreviated for man page ...
121 #
123 name: Synaptics TM2668-002
124 id: [29, 1739, 0, 0]
125 codes:
126 0: [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15] # EV_SYN
127 1: [272, 325, 328, 330, 333, 334, 335] # EV_KEY
128 3: [0, 1, 24, 47, 48, 49, 52, 53, 54, 55, 57, 58] # EV_ABS
129 absinfo:
130 0: [0, 4089, 0, 0, 42]
131 1: [0, 2811, 0, 0, 41]
132 24: [0, 255, 0, 0, 0]
133 47: [0, 4, 0, 0, 0]
134 48: [0, 15, 0, 0, 0]
135 49: [0, 15, 0, 0, 0]
136 52: [0, 1, 0, 0, 0]
137 53: [0, 4089, 0, 0, 42]
138 54: [0, 2811, 0, 0, 41]
139 55: [0, 2, 0, 0, 0]
140 57: [0, 65535, 0, 0, 0]
141 58: [0, 255, 0, 0, 0]
142 properties: [0, 2, 4]
143 hid: [12, 23, 34, 45, ...]
144 udev:
145 properties:
146 - ID_INPUT_MOUSE=1
147 - ID_INPUT=1
148 quirks:
149 - ModelAppleTouchpad=1
150 - AttrSizeHint=32x32
151 events:
152 - evdev:
153 - [ 0, 0, 3, 57, 1420] # EV_ABS / ABS_MT_TRACKING_ID 1420
154 - [ 0, 0, 3, 53, 1218] # EV_ABS / ABS_MT_POSITION_X 1218
155 - [ 0, 0, 3, 54, 1922] # EV_ABS / ABS_MT_POSITION_Y 1922
156 - [ 0, 0, 3, 52, 0] # EV_ABS / ABS_MT_ORIENTATION 0
157 - [ 0, 0, 3, 58, 47] # EV_ABS / ABS_MT_PRESSURE 47
158 - [ 0, 0, 1, 330, 1] # EV_KEY / BTN_TOUCH 1
159 - [ 0, 0, 1, 325, 1] # EV_KEY / BTN_TOOL_FINGER 1
160 - [ 0, 0, 3, 0, 1218] # EV_ABS / ABS_X 1218
161 - [ 0, 0, 3, 1, 1922] # EV_ABS / ABS_Y 1922
162 - [ 0, 0, 3, 24, 47] # EV_ABS / ABS_PRESSURE 47
163 - [ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0] # ------------ SYN_REPORT (0) ------- +0ms
164 - evdev:
165 - [ 0, 11879, 3, 53, 1330] # EV_ABS / ABS_MT_POSITION_X 1330
166 - [ 0, 11879, 3, 54, 1928] # EV_ABS / ABS_MT_POSITION_Y 1928
167 - [ 0, 11879, 3, 58, 46] # EV_ABS / ABS_MT_PRESSURE 46
168 - [ 0, 11879, 3, 0, 1330] # EV_ABS / ABS_X 1330
169 - [ 0, 11879, 3, 1, 1928] # EV_ABS / ABS_Y 1928
170 - [ 0, 11879, 3, 24, 46] # EV_ABS / ABS_PRESSURE 46
171 - [ 0, 11879, 0, 0, 0] # ------------ SYN_REPORT (0) ------- +0ms
172 # second device (if any)
173 - node: /dev/input/event9
174 evdev: ...
175 Top-level keys are listed below, see the respective subsection for
177 details on each key.
178 version: int
180 The file format version. This version is only increased for
181 backwards-incompatible changes. A parser must ignore unknown
182 keys to be forwards-compatible.
183 ndevices: int
185 The number of device recordings in this file. Always 1 unless
186 recorded with --multiple
187 libinput: {...}
189 A dictionary with libinput-specific information.
190 system: {...}
192 A dictionary with system information.
193 devices: {...}
195 A list of devices containing the description and and events of
196 each device.
197 libinput
200 version: string
201 libinput version
202 system
205 Information about the system
206 os: string
208 Distribution ID and version, see os-release(5)
209 kernel: string
211 Kernel version, see uname(1)
212 dmi: string
214 DMI modalias, see /sys/class/dmi/id/modalias
215 devices
218 Information about and events from the recorded device nodes
219 node: string
221 the device node recorded
222 evdev A dictionary with the evdev device information.
224 hid A list of integers representing the HID report descriptor
226 bytes.
227 udev A dictionary with the udev device information.
229 events A list of dictionaries with the recorded events
231 evdev
233 name: string
234 The device name
235 id: [bustype, vendor, product, version]
237 The data from the struct input_id, bustype, vendor, product,
238 version.
239 codes: {type: [a, b, c ], ...}
241 All evdev types and codes as nested dictionary. The evdev type
242 is the key, the codes are a list.
243 absinfo: {code: [min, max, fuzz, flat, resolution], ...}
245 An array of arrays with 6 decimal elements each, denoting the
246 contents of a struct input_absinfo. The first element is the
247 code (e.g. ABS_X) in decimal format.
248 properties: [0, 1, ...]
250 Array with all INPUT_PROP_FOO constants. May be an empty array.
251 udev
253 properties: list of strings
254 A list of udev properties in the key=value format. This is not
255 the complete list of properties assigned to the device but a
256 subset that is relevant to libinput. These properties may
257 include properties set on a parent device.
258 quirks: list of strings
260 A list of device quirks the key=value format.
261 events
264 A list of the recorded events. The list contains dictionaries Informa‐
265 tion about the events. The content is a list of dictionaries, with the
266 string identifying the type of event sequence.
267 { evdev: [ {"data": [sec, usec, type, code, value]}, ...] }
269 Each input_event dictionary contains the contents of a struct
270 input_event in decimal format. The last item in the list is
271 always the SYN_REPORT of this event frame. The next event frame
272 starts a new evdev dictionary entry in the parent events list.
273
276 This tool records events from the kernel and is independent of libin‐
277 put. In other words, updating or otherwise changing libinput will not
278 alter the output from this tool. libinput itself does not need to be in
279 use to record events.
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282 Part of the libinput(1) suite
283 libinput-record(1)