Middle Button Emulation -

[Bob Goodwin]

I'm having troubled setting middle 
button emulation in a new Fedora25 
Workstation/XFCE installation. first I 
added:

Section "InputClass"
       Identifier "middle button 
emulation class"
       MatchIsPointer "on"
       Option "Emulate3Buttons" "on"
       Driver "evdev"
     EndSection

to 
/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-evdev.conf 
as I have done in the past. then my 
notes led me to "xinput" but I can't 
make that work, dunno the right command ...

I find it hard to work without this 
feature, especially when configuring a 
new install so it is one of the first 
things I fix!

What am I doing wrong?

Bob

[Ed Greshko]

On 11/27/16 18:34, Bob Goodwin wrote:
> I'm having troubled setting middle button emulation in a new Fedora25 Workstation/XFCE
> installation. first I added:
>
> Section "InputClass"
>       Identifier "middle button emulation class"
>       MatchIsPointer "on"
>       Option "Emulate3Buttons" "on"
>       Driver "evdev"
>     EndSection
>
> to /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-evdev.conf as I have done in the past. then my notes
> led me to "xinput" but I can't make that work, dunno the right command ...
>
> I find it hard to work without this feature, especially when configuring a new install
> so it is one of the first things I fix!
>
> What am I doing wrong?

Have a look at
http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/9973/configuring-mouse-for-rightleft...

and the very last comment for a suggestion which claims to work.

[Bob Goodwin]

On 11/27/16 08:32, Ed Greshko wrote:
> On 11/27/16 18:34, Bob Goodwin wrote:
> > I'm having troubled setting middle button emulation in a new Fedora25 Workstation/XFCE
> > installation. first I added:
> >
> > Section "InputClass"
> >        Identifier "middle button emulation class"
> >        MatchIsPointer "on"
> >        Option "Emulate3Buttons" "on"
> >        Driver "evdev"
> >      EndSection
> >
> > to /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-evdev.conf as I have done in the past. then my notes
> > led me to "xinput" but I can't make that work, dunno the right command ...
> >
> > I find it hard to work without this feature, especially when configuring a new install
> > so it is one of the first things I fix!
> >
> > What am I doing wrong?
>
> Have a look at
> http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/9973/configuring-mouse-for-rightleft...
>
> and the very last comment for a suggestion which claims to work.

+

George in Memphis just jogged my memory, 
this is a problem that began with 
Fedora-24. I use a Logitech Marble 
Mouse, looks like a track ball to me. I 
have several with four buttons and one 
old one with two buttons. I switched to 
the 2-button device to solve the problem 
and forgot about it, put nothing in my 
notes either ...

Swapping the devices fixes the problem 
on the new Fedora-25 installationtoo!

A circuit diagram would be nice but such 
stuff is never available for computer 
hardware.

So next I will try as suggested on that 
page.

Thanks,

Bob

[Bob Goodwin]

On 11/27/16 09:27, Bob Goodwin wrote:
> On 11/27/16 08:32, Ed Greshko wrote:
> > On 11/27/16 18:34, Bob Goodwin wrote:
> > > I'm having troubled setting middle 
> > > button emulation in a new Fedora25 
> > > Workstation/XFCE
> > > installation. first I added:
> > >
> > > Section "InputClass"
> > >        Identifier "middle button 
> > > emulation class"
> > >        MatchIsPointer "on"
> > >        Option "Emulate3Buttons" "on"
> > >        Driver "evdev"
> > >      EndSection
> > >
> > > to 
> > > /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-evdev.conf 
> > > as I have done in the past. then my 
> > > notes
> > > led me to "xinput" but I can't make 
> > > that work, dunno the right command ...
> > >
> > > I find it hard to work without this 
> > > feature, especially when configuring 
> > > a new install
> > > so it is one of the first things I fix!
> > >
> > > What am I doing wrong?
> >
> > Have a look at
> > http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/9973/configuring-mouse-for-rightleft...
> >
> > and the very last comment for a 
> > suggestion which claims to work.

+

Doing as suggested corrects the problem:

adding a file 
/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-3rdbutton.conf 
with the following content:

Section "InputClass"
    Identifier "middle button"
    MatchIsPointer "on"
    MatchDriver "libinput"
    Option "MiddleEmulation" "on"
EndSection

Fixes 3 button emulation and I can copy 
and paste conveniently again, a lot less 
clicking around!

First I tried making that change in 
/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-evdev.conf 
but it did not work.

My impression from what I have read is 
that this function is disabled for the 
convenience of game players for whom the 
pressing of both buttons implements 
other functions. I think that's unfair 
if it is so, it should be optional from 
a menu ...

Bob

[Ed Greshko]

On 11/27/16 23:22, Bob Goodwin wrote:
> Doing as suggested corrects the problem:
>
> adding a file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-3rdbutton.conf with the following content:
>
> Section "InputClass"
>    Identifier "middle button"
>    MatchIsPointer "on"
>    MatchDriver "libinput"
>    Option "MiddleEmulation" "on"
> EndSection
>
> Fixes 3 button emulation and I can copy and paste conveniently again, a lot less
> clicking around!

Very good.
> First I tried making that change in /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-evdev.conf but it did
> not work.

2 things to note here.

First, that file is, as noted in the comments contained in the file, for evdev based
systems.  The default these days for Fedora is "libinput" not "evdev".  Try not to confuse
the 2.

Second, you should avoid making changes to "system" files in places such as /usr/share
whatever.  These can get overwritten without your knowledge on updates and upgrades and
leave you scratching your head.  In this case the file you tried changing is provided by
the package xorg-x11-drv-evdev and should that package get updated or whatever it could
change that file and remove whatever changes you made.

[Bob Goodwin]

On 11/27/16 10:37, Ed Greshko wrote:
> 2 things to note here.
>
> First, that file is, as noted in the comments contained in the file, for evdev based
> systems.  The default these days for Fedora is "libinput" not "evdev".  Try not to confuse
> the 2.

+
I saw a reference to "libinput" but did 
not know how to deal with it so 
continued doing what I had been doing, 
in this case the wrong thing ...
> Second, you should avoid making changes to "system" files in places such as /usr/share
> whatever.  These can get overwritten without your knowledge on updates and upgrades and
> leave you scratching your head.  In this case the file you tried changing is provided by
> the package xorg-x11-drv-evdev and should that package get updated or whatever it could
> change that file and remove whatever changes you made.

+
Yes, after some updates I have had to go 
back and "fix" 3-button emulation, a 
bother but I am lost without it. Old 
habits are hard to break, especially 
when they work better than the alternative.

Thanks for the help,

Bob

[Ed Greshko]

On 11/28/16 00:44, Bob Goodwin wrote:
> Yes, after some updates I have had to go back and "fix" 3-button emulation, a bother but
> I am lost without it. Old habits are hard to break, especially
> when they work better than the alternative.

That is why every system service has a location where a user can make changes to
configurations which will not be overwritten by updates.  In this case your changes should
be made to a file that you create in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d.  It would also be helpful when
making user defined changes that you try to gain an understanding of the sequence in which
configuration files are processed.  Configuration files can be located in multiple places
and are normally parsed sequentially with the last instance of a given option being used.

[Bob Goodwin]

On 11/27/16 16:20, Ed Greshko wrote:
> That is why every system service has a location where a user can make changes to
> configurations which will not be overwritten by updates.  In this case your changes should
> be made to a file that you create in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d.  It would also be helpful when
> making user defined changes that you try to gain an understanding of the sequence in which
> configuration files are processed.  Configuration files can be located in multiple places
> and are normally parsed sequentially with the last instance of a given option being used.

+

Ok, I understand that. I made the 
changes to 10-evdev.conf as was 
suggestedmore than a year ago, assumed 
that just had to be.

So in the present case 
/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d should survive 
updates, but how would I determine the 
sequence in which the files are parsed? 
It looks to me like "conf.d" might be 
something to look for? /N/ext time I 
will ask ...

[Ed Greshko]

On 11/28/16 06:39, Bob Goodwin wrote:
> Ok, I understand that. I made the changes to 10-evdev.conf as was suggestedmore than a
> year ago, assumed that just had to be.
>
> So in the present case /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d should survive updates, but how would I
> determine the sequence in which the files are parsed? It looks to me like "conf.d" might
> be something to look for? /N/ext time I will ask ...

Consult "man 5 xorg.conf" for the gory details of what directories are searched under the
various conditions.  :-) :-)

Bottom line, from the man page....

Finally, configuration files will also be  searched  for  in  a  directory
       reserved for system use.  This is to separate configuration files from the
       vendor or 3rd party packages from those of  local  administration.   These
       files are found in the following directory:

/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d

Note the phrase "reserved for system use".   :-) :-)