Top all-time · #1250
Who-T
Personal blog · who-t.blogspot.comsystemsprogramminghardware
Who-T is a personal blog at who-t.blogspot.com about systems, programming and hardware. Since 2009, 57 different Hacker News readers have linked it 94 times, most often “Libinput's bus factor is 1 (2019)”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-07-22, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (20) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Peter Hutterer's blog for technical posts on Linux input handling, libinput, touchpads and X server input. Commenters cite it as a reference on libinput design and configuration choices.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 20 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- Libinput's bus factor is 1 (2019)7 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2019-10-16
- Why libinput doesn't have a lot of config options4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2020-04-13
- An Xorg release without Xwayland4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2021-09-22
- Libinput’s Lack of Config Options3 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2016-04-07
- Libinput and the custom pointer acceleration function3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2023-01-17
- On Commit Messages3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2009-12-28
- High-Resolution Wheel Scrolling on Linux2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2021-09-01
- /2019/10/libinputs-bus-factor-is-1.html2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2020-04-12
- Why is my device a touchpad and a mouse and a keyboard?2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2025-08-20
- Libinput and disable-while-typing2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2016-08-05
What Hacker News says?
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 pa…
Comment linking /2016/04/why-libinput-doesnt-have-lot-of-config.html
on “GNOME has no thumbnails in the file picker and my toilets are blocked”Submitted Libinput's bus factor is 1 (2019) as a story · 187 points
HN discussionXorg 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....
Comment linking /2016/09/input-threads-in-x-server.html
on “24-core CPU and I can’t move my mouse”Submitted How to DOS a developer as a story · 131 points
HN discussionlibinput https://who-t.blogspot.com/2019/10/libinputs-bus-factor-is-1...
Comment linking /2019/10/libinputs-bus-factor-is-1.html
on “Dependency”Submitted On Commit Messages as a story · 45 points
HN discussionIt'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-... 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…
Comment linking /2016/04/why-libinput-doesnt-have-lot-of-config.html
on “Linux Touchpad Like MacBook Update: Touchpad Gestures Now Shipping”Submitted Input threads in the X server as a story · 35 points
HN discussion>rewrite everything from scratch without taking into account that some things you’re throwing out actually work really well This is not what happened. The synaptics driver and libinput were/are maintained by the same person, who has written about it extensively and explained why the approach in the synaptics driver does not work well. Specifically, some of the problems with the synaptics driver have directly led to…
Comment linking /2016/03/why-libinput-does-not-have.html
on “Linux Touchpad Like MacBook Update: Touchpad Gestures Now Shipping”Submitted Libinput’s Lack of Config Options as a story · 6 points
HN discussionBecause it became a burden to maintain. https://who-t.blogspot.com/2016/04/why-libinput-doesnt-have-... > 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 dev…
Comment linking /2016/04/why-libinput-doesnt-have-lot-of-config.html
on “Bored? How about trying a Linux speed run?”Submitted Why is my device a touchpad and a mouse and a keyboard? as a story · 5 points
HN discussionPeople always complain about this, yet nobody contributes: http://who-t.blogspot.com/2019/10/libinputs-bus-factor-is-1....
Comment linking /2019/10/libinputs-bus-factor-is-1.html
on “Bored? How about trying a Linux speed run?”Submitted An Xorg release without Xwayland as a story · 4 points
HN discussionIt's a GNOME change, not a Canonical one: http://who-t.blogspot.com/2018/04/gnome-328-uses-clickfinger...
Comment linking /2018/04/gnome-328-uses-clickfinger-behaviour-by.html
on “Linux touchpad like a Macbook: goal worth pursuing?”Submitted X.org, the technical project vs. the X.org Foundation as a story · 4 points
HN discussionThis is another good reference: http://who-t.blogspot.com/2009/12/on-commit-messages.html
Comment linking /2009/12/on-commit-messages.html
on “Linus Torvalds: 'I Do No Coding Any More'”Submitted Linux libinput and high-resolution wheel scrolling as a story · 3 points
HN discussionYou can help improve the situation: The libinput project mentioned in the article is attempting to cut back on the amount of configuration and provide sane defaults for things like this, but there are a huge amount of touchpads out there to test. The idea is that once something is added to their database of "quirks", then it can be contributed upstream, and the device will be configured correctly for everyone. More…
Comment linking /2018/06/libinput-and-its-device-quirks-files.html
on “Linux touchpad like a MacBook Pro, May 2020 update”Submitted High-Resolution Wheel Scrolling on Linux as a story · 3 points
HN discussionremotely 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-dra...
Comment linking /2025/02/libinput-and-3-finger-dragging.html
on “WhiteSur: macOS-like theme for GTK desktops”Submitted Libinput's bus factor is 1 as a story · 3 points
HN discussionI guess this would be one of the persons to ask: [1] http://who-t.blogspot.com/
Comment linking /
on “Microsoft just force restarted my Windows PC again to install more unwanted apps”Submitted X server pointer acceleration analysis – part 1 as a story · 3 points
HN discussionIt's not a red herring. Those advanced options still need to be tested and maintained. If no one tests and maintains those options, they will break and users will complain again and you're right back where you started. The idea is that it's better to just remove them instead of creating a false expectation that they're going to work. I personally would agree with that decision, at least in this case anyway. In libin…
Comment linking /2018/06/libinput-and-its-device-quirks-files.html
on “Linux touchpad: preliminary project funding, survey results”Submitted The case for zsh as a story · 3 points
HN discussionForking libinput is unwise and would likely not be productive choice. The maintainer of libinput and the synaptics driver are the same person, and he has blogged several times about why the synaptics driver was a mess and was impossible to test and maintain. https://who-t.blogspot.com/2016/04/why-libinput-doesnt-have-...
Comment linking /2016/04/why-libinput-doesnt-have-lot-of-config.html
on “Linux touchpad: preliminary project funding, survey results”Submitted Thoughts on Linux multitouch as a story · 3 points
HN discussionWhat you are saying is not correct; the xdg-desktop-portal API is not tied to flatpak, it has support for individual windows, it's generic and can be re-used by any sandbox, and it can also be used outside a sandbox. (Snap I believe is using it and it should be not too hard to get it working in other tools like firejail either) Using it has the benefit that your application will also work inside a sandbox and doesn'…
Comment linking /2020/08/libei-library-to-support-emulated-input.html
on “Wayland on Wine: A First Update”Submitted Huion Devices in the Desktop Stack as a story · 2 points
HN discussion
