Re: [gentoo-user] Synaptics and HAL Device Information Files

[Redouane Boumghar]

Thank you very much for your clear answers.

Now my touchpad works although I didn't change anything but I have
recompiled HAL (with dell USE flag) and the drivers.

In the early stage, not knowing precisely what filename to use I have
used the file name "99-x11-synaptics.fdi". It is still so but I will
change it while tuning its configuration.

My touchpad wasn't responding. And I realize now that it wasn't even
recognized at all (not in list : xinput list).

I have a DELL computer but I didn't have the "dell" USE flag for HAL so
I activated it and recompiled HAL. I did recompile xf86-input-synaptics
and xf86-input-evdev just in case.
I have restarted the HAL daemon but it wasn't working better.
I have rebooted my computer and the touchpad is now running fine.
And now I have this new entry in the xinput list :
"AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint"      id=3    [XExtensionPointer]

I just can guess that HAL could not recognize the touchpad by itself
and it needed new (fresh recompiled) driver support and a reloading of
the kernel (== reboot). I really am in the fog but I can walk on it.

Thank you very much for your enlightment.

:)
Red.

On Tue, May 26, 2009 at 11:54:34AM -0400, Mike Edenfield wrote:
> On 5/26/2009 5:58 AM, Redouane Boumghar wrote:
>
>> First of all where can I find information about the file names of FDI ?
>> NUMBER-NAME-NAME.fdi
>>
>> Where are the specification of the nomenclature ?
>> I have found different names possible :
>> 11-x11-synaptics.fdi
>> 99-x11-synaptics.fdi
> >
>> Why the donkey would it be 99 or 11 ?
>
> Since (as I see below) you've added "hal" to your USE flags for the
> xf86-input-synaptics driver, you should already have the synaptics HAL data
> installed -- the post-ebuild messages would tell you where those are.
> Currently, the stock HAL rules are installed into
>
> /usr/share/hal/fdi/policy/10osvendor/11-x11-synaptics.fdi
>
>
> The reason it's number 11 is because the synaptics Xorg driver exposes
> itself to HAL in a way that also looks like a mouse, so it matches all on
> the HAL rules for standard pointer device behavior.  The synaptics rules
> need to override the normal rules, which are in the file
> 10-x11-pointer.fdi, so the synaptics rules go into 11-x11-synaptics.fdi and
> get loaded second.
>
> The file named 99- is most likely a suggestion from someone for a local
> customization to the policy, since it will be loaded after everything else.
>  Since the synaptics rules are included in the base HAL policy now, there's
> no need for the 99- file.
>
>
>> The thing is that I don't know how to match my touchpad with the
>> fdi policy or that I have another unknown problem.
>
> You should not have to do anything to get your touchpad recognized by HAL
> as a synaptics device, since you already have the HAL policy file locally.
> You can use lshal(1) to ask HAL what devices it found, for example:
>
> lshal | grep -9 input.x11_driver
>
> You should see a result which includes:
>
> input.x11_driver = 'synaptics'
>
> If you back up a few lines you will see the info.capabilities set, which
> should include items like "input", "input.mouse", and input.touchpad.
>
> The default settings are in the FDI file in /usr/share, which will also
> show you how to override any of those settings.  Basically, anything that
> used to be an xorg.conf option can be set using an
> "input.x11_options.OPTIONNAME" key.  For example, to turn on SHMConfig so
> you can use the synaptics utilities:
>
> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
> <deviceinfo version="0.2">
>   <device>
>     <match key="info.capabilities" contains="input.touchpad">
>       <merge key="input.x11_options.SHMConfig" type="string">On</merge>
>     </match>
>   </device>
> </deviceinfo>
>
> Put this in an FDI file inside your /etc/hal/fdi/policy folder, such as
>
> /etc/hal/fdi/policy/10osvendor/11-x11-synaptics.fdi
>