path: root/tools/libinput-record.man

.TH libinput-record "1"
.SH NAME
libinput\-record \- record kernel events
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B libinput record [options] [\fI/dev/input/event0\fB [\fI/dev/input/event1\fB ...]]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
The \fBlibinput record\fR tool records kernel events from a device and
prints them in a format that can later be replayed with the \fBlibinput
replay(1)\fR tool.  This tool needs to run as root to read from the device.
.PP
The output of this tool is YAML, see \fBFILE FORMAT\fR for more details.
By default it prints to stdout unless an output file is provided. For
example, these are valid invocations:

.B libinput record /dev/input/event3 touchpad.yml

.B libinput record recording.yml

.B libinput record --all all-devices.yml

.B libinput record /dev/input/event3 /dev/input/event4 tp-and-keyboard.yml

.PP
The events recorded are independent of libinput itself, updating or
removing libinput will not change the event stream.
.SH OPTIONS
If one or more device nodes are given, this tool opens those device nodes.
Otherwise, a list of devices is presented and the user can select the device
to record. If unsure, run without any arguments.
.TP 8
.B \-\-help
Print help
.TP 8
.B \-\-all
Record all \fI/dev/input/event*\fR devices available on the system. This
option should be used in exceptional cases only, the output file is almost
always too noisy and replaying the recording may not be possible.
This option requires \fB\-\-output-file\fR and no device
nodes may be provided on the commandline.
.TP 8
.B \-\-autorestart=s
Terminate the current recording after
.I s
seconds of device inactivity. This option requires that a
\fB\-\-output-file\fR is specified. The output filename is used as prefix,
suffixed with the date and time of the recording. The timeout must be
greater than 0.
.TP 8
.B \-o filename.yml
.PD 0
.TP 8
.B \-\-output-file=filename.yml
.PD 1
Specifies the output file to use. If \fB\-\-autorestart\fR is given,
the filename is used as prefix only.
Where \-\-output-file is not given and the first \fBor\fR last argument is 
not an input device, the first \fBor\fR last argument will be the output
file.
.TP 8
.B \-\-grab
Exclusively grab all opened devices. This will prevent events from being
delivered to the host system.
.TP 8
.B \-\-show\-keycodes
Show keycodes as-is in the recording. By default, common keys are obfuscated
and printed as \fBKEY_A\fR to avoid information leaks.
.TP 8
.B \-\-with-libinput
Record libinput events alongside device events.
.B THIS FEATURE IS EXPERIMENTAL.
See section
.B RECORDING LIBINPUT EVENTS
for more details.

.SH RECORDING MULTIPLE DEVICES
Sometimes it is necessary to record the events from multiple devices
simultaneously, e.g.  when an interaction between a touchpad and a keyboard
causes a bug. \fBlibinput record\fR records multiple devices with
an identical time offset, allowing for correct replay of the interaction.
.PP
If multiple devices are recorded, an output filename must be provided.
.PP
All devices to be recorded must be provided on the commandline, an example
invocation is:

.B libinput record \-o tap-bug /dev/input/event3 /dev/input/event7

Note that when recording multiple devices, only the first device is printed
immediately, all other devices and their events are printed on exit.

.SH RECORDING LIBINPUT EVENTS
When the \fB\-\-with-libinput\fR switch is provided, \fBlibinput\-record\fR
initializes a libinput context for the devices being recorded. Events from
these contexts are printed alongside the evdev events.
.B THIS FEATURE IS EXPERIMENTAL.
.PP
The primary purpose of this feature is debugging and event analysis, no
caller may rely on any specific format of the events.
.PP
Note that while libinput and \fBlibinput\-record\fR see the same events from
the device nodes, no guarantee can be given about the correct order of
events. libinput events may come in earlier or later than the events from
the device nodes and for some devices, libinput may internally alter the
event stream before processing.
.PP
Note that the libinput context created by \fBlibinput\-record\fR does not
affect the running desktop session and does not (can not!) copy any
configuration options from that session.

.SH FILE FORMAT
The output file format is in YAML and intended to be both human-readable and
machine-parseable. Below is a short example YAML file, all keys are detailed
further below.
.PP
Any parsers must ignore keys not specified in the file format description.
The version number field is only used for backwards-incompatible changes.
.PP
.nf
.sp
version: 1
ndevices: 2
libinput:
  version: 1.10.0
system:
  os: "fedora:26"
  kernel: "4.13.9-200.fc26.x86_64"
  dmi: "dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvrGJET72WW(2.22):bd02/21/2014:svnLENOVO:..."
devices:
  - node: /dev/input/event9
    evdev:
      # Name: Synaptics TM2668-002
      # ID: bus 0x1d vendor 0x6cb product 00 version 00
      # Size in mm: 97x68
      # Supported Events:
      # Event type 0 (EV_SYN)

      #.. abbreviated for man page ...

      #
      name: Synaptics TM2668-002
      id: [29, 1739, 0, 0]
      codes:
        0: [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15] # EV_SYN
        1: [272, 325, 328, 330, 333, 334, 335] # EV_KEY
        3: [0, 1, 24, 47, 48, 49, 52, 53, 54, 55, 57, 58] # EV_ABS
      absinfo:
        0: [0, 4089, 0, 0, 42]
        1: [0, 2811, 0, 0, 41]
        24: [0, 255, 0, 0, 0]
        47: [0, 4, 0, 0, 0]
        48: [0, 15, 0, 0, 0]
        49: [0, 15, 0, 0, 0]
        52: [0, 1, 0, 0, 0]
        53: [0, 4089, 0, 0, 42]
        54: [0, 2811, 0, 0, 41]
        55: [0, 2, 0, 0, 0]
        57: [0, 65535, 0, 0, 0]
        58: [0, 255, 0, 0, 0]
      properties: [0, 2, 4]
    hid: [12, 23, 34, 45, ...]
    udev:
      properties:
      - ID_INPUT_MOUSE=1
      - ID_INPUT=1
    quirks:
      - ModelAppleTouchpad=1
      - AttrSizeHint=32x32
    events:
      - evdev:
        - [  0,      0,   3,  57,  1420] # EV_ABS / ABS_MT_TRACKING_ID   1420
        - [  0,      0,   3,  53,  1218] # EV_ABS / ABS_MT_POSITION_X    1218
        - [  0,      0,   3,  54,  1922] # EV_ABS / ABS_MT_POSITION_Y    1922
        - [  0,      0,   3,  52,     0] # EV_ABS / ABS_MT_ORIENTATION      0
        - [  0,      0,   3,  58,    47] # EV_ABS / ABS_MT_PRESSURE        47
        - [  0,      0,   1, 330,     1] # EV_KEY / BTN_TOUCH               1
        - [  0,      0,   1, 325,     1] # EV_KEY / BTN_TOOL_FINGER         1
        - [  0,      0,   3,   0,  1218] # EV_ABS / ABS_X                1218
        - [  0,      0,   3,   1,  1922] # EV_ABS / ABS_Y                1922
        - [  0,      0,   3,  24,    47] # EV_ABS / ABS_PRESSURE           47
        - [  0,      0,   0,   0,     0] # ------------ SYN_REPORT (0) ------- +0ms
      - evdev:
        - [  0,  11879,   3,  53,  1330] # EV_ABS / ABS_MT_POSITION_X    1330
        - [  0,  11879,   3,  54,  1928] # EV_ABS / ABS_MT_POSITION_Y    1928
        - [  0,  11879,   3,  58,    46] # EV_ABS / ABS_MT_PRESSURE        46
        - [  0,  11879,   3,   0,  1330] # EV_ABS / ABS_X                1330
        - [  0,  11879,   3,   1,  1928] # EV_ABS / ABS_Y                1928
        - [  0,  11879,   3,  24,    46] # EV_ABS / ABS_PRESSURE           46
        - [  0,  11879,   0,   0,     0] # ------------ SYN_REPORT (0) ------- +0ms
  # second device (if any)
  - node: /dev/input/event9
    evdev: ...
.PP
.fi
.in
Top-level keys are listed below, see the respective
subsection for details on each key.
.PP

.TP 8
.B version: int
The file format version. This version is only increased for
backwards-incompatible changes. A parser must ignore unknown keys to be
forwards-compatible.
.TP 8
.B ndevices: int
The number of device recordings in this file. Always 1 unless recorded with
.B --multiple
.TP 8
.B libinput: {...}
A dictionary with libinput-specific information.
.TP 8
.B system: {...}
A dictionary with system information.
.TP 8
.B devices: {...}
A list of devices containing the description and and events of each device.

.SS libinput
.TP 8
.B version: string
libinput version

.SS system
Information about the system
.TP 8
.B os: string
Distribution ID and version, see \fIos-release(5)\fR
.TP 8
.B kernel: string
Kernel version, see \fIuname(1)\fR
.TP 8
.B dmi: string
DMI modalias, see \fI/sys/class/dmi/id/modalias\fR

.SS devices
Information about and events from the recorded device nodes
.TP 8
.B node: string
the device node recorded
.TP 8
.B evdev
A dictionary with the evdev device information.
.TP 8
.B hid
A list of integers representing the HID report descriptor bytes.
.TP 8
.B udev
A dictionary with the udev device information.
.TP 8
.B events
A list of dictionaries with the recorded events
.SS evdev
.TP 8
.B name: string
The device name
.TP 8
.B id: [bustype, vendor, product, version]
The data from the \fBstruct input_id\fR, bustype, vendor, product, version.
.TP 8
.B codes: {type: [a, b, c ], ...}
All evdev types and codes as nested dictionary. The evdev type is the key,
the codes are a list.
.TP 8
.B absinfo: {code: [min, max, fuzz, flat, resolution], ...}
An array of arrays with 6 decimal elements each, denoting the contents of a
\fBstruct input_absinfo\fR. The first element is the code (e.g. \fBABS_X\fR)
in decimal format.
.TP 8
.B properties: [0, 1, ...]
Array with all \fBINPUT_PROP_FOO\fR constants. May be an empty array.
.SS udev
.TP 8
.B properties: list of strings
A list of udev properties in the \fBkey=value\fR format. This is not the
complete list of properties assigned to the device but a subset that is
relevant to libinput. These properties may include properties set on a
parent device.
.TP 8
.B quirks: list of strings
A list of device quirks the \fBkey=value\fR format.

.SS events
A list of the recorded events. The list contains dictionaries
Information about the events. The content is a list of dictionaries, with
the string identifying the type of event sequence.
.TP 8
.B { evdev: [ {"data": [sec, usec, type, code, value]}, ...] }
Each \fBinput_event\fR dictionary contains the contents of a \fBstruct
input_event\fR in decimal format. The last item in the list is always the
\fBSYN_REPORT\fR of this event frame. The next event frame starts a new
\fBevdev\fR dictionary entry in the parent \fBevents\fR list.

.SH NOTES
.PP
This tool records events from the kernel and is independent of libinput. In
other words, updating or otherwise changing libinput will not alter the
output from this tool. libinput itself does not need to be in use to record
events.
.SH LIBINPUT
.PP
Part of the
.B libinput(1)
suite