Gestures

This fork focuses on high-performance three-finger dragging with optimizations for both X11 and Wayland.

For technical details, see: riley-martin#6

Pre-compiled binaries: https://github.com/ferstar/gestures/releases

Install via cargo: cargo install --git https://github.com/ferstar/gestures.git

About

A libinput-based touchpad gesture handler that executes commands based on gestures. Unlike alternatives, it uses the libinput API directly for better performance and reliability.

Features

• Platform Support: Both X11 and Wayland
• High Performance:
  • X11: Direct libxdo API for minimal latency
  • Wayland: Optimized ydotool integration with 60 FPS throttling
  • Thread pool for command execution (4 workers, prevents PID exhaustion)
• Gesture Types: Swipe (8 directions + any), Pinch, Hold
• Advanced Features:
  • Mouse acceleration and delay for smooth 3-finger dragging
  • Real-time config reload via IPC
  • Graceful shutdown (SIGTERM/SIGINT)

Configuration

See config.md for detailed configuration instructions.

Quick Setup

# Generate default config file
gestures generate-config
# Preview config without installing
gestures generate-config --print
# Force overwrite existing config
gestures generate-config --force

Quick Example

// 3-finger drag (works on both X11 and Wayland)swipedirection="any"fingers=3mouse-up-delay=500acceleration=20// 4-finger workspace switchingswipedirection="w"fingers=4end="hyprctl dispatch workspace e-1"swipedirection="e"fingers=4end="hyprctl dispatch workspace e+1"

Installation

Prerequisites

System packages:

• libudev-dev / libudev-devel
• libinput-dev / libinput-devel
• libxdo-dev / libxdo-devel

Runtime dependencies:

• X11: No extra runtime dependency for drag (uses libxdo directly)
• Wayland: ydotool + ydotoold daemon (for 3-finger drag)
  • If your distribution package has issues, try the official ydotool binaries from GitHub releases

With Cargo

cargo install --git https://github.com/ferstar/gestures.git

Manual Build

git clone https://github.com/ferstar/gestures
cd gestures
cargo build --release
sudo cp target/release/gestures /usr/local/bin/

Nix Flakes

# flake.nix{inputs.gestures.url="github:ferstar/gestures";# Then add to packages:# inputs.gestures.packages.${system}.gestures}

Running

Systemd (Recommended)

# 1. Generate config file (first time only)
gestures generate-config
# 2. Install service file
gestures install-service
# 3. Enable and start the service
systemctl --user enable --now gestures.service

Manual

# Auto-detect display server (X11 or Wayland)
gestures start
# Force Wayland mode (if needed)
gestures --wayland start
# Force X11 mode (if needed)
gestures --x11 start
# Reload config
gestures reload
# Preview service file (without installing)
gestures install-service --print

Note: The display server (X11/Wayland) is automatically detected via WAYLAND_DISPLAY and XDG_SESSION_TYPE environment variables. Manual override is rarely needed.

Performance Optimizations

This fork includes several performance improvements:

1. Regex Caching: One-time compilation using once_cell::Lazy
2. Thread Pool: 4-worker pool prevents PID exhaustion during fast gestures
3. FPS Throttling: 60 FPS limit for Wayland (considering ydotool ~100ms latency)
4. Timer-based Delays: Non-blocking mouse-up delays for smooth dragging
5. Event Caching: 1-second cache for gesture configuration lookups

Troubleshooting

High CPU on Wayland

• Default 60 FPS throttle should keep CPU <5%
• Adjust in src/event_handler.rs (ThrottleState::new(60)) if needed

3-Finger Drag Not Working

X11:

• Ensure X11 session env is correct (DISPLAY / XAUTHORITY)

Wayland:

• If your distribution package has issues, try the official ydotool binaries from GitHub releases
• Ensure ydotoold daemon is running: systemctl --user status ydotoold
• Configure uinput permissions (see issue #4)

Wayland Permission Denied (trackpad or ydotool socket)

Symptoms:

• Gestures cannot read touchpad events
• Or logs contain ydotool socket permission/path errors

Checks and fixes:

# 1) Ensure current user is in input-related group (distro-dependent)
id -nG
sudo usermod -aG input $USER# 2) Re-login so new group membership takes effect# 3) Run ydotoold as user service (not system/root service)
systemctl --user enable --now ydotoold.service
systemctl --user status ydotoold.service
# 4) Verify socket exists in user runtime dir
ls -la "$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/.ydotool_socket"

Notes:

• Avoid chmod 777 on the socket as a long-term fix.
• Keep gestures and ydotoold in the same user session to avoid permission mismatch.

libxdo Shared Library Error on X11

Symptom:

• journalctl --user -u gestures shows:
  • error while loading shared libraries: libxdo.so.3: cannot open shared object file

Cause:

• System xdotool/libxdo was upgraded (for example to libxdo.so.4), but your existing gestures binary was built against an older SONAME (libxdo.so.3).

Fix:

# Rebuild and reinstall gestures binary
cargo install --path . --force
# Restart user service
systemctl --user restart gestures
# Verify runtime link and logs
ldd ~/.cargo/bin/gestures | grep libxdo
journalctl --user -u gestures -n 50 --no-pager

Conflicts with DE Gestures

Disable built-in gestures in your desktop environment (GNOME, KDE, etc.)

Alternatives

• libinput-gestures - Parses debug output
• gebaar - Swipe only
• fusuma - Ruby-based