input devices configuration not saved

[breek]

inkscape 0.91 (package from official xubuntu 15.10 repo)
wacom bamboo fun

tablet is recognized and works "as a mouse" (no pressure).
i set it in screen mode (input devices configuration panel) and click save but nothing is saved; clicking on another device and then back to the one selected before shows that it's still in disabled mode.
restarting the application/system doesn't help.

the tablet works ok in gimp

[breek (breek)]

using a text editor to open /home/user/.config/inkscape/preferences.xml and changing the tablet settings from "disabled" to "screen" solves the problem and the tablet now has pressure sensitivity.
so it seems that the problem is that inkscape cannot write that file.

[jazzynico (jazzynico)]

Confirmed on Xubuntu 15.10, Inkscape 0.91 and trunk rev. 14479.

[jazzynico (jazzynico)]

Correction, it works as expected with a tablet, but doesn't take changes to the default (core pointer and mouse) devices into account (which is not a bug but a normal behavior).

Apparently your tablet is not detected as a tablet, but as a mouse device.
Could you please attach a copy of your preferences.xml file so that we could investigate? Thanks!

[breek (breek)]

here it is ;)

[Etuardu (etuardu)]

Confirmed on Debian 5.3.1-7, Linux v. 4.3.0-1-amd64, package inkscape_0.91-7+b1_amd64.

From input device configuration I only managed to set the pen to "window", whereas setting it to "screen" was not being kept in memory.

I had to manually set it to "screen" editing the configuration file.

[peter.muster (durtreg)]

1. the same goes for Synaptics Touchpad (with libinput), which cannot be enabled. So it's not possible to click with the touchpad at all if there is a wacom tablet/pen being used. This means you can either have a pen or the mouse but not both. The mouse can however click in the menus.

2. the workaround for the problem mentioned before by others is to set all those things manually in ~/.config/inkscape/preferences.xms to mode="screen". It then looks like this:
  <group
     id="devices">
    <group
       id="P:Wacom Co.,Ltd. Pen and multitouch sensor Pen stylus"
       mode="screen"
       axes="x;y;pressure;xtilt;ytilt;wheel"
       keys="" />
    <group
       id="E:Wacom Co.,Ltd. Pen and multitouch sensor Pen eraser"
       mode="screen"
       axes="x;y;pressure;xtilt;ytilt;wheel"
       keys="" />
    <group
       id="P:Wacom Co.,Ltd. Pen and multitouch sensor Finger"
       mode="screen"
       axes="x;y;pressure;xtilt"
       keys="" />
  </group>

[Hachmann (marenhachmann)]

I've got the same problem.

While in Inkscape 0.91, the program creates hundreds of repetitive keys entries (repeats this kind of thing: "&lt;Primary&gt;&lt;Mod3&gt;&lt;Mod4&gt;&lt;Mod5&gt;&lt;Hyper&gt;&lt;Super&gt;"), which makes the preferences file nearly impossible to edit), I have pressure sensitivity in 0.91, but not in 0.92.2 or 0.92.x branch (where it creates hundreds of semicolons in those places... and doesn't save when I set 'screen').

Copying the old 'devices' group from the 0.91 prefs over into the 0.92.x preferences solves the issue. Inkscape did see that the tablet has pressure sensitivity.

[Wolter HV (wolterh)]

Why is this marked as won't fix?

I can confirm this issue on inkscape 0.92.2-8, running Arch Linux x86_64 with Linux kernel 4.15.2-2-ARCH.

This issue is very annoying, I have to reconfigure my touchpad every time I open inkscape.

[Hachmann (marenhachmann)]

@wolterh: It's marked as wontfix for gentoo - it's a valid bug report for Inkscape.

[Dirk Lucas (aospades)]

I can confirm the bug on Windows 10, with Inkscape 0.92.3 and an old Wacom Graphire tablet.

In the input devices dialogue only "window" can be selected (this mode has other issues, e.g. no mouse pointer is displayed). If "screen" is selected the settings just jumps back to "disabled". But I can edit the file preferences.xml and set stylus and eraser to mode="screen" and both work as expected.

[Jacob (turai-ossa)]

Can confirm with Windows 10, Inkscape 0.92.4 and a new Huion HS611 tablet. Changing preferences.xml worked after restarting Inkscape while the edited file was read only (it would change the settings back to window otherwise).

[Hachmann (marenhachmann)]

Hi Jacob,

thank you very much for your testing and investigations.

About a year ago, we opened our new bug tracker at https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inbox/issues/ .

We have set up a game for moving bug reports, too: https://alpha.inkscape.org/bug-migration/

Unfortunately, as there is no option to close this tracker without also making it invisible at the same time, and we have no way to tell people (who only come here to comment) about the new bug tracker.

Could you please help us by:

a) checking if this bug is already logged in the new tracker and
b) either opening a new report, summarizing your findings, or adding your information to any existing bug report for this topic?