unity does not allow third mouse button emulation

[Lennart Weller]

I've tested the feature in other window managers like KDE, XFCE and GNOME 3 and it works for all of them. Only unity fails and registers the event as right-click. And there is no option to turn it on in the control panel. This option is necessary as my laptop features no middle mouse button for the trackpoint.

/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/51-thirdbutton.conf:
Section "InputClass"
 Identifier "Trackpoint"
 MatchIsPointer "on"
 Option "Emulate3Buttons" "True"
EndSection

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: unity 4.12.0-0ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-9.15-generic 3.0.3
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-9-generic x86_64
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: [core,bailer,detection,composite,opengl,compiztoolbox,decor,imgpng,move,grid,vpswitch,snap,copytex,mousepoll,place,shift,regex,resize,gnomecompat,unitymtgrabhandles,session,animation,wall,expo,workarounds,ezoom,fade,switcher,scale,unityshell]
CompositorRunning: compiz
Date: Sun Sep 4 20:03:03 2011
DistUpgraded: Log time: 2011-07-14 13:52:34.872412
DistroCodename: oneiric
DistroVariant: ubuntu
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0046] (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:7008]
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Beta amd64 (20110330)
Lsusb:
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
 Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
 Bus 001 Device 003: ID 04f2:b163 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd
MachineType: Hewlett-Packard HP EliteBook 2540p
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   product info: "RICOH", "Bay8Controller", "", ""
   manfid: 0x0000, 0x0000
   function: 254 (unknown)
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   3.3V 16-bit PC Card
   Subdevice 0 (function 0) bound to driver "pata_pcmcia"
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/usr/bin/zsh
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LC_MESSAGES=de_DE.UTF-8
 LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
 LANGUAGE=de:en
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-3.0.0-9-generic root=UUID=6b7589a2-6858-447f-ad80-8bb1214dee2c ro pcie_aspm=force i915.i915_enable_rc6=1 i915.i915_enable_fbc=1 i915.lvds_downclock=1 quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: unity
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to oneiric on 2011-07-14 (52 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 11/24/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.bios.version: 68CSU Ver. F.08
dmi.board.name: 7008
dmi.board.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.board.version: KBC Version 38.32
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: CZC02394MR
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnHewlett-Packard:bvr68CSUVer.F.08:bd11/24/2010:svnHewlett-Packard:pnHPEliteBook2540p:pvr:rvnHewlett-Packard:rn7008:rvrKBCVersion38.32:cvnHewlett-Packard:ct10:cvr:
dmi.product.name: HP EliteBook 2540p
dmi.sys.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.5.92+bzr2791-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs 20090808ubuntu20
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.26-1ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 7.11-0ubuntu3
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 7.11-0ubuntu3
version.xserver-xorg: xserver-xorg 1:7.6+7ubuntu6
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.6.0-1ubuntu13
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.14.99~git20110811.g93fc084-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.15.901-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20110411+8378443-1

[Omer Akram (om26er)]

Could you explain the scope of this bug report? In my netbook pressing both left and right touchpad buttons act as middle click. Which key are you setting to work as middle click? Your bug report isn't clear about what you want to do and if the problem also happens with other window or only with the Unity interface.

[Lennart Weller (lhw)]

Actually I provided the info you asked for already. Im trying to emulate
the third mouse button for left+right-click and it registers only as
left click in unity. All other common window managers (except maybe
Unity 2D haven't tested it) work. The trackpoint registers itself as
simple generic mouse.

On 05.09.2011 13:38, Omer Akram wrote:
> Could you explain the scope of this bug report? In my netbook pressing
> both left and right touchpad buttons act as middle click. Which key are
> you setting to work as middle click? Your bug report isn't clear about
> what you want to do and if the problem also happens with other window or
> only with the Unity interface.
>
> ** Also affects: unity
> Importance: Undecided
> Status: New
>
> ** Changed in: unity
> Status: New => Incomplete
>
> ** Changed in: unity (Ubuntu)
> Status: New => Incomplete
>

[Paul Sladen (sladen)]

Lennart: I think perhaps what Omer is trying to understand is why (on your specific machine) mouse-chord/emulation is not enabled by default (it should have been working out-of-the-box on all non-Apple machines, and non-ThinkPads, and that having been the case for several years). This is one in the X server, which is a much lower-level than the window manager.

Could you possibly help clarify a couple of points:

  1. Does left+right (middle click emulation) work in other applications. Eg. can you use it for scrolling in Evince?
  2. Did left+right (middle click emulation) previously work automatically on the same hardware under a previous release of Ubuntu?
  3. Are there any preferences that yourself, or another user on the machine, have configured in the process of attempting to resolve the non-working left+right (middle click) emulation?

The main thing is to ascertain whether this is a particular machine (a particular touchpad), or a wider issue. I believe that "Incomplete" in this case refers to needing to fine out more information first, here that means whether fully understanding the extent (scope) of the problem that you've discovered.

[Lennart Weller (lhw)]

As you can see in the bug report attachments its an HP 2540p which comes
with a trackpoint + extra mouse buttons. But the trackpoint is
registered as simple generic mouse unlike Lenovos trackpoint.

1. No it does not work in any GNOME or KDE application.
2. Yes, it did work for unity in the 11.04 release and still does for
any other window manager right now. It also worked in unity 11.10 with
the first alpha.
3. Yes, as you can see in the bug report itself I added the .conf file
to /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d to reactivate third mouse button emulation
after it was removed as default.

Also note that I submitted this bug against xserver-xorg-input-evdev in
#816331 and it seemed fixed at that point and still is for other window
managers. Now as I gave unity another try I found it still corrupt here.

Am 05.09.2011 17:37, schrieb Paul Sladen:
> Lennart: I think perhaps what Omer is trying to understand is why (on
> your specific machine) mouse-chord/emulation is not enabled by default
> (it should have been working out-of-the-box on all non-Apple machines,
> and non-ThinkPads, and that having been the case for several years).
> This is one in the X server, which is a much lower-level than the window
> manager.
>
> Could you possibly help clarify a couple of points:
>
> 1. Does left+right (middle click emulation) work in other applications. Eg. can you use it for scrolling in Evince?
> 2. Did left+right (middle click emulation) previously work automatically on the same hardware under a previous release of Ubuntu?
> 3. Are there any preferences that yourself, or another user on the machine, have configured in the process of attempting to resolve the non-working left+right (middle click) emulation?
>
> The main thing is to ascertain whether this is a particular machine (a
> particular touchpad), or a wider issue. I believe that "Incomplete" in
> this case refers to needing to fine out more information first, here
> that means whether fully understanding the extent (scope) of the problem
> that you've discovered.
>

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

the bug is a bit weird, mouse behaviour shouldn't be different between the ie GNOME or Unity, the shell doesn't impact on those, what handle the mouse config is xorg and gnome-settings-daemon and in that regard Unity is just a GNOME session...

[Lennart Weller (lhw)]

Actually I can add some more information here. I'm currently using
gnome-shell
and I can use third button mouse emulation activated via
gpointing-device-settings
but as soon as I use suspend or shutdown the feature will be deactivated
again. The box is
still checked though. Deactivating the touchpad works after suspend but
not after shutdown.
It's kind of a weird bug i have to admit.

Am 20.04.2012 14:33, schrieb Sebastien Bacher:
> the bug is a bit weird, mouse behaviour shouldn't be different between
> the ie GNOME or Unity, the shell doesn't impact on those, what handle
> the mouse config is xorg and gnome-settings-daemon and in that regard
> Unity is just a GNOME session...
>
> ** Changed in: unity (Ubuntu)
> Importance: Undecided => Low
>
> ** Changed in: unity
> Importance: Undecided => Low
>

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Could you summarize again what works differently in unity and gnome-shell then? it's still puzzling that the pointing device behave differently in both...

[Lennart Weller (lhw)]

After further testing I can safely say that it's not window manager related. Mutter(gnome-shell), Compiz(unity), metacity(unity) all have the same problem. I can activate the emulation for the session only and after suspend or shutdown the setting is gone. Well it's still marked in the gpointing-device-settings window it just doesn't work anymore till you toggle the switch.