Trackpoint middle button scroll is not working after upgrading to 17.04

[Ibrahim Awwal]

With xserver-xorg-input-libinput installed, after upgrading from 16.10 to 17.04, when I hold the dotted scrolling bar on the trackpad and push the pointing stick, it doesn't scroll anymore.

In the BIOS the TrackPoint and TouchPad are both set to Enabled.

I do see that in /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/ there are evdev config files, but then the libinput file should be loaded after (prefixed with 40- instead of 10-).

I'm not able to use the 4.10.19 or 4.10.20 kernels as I get periodic full system hangs.

WORKAROUND: Remove:
/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/70-synaptics.conf

WORKAROUND: Executing the below makes the scrolling work, but then it breaks the trackpad's touch rejection for the button areas:
sudo modprobe -r psmouse && sudo modprobe psmouse proto=imps

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 17.04
Package: xserver-xorg-input-libinput 0.25.0-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.8.0-46.49-generic 4.8.17
Uname: Linux 4.8.0-46-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.4-0ubuntu4
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Awesome GNOME
Date: Fri May 12 12:24:20 2017
DistUpgraded: 2017-04-21 21:03:53,353 DEBUG Running PostInstallScript: './xorg_fix_proprietary.py'
DistroCodename: zesty
DistroVariant: ubuntu
InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-11-24 (1265 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.10 "Saucy Salamander" - Release amd64 (20131016.1)
MachineType: LENOVO 20AQCTO1WW
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.8.0-46-generic.efi.signed root=UUID=db348109-4f22-485b-a9ad-5526ee0ff06e ro quiet splash acpi_backlight=vendor crashkernel=384M-:128M vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: xserver-xorg-input-libinput
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to zesty on 2017-04-22 (20 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 04/12/2016
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: GJET89WW (2.39 )
dmi.board.asset.tag: Not Available
dmi.board.name: 20AQCTO1WW
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: 0B98405 STD
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvrGJET89WW(2.39):bd04/12/2016:svnLENOVO:pn20AQCTO1WW:pvrThinkPadT440s:rvnLENOVO:rn20AQCTO1WW:rvr0B98405STD:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 20AQCTO1WW
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad T440s
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.13.1+17.04.20170109-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.76-1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 17.0.3-1ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 17.0.3-1ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.19.3-1ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.10.5-1ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.9.0-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel N/A
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.14-0ubuntu1
xserver.bootTime: Sun Apr 30 00:20:25 2017
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.errors: SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: Read error 19
xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.version: 2:1.19.3-1ubuntu1
xserver.video_driver: modeset

[Ibrahim Awwal (ibrahim-awwal)]

Here's the xinput properties for the trackpoint. It looks like the scroll method should be set to button (the third bit is 1) but it doesn't actually work.

$ xinput --list-props 12
Device 'TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint':
 Device Enabled (140): 1
 Coordinate Transformation Matrix (142): 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000
 libinput Accel Speed (313): 0.000000
 libinput Accel Speed Default (314): 0.000000
 libinput Accel Profiles Available (315): 1, 1
 libinput Accel Profile Enabled (316): 1, 0
 libinput Accel Profile Enabled Default (317): 1, 0
 libinput Natural Scrolling Enabled (318): 0
 libinput Natural Scrolling Enabled Default (319): 0
 libinput Send Events Modes Available (261): 1, 0
 libinput Send Events Mode Enabled (262): 0, 0
 libinput Send Events Mode Enabled Default (263): 0, 0
 libinput Left Handed Enabled (320): 0
 libinput Left Handed Enabled Default (321): 0
 libinput Scroll Methods Available (322): 0, 0, 1
 libinput Scroll Method Enabled (323): 0, 0, 1
 libinput Scroll Method Enabled Default (324): 0, 0, 1
 libinput Button Scrolling Button (325): 2
 libinput Button Scrolling Button Default (326): 2
 libinput Middle Emulation Enabled (327): 0
 libinput Middle Emulation Enabled Default (328): 0
 Device Node (264): "/dev/input/event6"
 Device Product ID (265): 2, 10
 libinput Drag Lock Buttons (329): <no items>
 libinput Horizontal Scroll Enabled (330): 1

[Ibrahim Awwal (ibrahim-awwal)]

Christopher, I added you to this bug since you mentioned it on the other bug where I commented. (I only commented there in case anyone who had experienced that bug previously noticed a regression upon upgrading, but I realize that isn't the best etiquette.)

I made this bug report by using `apport-bug xserver-xorg-input-libinput`, I hope that's okay!

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Ibrahim Awwal:
1) To clarify, which prior Ubuntu version(s) was this functionality working in?
2) Referencing https://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/t440s_ug_en.pdf you had the BIOS set to TrackPoint mode (not Classic TrackPoint mode) both in the prior release(s) where this was working, and in 17.04?
3) Were you using libinput in the prior release(s) where this was working?
4) If you uninstall libinput, would this functionality be restored?
5) Could you please advise which 4.10 kernel specifically was causing system hangs (ex. 4.10.0-19.21)?

[Ibrahim Awwal (ibrahim-awwal)]

1) At the very least, 16.10. I think it was working ever since I installed libinput as noted in the earlier bug, which might have been around 16.04 or 15.10.

2) I don't think that's a BIOS setting? Not sure where you're getting that from, I think it's a Windows driver setting. In any case, both my trackpoint and touchpad are enabled, and the appropriate regions at the top of the clickpad are acting as the trackpoint buttons (i.e. I can left, middle, and right click fine, I just can't hold middle click to scroll).

3) I was using libinput in the prior releases.

4) Have not tried uninstalling libinput, but I can give that a go. But maybe it'd be easier to just comment out the conf file lines first, so that it's just installed but not used.

5) 4.10.19 and .20, I just got the update to .21 today and have not tried it yet.

[Ibrahim Awwal (ibrahim-awwal)]

Hi Christopher! I figured out the issue today. Turns out that the issue is because synaptics was being used for the touchpad, but everything else was libinput, I guess somehow those two parts don't work together to enable middle click scrolling. Disabling synaptics by removing /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/70-synaptics.conf made everything work.

I'd been meaning to try this earlier, but wasn't sure that anything related to synaptics should have changed in the upgrade. I had been experiencing some other annoyances related to my touchpad recently, and thought it was weird that these things were happening since the upgrade, but now that I disabled it all my issues are gone. One of the issues I was experiencing was that sometimes I would use two finger scroll on my touchpad and then use ctrl+some key to perform some keyboard shortcut, but because there was now inertial scrolling it would start zooming the page instead, even though I had taken my fingers off the touchpad and was no longer actively scrolling. I first disabled the inertia, but then I realized that I never had inertia before (to be fair, I always used to use trackpoint middle button scrolling so I never used two finger scroll before) so I figured maybe something was different now. I had thought it was weird that all my other devices were handled by libinput except for the touchpad, and after disabling synaptics all the quirks are gone.

I'm not sure what to do about the state of the bug; perhaps it should be moved to synaptics, or maybe it's just a broader input bug? I don't know if 17.04 enabled synaptics where it wasn't enabled before, but I do know that things broke after upgrading to 17.04 and synaptics was apparently the culprit.

Thanks for your help in filing this bug! I appreciate everything you and everyone at Canonical/Ubuntu do to make our experiences great.

[dino99 (9d9)]

That version is now dead
http://news.softpedia.com/news/ubuntu-17-04-zesty-zapus-has-reached-end-of-life-upgrade-to-ubuntu-17-10-now-519360.shtml

Closing that report as there are many changes in kernels/libinput/xserver