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)
swipe direction="any" fingers=3 mouse-up-delay=500 acceleration=20

// 4-finger workspace switching
swipe direction="w" fingers=4 end="hyprctl dispatch workspace e-1"
swipe direction="e" fingers=4 end="hyprctl dispatch workspace e+1"

Installation

Prerequisites

System packages:

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

Runtime dependencies:

• X11: xdotool (for 3-finger drag)
• 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 line 89 if needed

3-Finger Drag Not Working

X11:

• Ensure xdotool is installed: which xdotool

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)

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