GPM(1)

NAME
gpm - a cut and paste utility and mouse server for virtual consoles

SYNOPSIS
gpm [ options ]

DESCRIPTION
This package tries to be a useful mouse server for applications running on the Linux console. It is based on the "selection" package, and some of its code comes from selection itself. This package is intended as a replacement for "selection" as a cut-and-paste mechanism; it also provides additional facilities. The "selection" package offered the first cut-and-paste implementation for Linux using two mouse buttons, and the cut buffer is still called "selection buffer" or just "selection" throughout this document. The information below is extracted from the texinfo file, which is the preferred source of information.

The gpm executable is meant to act like a daemon (thus, gpmd would be a better name for it). This section is meant to describe the command-line options for gpm, while its internals are outlined in the next section. Gpm Internals.

Due to restrictions in the ioctl(TIOCLINUX) system call, gpm must be run by the superuser. The restrictions have been added in the last 1.1 kernels to fix a security hole related to selection and screen dumping.

The server can be configured to match the user's taste, and any application using the mouse will inherit the server's attitude. Beginning from release 1.02, the mouse `feeling' can be reconfigured by each user logging on the system console. See the description of ``-q'' Server Invocation.

As of 0.97 the server program puts itself in the background. To kill gpm you can just reinvoke it with the -k cmdline switch, although killall gpm can be a better choice.

SPECIAL COMMANDS

Version 1.10 adds the capability to execute special commands on certain circumstances. Special commands default to rebooting and halting the system, but the user can specify his/her personal choice. The capability to invoke commands using the mouse is a handy one for programmers, because it allows to issue a clean shutdown when the keyboard is locked and no network is available to restore the system to a sane state.

Special commands are toggled by triple-clicking the left and right button -- an unlikely event during normal mouse usage. The easiest way to triple-click is pressing one of the buttons and triple-click the other one. When special processing is toggled, a message appears on the console (and the speaker beeps twice, if you have a speaker); if the user releases all the buttons and presses one of them again within three seconds, then the special command corresponding to the button is executed.

The default special commands are:

left button
    Reboot the system by signalling the init process

middle button (if any)
    Execute `/sbin/shutdown -h now'

right button
    Execute `/sbin/shutdown -r now'

The -S commandline switch enables special command processing and allows to change the three special commands. To accept the default commands use `-S ""' (i.e., specify an empty argument). To specify your own commands, use a colon-separated list to specify commands associated to the left, middle and right button. If any of the commands is empty, it is interpreted as `send a signal to the init process'. This particular operation is supported, in addition to executing external commands, because sometimes bad bugs put the system to the impossibility to fork; in these rare case the programmer should be able to shutdown the system anyways, and killing init from a running process is the only way to do it.

As an example, `-S ":telinit 1:/sbin/halt"', associates killing init to the left button, going single user to the middle one, and halting the system to the right button.

System administrators should obviously be careful about special commands, as gpm runs with superuser permissions. Special commands are best suited for computers whose mouse can be physically accessed only by trusted people.

COMMAND LINE OPTIONS

Available command line options are the following:

-a accel
    Set the acceleration value used when a single motion event is longer than delta (see -d).

-b baud
    Set the baud rate.

-B sequence
    Set the button sequence. ``123'' is the normal sequence, ``321'' can be used by left-handed people, and ``132'' can be useful with two-button mice (especially within Emacs). All the button permutations are allowable.

-d delta
    Set the delta value. When a single motion event is longer than delta, accel is used as a multiplying factor. (Must be 2 or above)

-g number
    With glidepoint devices, emulate the specified button with tapping. number must be 1, 2, or 3, and refers to the button number before the -B button remapping is performed. This option applies to the mman and ps2 decoding. No button is emulated by default because the ps2 tapping is incompatible with some normal ps2 mice

-h  Print a summary of command line options.

-i interval
    Set interval to be used as an upper time limit for multiple clicks. If the interval between button-up and button-down events is less than limit, the press is considered a double or triple click. Time is in milliseconds.

-k  Kill a running gpm. This can be used by busmouse users to kill gpm before running X (unless they use -R or the single-open limitation is removed from the kernel).

-l charset
    Choose the inword() look up table. The charset argument is a list of characters. - is used to specify a range and is used to escape the next character or to provide octal codes. Only visible character can appear in charset because control characters can't appear in text-mode video memory, whence selection is cut.

-m filename
    Choose the mouse file to open. It defaults to /dev/mouse.

-M  Enable multiple mode. The daemon will read two different mouse devices. Any subsequent option will refer to the second device, while any preceding option will be used for the first device. This option automatically forces the ``repeater'' (-R) option on.

-o lines
    Toggle modem lines. The lines argument can be ``dtr'', ``rts'' or ``both''. This is needed for some strange serial mice.

-p  Forces the pointer to be visible while selecting. This is the behaviour of selection-1.7, but it is sometimes confusing. The default is not to show the pointer, which can be confusing as well.

-q  Quit after changing mouse behaviour. This is intended to allow users to change the mouse ``feeling'' (-a, -B, -d, -i, -l, -p, -r) without restarting the server. Since this needs root permissions, the system administrators can use the `set-uid' bits to enable/disable such capability. Changing mouse parameters is nonetheless only allowed from one of the virtual consoles. Options are transferred only for the first mouse.

-r number
    Set the responsiveness. A higher responsiveness is used for a faster cursor motion.

-R  Causes gpm to act as a repeater: any mouse data received while in graphic mode will be produced on the fifo /dev/gpmdata in mouse-system protocol. This means that you can configure the X server to use that fifo as a mouse device. This option is useful for bus-mouse owners to override the single-open limitation. It is also an easy way to manage those stupid dual-mode mice which force you to keep the middle button down while changing video mode. The option is forced on by the -M option.

-s number
    Set the sample rate for the mouse device.

-S commands
    Enable special-command processing, and optionally specify custom commands as a colon-separated list. See above for a detailed description of special commands.

-t name
    Set the mouse type. Use -t help to get a list of allowable types. Mouse Types.

-v  Print version information and exit.

-2  Force two buttons. This means that the middle button, if any, will be taken as it was the right one.

-3  Force three buttons. By default the mouse is considered to be a 2-buttons one, until the middle button is pressed. If three buttons are there, the right one is used to extend the selection, and the middle one is used to paste it. Beware: if you use the -3 option with a 2-buttons mouse, you won't be able to paste the selection.

OPERATION

To select text press the left mouse button and drag the mouse. To paste text in the same or another console, press the middle button. The right button is used to extend the selection, like in `xterm'.

Two-button mice use the right button to paste text.

Double and triple clicks select whole wird and whole lines. Use of the `-P' option is recommended for best visual feedback.

If a trailing space after the contents of a line is highlighted, and if there is no other text on the remainder of the line, the rest of the line will be selected automatically. If a number of lines are selected, highlighted trailing spaces on each line will be removed from the selection buffer.

Any output on the virtual console holding the selection will clear the highlighted selection from the screen, to maintain integrity of the display, although the contents of the paste buffer will be unaffected.

The selection mechanism is disabled if the controlling virtual console is placed in graphics mode, for example when running X11, and is re-enabled when text mode is resumed. (But see BUGS section below.)

BUGS
The gpm server may have problems interacting with X: if your mouse is a single-open device (i.e. a bus mouse), you should kill gpm before strating X, or use the ``-R'' option (see above). To kill gpm just invoke gpm -k. This problem doesn't apply to serial mice.

Two instances of gpm can't run on the same system. If you have two mice use the ``-M'' option (see above).

While the current console is in graphic mode, gpm sleeps until text mode is back (unless -R is used). Thus, it won't reply to clients. Anyways, it is unlikely that mouse-eager clients will spur out in hidden consoles.

pre-1.0 gpm releases have problems with kernel 1.2.9 and later, because the clients must have write permission on the node /var/run/gpmctl. You should invoke chmod on the node or install gpm-1.0 or later (you have this docs, you have the updated software).

AUTHORS
Andrew Haylett <ajh@gec-mrc.co.uk> (the original selection code)
Alessandro Rubini <rubini@linux.it> (new features)
Many many contributors, to both selection and gpm.

MAINTAINERS

Beginning with version 1.14 I release exclusive maintainance. Ian Zimmermann and Prosa Inc. are going to support gpm development. The official contact point is now the mailing list gpm@animal.unipv.it, thanks to my University which generously hosts gpm discussions. The list is managed by SmartList and anyone is welcome.

FILES
/dev/mouse      The default mouse device
/var/run/gpmpid The PID of the running gpm
/var/run/gpmctl A control socket for clients
/dev/gpmdata    The fifo written to by a `repeater' (-R) daemon.

SEE ALSO
mev(1)      A sample client for the gpm daemon.
gpm-root(1) An handler for Control-Mouse events.
The info file about `gpm', which gives more complete information and explains how to write a gpm client.