Comfortable Swipe (Ubuntu)

Comfortable, seamless, and fast 3-finger (and 4-finger) touchpad swipe gestures for Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and beyond. May work for other Linux distros that support libinput.

New in Version 1.1.0: Added mouse gestures, see #mouse-gestures-experimental

New in Version 1.2.0: Autostart now switched ON by default

Installation

1. Install git and g++ ≥ 7.5

   sudo apt install git g++
   

2. Install libinput-tools and C libraries

   sudo apt install libinput-tools libinih-dev libxdo-dev
   

3. Clone this repository

   git clone https://github.com/Hikari9/comfortable-swipe.git --depth 1
   cd comfortable-swipe
   

4. Install

   bash install
   

5. You may delete the downloaded comfortable-swipe folder after installation.

How to Run

1. You'll need some group permissions to read touchpad input data. Run

   sudo gpasswd -a "$USER" "$(ls -l /dev/input/event* | awk '{print $4}' | head --line=1)"
   

2. Important: After inputing your sudo password, log out then log back in

List of Commands

1. Start the Program

   comfortable-swipe start
   

   You will see this output:

   $ comfortable-swipe start
   Comfortable swipe is RUNNING in the background
   

2. Stop the Program

   comfortable-swipe stop
   

3. Toggle Autostart (optional)

   comfortable-swipe autostart
   comfortable-swipe autostart on
   comfortable-swipe autostart off
   comfortable-swipe autostart toggle
   comfortable-swipe autostart status
   comfortable-swipe autostart path
   

4. Program status

   comfortable-swipe status
   

   Example:

   $ comfortable-swipe status
   
   Autostart is ON
   Program is RUNNING
   --------------------
   Configuration: /home/user/.config/comfortable-swipe.conf
       left3 is   VALID (ctrl+super+Right)
       left4 is   VALID (ctrl+super+shift+Right)
      right3 is   VALID (ctrl+super+Left)
      right4 is   VALID (ctrl+super+shift+Left)
         up3 is   VALID (ctrl+F12)
         up4 is   VALID (super+d)
       down3 is   VALID (ctrl+F12)
       down4 is   VALID (super+d)
   threshold is   VALID (1.0)
      mouse3 is  NOTSET
      mouse4 is  NOTSET
   

5. Get config

   comfortable-swipe <PROPERTY>
   

   comfortable-swipe left3
   comfortable-swipe left4
   comfortable-swipe right3
   comfortable-swipe right4
   comfortable-swipe up3
   comfortable-swipe up4
   comfortable-swipe down3
   comfortable-swipe down4
   comfortable-swipe threshold
   comfortable-swipe mouse3
   comfortable-swipe mouse4
   

6. Set config

   comfortable-swipe <PROPERTY> [=] <VALUES>
   

   comfortable-swipe left3 = super+Right
   comfortable-swipe right3 = super+Left
   comfortable-swipe right4 = ctrl+alt+Left
   comfortable-swipe down4 = super+d
   comfortable-swipe up3 = ctrl+shift+Up
   

Other Commands

1. All Configuration commands

   comfortable-swipe config list
   comfortable-swipe config get <PROPERTY>
   comfortable-swipe config set <PROPERTY> [=] <VALUE>
   comfortable-swipe config path
   comfortable-swipe config keys
   

2. Help and Version

   comfortable-swipe --version
   comfortable-swipe --help
   

3. Show output with --attach

   Example output of 3-finger left, 4-finger left, 3-finger right, 3-finger up:

   $ comfortable-swipe start --attach
   SWIPE left3
   SWIPE left4
   SWIPE right3
   SWIPE up3
   ...
   

4. Test output with --bare to attach without actually swiping

   $ comfortable-swipe start --bare
   SWIPE left3
   SWIPE left4
   SWIPE right3
   SWIPE up3
   ...
   

5. Debug

   $ comfortable-swipe debug
   ...
   -event9   DEVICE_ADDED     TouchPad                     seat0 default group7  cap:pg  size 70x50mm tap(dl off) left scroll-nat scroll-2fg-edge click-buttonareas-clickfinger dwt-on
   ...
   event9   GESTURE_SWIPE_BEGIN  +2.03s   3
   event9   GESTURE_SWIPE_UPDATE  +2.03s  3 -9.95/ 2.64 (-26.90/ 7.12 unaccelerated)
   event9   GESTURE_SWIPE_UPDATE  +2.03s  3 -10.44/ 3.19 (-28.22/ 8.62 unaccelerated)
   event9   GESTURE_SWIPE_UPDATE  +2.04s  3 -9.71/ 2.64 (-26.25/ 7.12 unaccelerated)
   event9   GESTURE_SWIPE_UPDATE  +2.05s  3 -8.98/ 2.64 (-24.28/ 7.12 unaccelerated)
   event9   GESTURE_SWIPE_UPDATE  +2.06s  3 -7.40/ 2.36 (-20.01/ 6.37 unaccelerated)
   event9   GESTURE_SWIPE_UPDATE  +2.06s  3 -6.31/ 2.50 (-17.06/ 6.75 unaccelerated)
   event9   GESTURE_SWIPE_UPDATE  +2.07s  3 -5.34/ 1.80 (-14.44/ 4.87 unaccelerated)
   event9   GESTURE_SWIPE_UPDATE  +2.08s  3 -4.61/ 2.08 (-12.47/ 5.62 unaccelerated)
   event9   GESTURE_SWIPE_UPDATE  +2.09s  3 -4.49/ 1.53 (-12.14/ 4.12 unaccelerated)
   event9   GESTURE_SWIPE_UPDATE  +2.09s  3 -4.01/ 1.25 (-10.83/ 3.37 unaccelerated)
   event9   GESTURE_SWIPE_UPDATE  +2.10s  3 -4.13/ 0.42 (-11.15/ 1.12 unaccelerated)
   event9   GESTURE_SWIPE_END  +2.11s     3
   ...
   

Gesture Configurations

The default configuration file is located at ~/.config/comfortable-swipe.conf. Comfortable swipe makes use of keyboard shortcuts to perform swipes, through xdotool.

Set a property directly with:

comfortable-swipe <PROPERTY> [=] <VALUE>

Or edit the configuration file manually:

gedit ~/.config/comfortable-swipe.conf

After editing, make sure to restart with comfortable-swipe start.

Warning

: For v1.1.0 below, the configuration file is located at /usr/local/share/comfortable-swipe/comfortable-swipe.conf

Note

: You can locate the absolute path to your configuration by running: comfortable-swipe config path

Configuration Reference

Property	Value	Examples
left3	3-finger swipe left	ctrl+alt+Right
left4	4-finger swipe left	ctrl+alt+shift+Right
right3	3-finger swipe right	ctrl+alt+Left
right4	4-finger swipe right	ctrl+alt+shift+Left
up3	3-finger swipe up	ctrl+alt+Down
up4	4-finger swipe up	ctrl+alt+shift+Down
down3	3-finger swipe down	ctrl+alt+Up
down4	4-finger swipe down	ctrl+alt+shift+Up
threshold	mouse movement pixels that trigger a swipe (can be as large as 1000.0)	0.0 / 240.0 / 1000.0
mouse3	mouses a mouse button when 3 fingers are down	button1 / move / scroll (see Mouse Gestures)
mouse4	mouses a mouse button when 4 fingers are down	button1 / move / scroll (see Mouse Gestures

Keystrokes

Taken from man xdotool:

Type a given keystroke. Examples being "alt+r", "Control_L+J", "ctrl+alt+n", "BackSpace".

Generally, any valid X Keysym string will work. Multiple keys are separated by '+'. Aliases exist for "alt", "ctrl", "shift", "super", and "meta" which all map to Foo_L, such as Alt_L and Control_L, etc.

In cases where your keyboard doesn't actually have the key you want to type, xdotool will automatically find an unused keycode and use that to type the key.

Refer to https://www.linux.org/threads/xdotool-keyboard.10528/ for a complete list of keycodes you can use.

• DEFKEY - All Linux keyboard shortcuts
• Unity Keyboard Shortcuts
• GNOME Keyboard Shortcuts
• KDE Keyboard Shortcuts
• PopOS Keyboard Shortcuts

Example Configurations

This section includes some example configurations which you can use for your swipe experience.

1. Switch workspace (horizontal)

   # Ubuntu flavors + GNOME
   comfortable-swipe left3 = ctrl+alt+Right
   comfortable-swipe right3 = ctrl+alt+Left
   

2. Switch workspace (vertical)

   # Ubuntu flavors + GNOME
   comfortable-swipe up3 = ctrl+alt+Down
   comfortable-swipe down3 = ctrl+alt+Up
   

   # GNOME alt.
   comfortable-swipe up3 = super+PgDown
   comfortable-swipe down3 = super+PgUp
   

   # Pop OS
   comfortable-swipe up3 = ctrl+super+Down
   comfortable-swipe down3 = ctrl+super+Up
   

3. Move window to workspace (horizontal)

   # Ubuntu flavors + GNOME + Kali
   comfortable-swipe left4 = ctrl+alt+shift+Right
   comfortable-swipe right4 = ctrl+alt+shift+Left
   

   # Elementary OS
   comfortable-swipe left4 = super+alt+Right
   comfortable-swipe right4 = super+alt+Left
   

4. Move window to workspace (vertical)

   # Ubuntu flavors + GNOME + Kali
   comfortable-swipe up4 = ctrl+alt+shift+Down
   comfortable-swipe down4 = ctrl+alt+shift+Up
   

   # GNOME alt.
   comfortable-swipe up4 = super+shift+PgDown
   comfortable-swipe down4 = super+shift+PgUp
   

5. Move window to other monitor

   # Ubuntu flavors + GNOME
   comfortable-swipe left4 = super+shift+Right
   comfortable-swipe right4 = super+shift+Left
   

6. Toggle workspace overview

   # Ubuntu flavors + Elementary OS
   comfortable-swipe up3 = super+s
   

   # Elementary OS (all workspaces)
   comfortable-swipe up4 = super+a
   

7. Show desktop

   # Ubuntu flavors
   comfortable-swipe down3 = ctrl+super+d
   

   # Linux Mint
   comfortable-swipe down3 = super+d
   

   # Kali
   comfortable-swipe down3 = ctrl+alt+d
   

   # KDE
   comfortable-swipe down3 = ctrl+F12
   

8. Snap windows to the left/right

   comfortable-swipe left3 = super+Left
   comfortable-swipe right3 = super+Right
   

9. Toggle maximize

   comfortable-swipe up3 = super+Up
   

10. Toggle minimize

    comfortable-swipe down3 = super+Down
    

Mouse Gestures (Experimental)

You can also play around with mouse gestures during swipe. This enables certain mouse behaviour to trigger along with a 3/4-finger swipe.

Keys:

• mouse3 - for 3-finger mouse gestures
• mouse4 - for 4-finger mosue gestures
• hold3 (deprecated) - old equivalent of mouse3
• hold4 (deprecated) - old equivalent of mouse4

Possible Values:

• button1 - left click
• button2 - middle click
• button3 - right click
• button4 - wheel up (experimental)
• button5 - wheel down (experimental)
• move - just move the mouse cursor while fingers are down
• scroll - 3/4 finger natural scroll (no acceleration, very experimental)
• scroll_reverse - 3/4 finger reverse scroll (no acceleration, very experimental)

Tip

: You can clear mouse gestures by setting them blank

comfortable-swipe mouse3 =
comfortable-swipe mouse4 =

Examples:

✔️ swipes OK ⭕ swipes DISABLED

• 3/4-finger drag ⭕

  comfortable-swipe mouse3 = button1
  comfortable-swipe mouse4 = button1
  

  You can also use button2 for middle click and button3 for right click.

• 3/4-finger natural scroll ⭕

  comfortable-swipe mouse3 = scroll
  comfortable-swipe mouse4 = scroll
  

• 3/4-finger reverse scroll ⭕

  comfortable-swipe mouse3 = scroll_reverse
  comfortable-swipe mouse4 = scroll_reverse
  

• Move 3/4-fingers with the cursor ✔️

  comfortable-swipe mouse3 = move
  comfortable-swipe mouse4 = move
  

Warning

: Some mouse configuration will disable up/left/right/down behavior to avoid gesture conflicts. The logic of this will be improved in the future.

Debugging

You can check your touchpad driver by running

comfortable-swipe debug

This is an alias of libinput debug-events. This logs all gestures you make on your touchpad, along with other input-based events that can be captured by libinput.

A working swipe gesture will show the following:

$ comfortable-swipe debug
...
-event9   DEVICE_ADDED     TouchPad                     seat0 default group7  cap:pg  size 70x50mm tap(dl off) left scroll-nat scroll-2fg-edge click-buttonareas-clickfinger dwt-on
...
event9   GESTURE_SWIPE_BEGIN  +2.03s   3
event9   GESTURE_SWIPE_UPDATE  +2.03s  3 -9.95/ 2.64 (-26.90/ 7.12 unaccelerated)
event9   GESTURE_SWIPE_UPDATE  +2.03s  3 -10.44/ 3.19 (-28.22/ 8.62 unaccelerated)
event9   GESTURE_SWIPE_UPDATE  +2.04s  3 -9.71/ 2.64 (-26.25/ 7.12 unaccelerated)
event9   GESTURE_SWIPE_UPDATE  +2.05s  3 -8.98/ 2.64 (-24.28/ 7.12 unaccelerated)
event9   GESTURE_SWIPE_UPDATE  +2.06s  3 -7.40/ 2.36 (-20.01/ 6.37 unaccelerated)
event9   GESTURE_SWIPE_UPDATE  +2.06s  3 -6.31/ 2.50 (-17.06/ 6.75 unaccelerated)
event9   GESTURE_SWIPE_UPDATE  +2.07s  3 -5.34/ 1.80 (-14.44/ 4.87 unaccelerated)
event9   GESTURE_SWIPE_UPDATE  +2.08s  3 -4.61/ 2.08 (-12.47/ 5.62 unaccelerated)
event9   GESTURE_SWIPE_UPDATE  +2.09s  3 -4.49/ 1.53 (-12.14/ 4.12 unaccelerated)
event9   GESTURE_SWIPE_UPDATE  +2.09s  3 -4.01/ 1.25 (-10.83/ 3.37 unaccelerated)
event9   GESTURE_SWIPE_UPDATE  +2.10s  3 -4.13/ 0.42 (-11.15/ 1.12 unaccelerated)
event9   GESTURE_SWIPE_END  +2.11s     3
...

If you can see GESTURE_SWIPE_XXX in your output, that means your touchpad supports multi-touch swipe gestures.

FAQ: Can I run a shell command instead of a keystroke?

Answer 1: Unfortunately NO...

For the following reasons:

1. We want prioritize "comfort" over functionality, which we deliver through performance in our near-zero-overhead implementation (that's why C++)
2. Running a new shell command with unpredictable process time will break our unthreaded optimizations (unlike native keystrokes)
3. There are other gesture libraries that already do this properly (eg. libinput gestures, Fusuma), we don't want to be a clone of them

That's why it's not possible...

Answer 2: ... but actually YES!

Although we don't provide this out of the box in our config, this can definitely be done with the default bash tools.

Hack: Shell command on swipe

Running shell commands our NOT part of the core features of comfortable-swipe, but through the default bash tools you can mimic this functionality via our program output.

Use Case: "I want to run gnome-terminal if I swipe up with 3 fingers."

1. Attach the program to the shell:

   comfortable-swipe start --attach
   

   Verify it outputs when you swipe left, left, up, right, up with 3 fingers:

   $ comfortable-swipe start --attach
   SWIPE left3
   SWIPE left3
   SWIPE up3
   SWIPE right3
   SWIPE up3
   ...
   

2. Filter out the wanted gesture with grep.

   In our case, we want 3-finger swipe up which is "SWIPE up3":

   $ comfortable-swipe start --attach | grep --line-buffered "SWIPE up3"
   SWIPE up3
   SWIPE up3
   ...
   

   Note

   : The flag --line-buffered ensures the output prints line-by-line.

3. Now we can execute our shell command with xargs.

   So if we want "SWIPE up3" to open the terminal,

   comfortable-swipe start --attach | grep "SWIPE up3" --line-buffered | xargs -I@ gnome-terminal
   

   Note

   : The flag -I@ in xargs substitutes the line "SWIPE xxx" to the charatcter "@", which you can use for your program.

4. Bonus: Add to autostart

   Open our autostart file:

   gedit "$(comfortable-swipe autostart path)"
   

   Tweak the Exec section:

   [Desktop Entry]
   Type=Application
   Exec=comfortable-swipe start
   Name=Comfortable Swipe
   Comment=Comfortable 3/4-finger touchpad gestures
   Hidden=false
   NoDisplay=false
   X-GNOME-Autostart-enabled=true
   

   To:

   [Desktop Entry]
   Type=Application
   Exec=comfortable-swipe start --attach | grep "SWIPE up3" --line-buffered | xargs -I@ gnome-terminal
   Name=Comfortable Swipe
   Comment=Comfortable 3/4-finger touchpad gestures
   Hidden=false
   NoDisplay=false
   X-GNOME-Autostart-enabled=true
   

5. Log out and log back in. You should now be able to run your custom shell commands on startup.

6. Bonus: Use --bare instead of --attach to NOT run keystrokes while swiping

   comfortable-swipe start --bare | grep "SWIPE up3" --line-buffered | xargs -I@ gnome-terminal
   

7. Bonus: You can pipe multiple gestures with tee:

   comfortable-swipe start --attach | \
   tee >(grep "SWIPE left3"  --line-buffered | xargs -I@ <COMMAND>) | \
   tee >(grep "SWIPE left4"  --line-buffered | xargs -I@ <COMMAND>) | \
   tee >(grep "SWIPE right3" --line-buffered | xargs -I@ <COMMAND>) | \
   tee >(grep "SWIPE right4" --line-buffered | xargs -I@ <COMMAND>) | \
   tee >(grep "SWIPE up3"    --line-buffered | xargs -I@ <COMMAND>) | \
   tee >(grep "SWIPE up4"    --line-buffered | xargs -I@ <COMMAND>) | \
   tee >(grep "SWIPE down3"  --line-buffered | xargs -I@ <COMMAND>) | \
   tee >(grep "SWIPE down4"  --line-buffered | xargs -I@ <COMMAND>)
   

   Substitute <COMMAND> with the shell command of your choice.

Uninstall

Run the following script:

wget -qO - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Hikari9/comfortable-swipe/master/uninstall | bash

Bug Reports

Search in Issues if the problem has already been solved.

Otherwise, create a new issue to report your bug.

Please include the output of the following:

1. lsb_release -a
2. g++ --version
3. ls -l /dev/input/event*
4. xinput list | grep touchpad -i
5. lsmod | grep hid
6. comfortable-swipe status
7. comfortable-swipe start (if you can run it)
8. comfortable-swipe debug (try swiping if you can see GESTURE_SWIPE_XXX)
9. cat $(comfortable-swipe config)