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I would like to write a script to prevent a computer from locking by virtually wiggling the mouse. However, I do not have xdotool on the computer that I am using, and I cannot install since I am not root. Is there a way to move the cursor without using xdotool?

Braiam
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ichbinallen
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    Why do this instead of just disabling your lock screen? – HalosGhost Oct 26 '14 at 02:50
  • Is using `dbus-send` an option to disable the screensaver? [How can I trigger the screensaver's locking feature using D-BUS from the command line?](http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/107787/how-can-i-trigger-the-screensavers-locking-feature-using-d-bus-from-the-command/107789#107789) – slm Oct 26 '14 at 05:06
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    Obligatory XKCD: http://xkcd.com/196/ – tpg2114 Oct 26 '14 at 15:08

2 Answers2

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According to this answer you can move the pointer of your mouse using command-line with the following procedure:

  1. First you need to find mouse input device with

    grep mouse /proc/bus/input/devices | grep event

You should see something like H: Handlers=mouse0 event7 in my case. It could output more than one line if you have more than one mouse (e.g. touchpad). The important part is event7, it means you will write to /dev/input/event7.

  1. Then the following will move mouse pointer 100 pixels to the right:

    seconds=$(date +%s)
type=2      # EV_REL
code=0      # REL_X
value=100   # 100 pixels

printf '%08X%04X%04X%08X%08X\n' $value $code $type 0 $seconds | xxd -r -p | \
    perl -0777e 'print scalar reverse <>' > /dev/input/event7

type=0      # EV_SYN
code=0      # SYN_REPORT
value=0

printf '%08X%04X%04X%08X%08X\n' $value $code $type 0 $seconds | xxd -r -p | \
    perl -0777e 'print scalar reverse <>' > /dev/input/event7

I didn't test whether this procedure is equivalent to real mouse movement in the sense of interrupting locking mechanism.

DimiDak
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jimmij
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10

That you cannot install xdotool because you are not root doesn't mean you cannot run the program, for that you don't need any special privileges.

Just download and compile from source.

If you don't have access to a compiler then you can download the package for your system directly and extract the file from the package (for .deb first use ar, extracting from .rpm can be done with rpm2cpio)

Anthon
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