X11 multi-pointer, pointer conflicts

Question

In an attempt to continue using my PC whilst automating a GUI application, I have created 2 pointers on my machine using xinput, one being controlled by me, the other by pyautogui.

on my system this is done by:

xinput create-master mynewpointer
xinput reattach 10 11

I use master pointer 11 pyautogui uses default pointer 2

However the pointers conflict with each other in various ways, snatching focus from each other being one of the major problems.

Even using xinput --map-to-output or --set-cp does not work, the pointer still "flicks" back from the window/monitor being tested when my pointer grabs focus on a new window.

Is there anyway to seperate these pointers?

It might help to switch your window manager to click to focus. — James Youngman, May 19 '16 at 06:36

meuh · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-22T07:22:53.243

2

Perhaps instead you could just use a separate dedicated X11 server for the application. This can be as simple as running

Xnest :1 &

and then running your app under DISPLAY=:1. However, the cursor is not shown unless the real cursor is in the window, and moving your cursor into the window will move the Xnest cursor.

Another alternative is to start a VNC server. This is a bit more independent.

vncserver :1 securitytypes=none -interface localhost
vncviewer :1

There is also the Xephyr nested server, which is like Xnest but adds many features that the underlying server might not have, and also exists in a version with OpenGL.

edited May 22 '16 at 07:22

answered May 19 '16 at 06:53

meuh

49,672
2
52
114

Thank you, Xnest didn't work because I need openGL, vncserver does the trick :) – keda May 22 '16 at 03:31
@keda There is `Xephyr` which is like Xnest, and has (software?) OpenGL support. – meuh May 22 '16 at 07:24
vncserver with virtualgl gives decent performance, the application need to use the GPU. – keda May 25 '16 at 00:36

X11 multi-pointer, pointer conflicts

1 Answers1