[SOLVED] Programmatically moving the mouse with the "xdotool"

After opening a "Mozilla Firefox" window, executing the following script will move the mouse correctly under Debian 9 but not under Debian 10. Any idea why?

#!/bin/bash

winID=$(xdotool search --name "Mozilla Firefox")
echo $winID
xdotool getwindowname $winID

let x=1
let y=175
let i=1
let j=-1

for (( t=1; t<400; t++ ));
  do
    if [ $t -eq 100 ]; then let j=-$j; fi
    if [ $t -eq 200 ]; then let i=-$i; fi
    if [ $t -eq 300 ]; then let j=-$j; fi

    let x=x+i
    let y=y+j

    xdotool mousemove --sync --window $winID $x $y
  done

exit

you need to check the variables, which one behave differently.
Probably try (for debugging): set -xv

Originally Posted by PaulExordium After opening a "Mozilla Firefox" window, executing the following script will move the mouse correctly under Debian 9 but not under Debian 10. Any idea why?

What is this script supposed to do? Did you write it? To what purpose?

pan64,
thank you for your debugging suggestion, but the variables values are exactly the same on both OS.

It turns out that I didn't have the correct version of "xdotool" on Debian 10. See below.

Debian 9:
  xdotool_3.20160805.1-3_amd64.deb  

Debian 10:
  xdotool_3.20160805.1-4_amd64.deb

But they are both at the same version. The only different part is the Debian release, and the changelog doesn't show anything relevant:

$ apt-get changelog xdotool=1:3.20160805.1-4|sed '/^ --/Q'
Get:1 https://changelogs.ubuntu.com xdotool 1:3.20160805.1-4 Changelog [12,2 kB]
xdotool (1:3.20160805.1-4) unstable; urgency=medium

  * use dep-14 branch names
  * use github for Homepage: and salsa for Vcs-*
  * bump Standards-Version to 4.1.4 (priority: extra → optional)
  * move to debhelper 11
  * d/changelog: remove trailing whitespace
  * -dbg→-dbgsym migration is completed
  * use debian/clean instead of override_dh_clean

shruggy,
you are correct. It is not the version that matters in this case.

To install the new version I used "Synaptic" utility, which under Debian 10 requires the disabling of "Wayland" to install a package. I didn't re-enabled "Wayland" before testing and that led me to the incorrect conclusion.

Without "Wayland" the functions of "xdotool" work properly.

Originally Posted by PaulExordium Without "Wayland" the functions of "xdotool" work properly.

xdotool is an application that works only under Xorg.
Wayland is a different GUI altogether.

Your comments about wayland & synaptic sound like you only half understand what that means.
Maybe read these:
https://wiki.debian.org/Wayland
https://wiki.debian.org/Xorg

ondoho,
thank you for the links you suggested. You are right I have a lot to learn about the vast complexity of a Linux system. That's in part why I am on this site.

What I really would like do to is to programmatically move the mouse in a Debian 10 Live system, similarily to what I was able to do with Tails 4.15 and Debian 9.9 Live.

If "xdotool" is not possible to use in a Debian 10 Live system because of the default configurations, what other tool could you suggest to move the mouse?

Originally Posted by PaulExordium I have a lot to learn about the vast complexity of a Linux system.

"Vast" is an exaggeration, and you don't need to know all of it anyhow, just get a basic overview of its structure - and more importantly: learn how to research things you don't know.

Originally Posted by PaulExordium If "xdotool" is not possible to use in a Debian 10 Live system

First of all you should ascertain whether that system runs under wayland or Xorg, I'm not so sure about your conclusion:
https://unix.stackexchange.com/quest...-is-being-used
Which Debian Live image are you using? Link please.

ondoho,
I had already ascertained that the live OS system (debian-live-10.7.0-amd64-gnome.iso) run under wayland, the default setting. So I reiterate my question: is there another tool that could be used to move the mouse?

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=xdotool+wayland