Can't disable right button through 50-synaptics.conf file

xj25vm · 12-10-2016, 12:31 PM

I am trying to disable the right-click button on the clickpad of my laptop Acer Travelmate B113. As per various online source, I added the requisite lines to my /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf. I enclose the contents of the entire file below - the relevant lines are the first two Options:

Code:

Section "InputClass"
    Identifier "touchpad"
    Driver "synaptics"
    MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
    MatchIsTouchpad "on"
        Option "RightButtonAreaLeft" "0"
        Option "RightButtonAreaTop" "0"
        Option "FingerHigh" "30"
        Option "TapButton1" "1"
        Option "TapButton2" "3"
        Option "TapButton3" "2"
        Option "ClickButton1" "1"
        Option "ClickButton2" "2"
        Option "ClickButton3" "3"
        Option "VertTwoFingerScroll" "on"
        Option "PalmDetect" "1"
        Option "PalmMinWidth" "6"
        Option "PalmMinZ" "2"
        Option "EdgeMotionUseAlways" "on"
EndSection

Running synclient -l confirms the two options don't kick in - even after restarting the machine. All the other options take effect - I tested by disabling and enabling them and restarting the machine - and the file is definitely read.

Code:

$ synclient -l
Parameter settings:
    LeftEdge                = 110
    RightEdge               = 2662
    TopEdge                 = 78
    BottomEdge              = 1374
    FingerLow               = 1
    FingerHigh              = 30
    MaxTapTime              = 180
    MaxTapMove              = 137
    MaxDoubleTapTime        = 180
    SingleTapTimeout        = 180
    ClickTime               = 100
    EmulateMidButtonTime    = 0
    EmulateTwoFingerMinZ    = 282
    EmulateTwoFingerMinW    = 7
    VertScrollDelta         = 62
    HorizScrollDelta        = 62
    VertEdgeScroll          = 0
    HorizEdgeScroll         = 0
    CornerCoasting          = 0
    VertTwoFingerScroll     = 1
    HorizTwoFingerScroll    = 0
    MinSpeed                = 1
    MaxSpeed                = 1.75
    AccelFactor             = 0.0639182
    TouchpadOff             = 0
    LockedDrags             = 0
    LockedDragTimeout       = 5000
    RTCornerButton          = 0
    RBCornerButton          = 0
    LTCornerButton          = 0
    LBCornerButton          = 0
    TapButton1              = 1
    TapButton2              = 3
    TapButton3              = 2
    ClickFinger1            = 1
    ClickFinger2            = 3
    ClickFinger3            = 2
    CircularScrolling       = 0
    CircScrollDelta         = 0.1
    CircScrollTrigger       = 0
    CircularPad             = 0
    PalmDetect              = 1
    PalmMinWidth            = 6
    PalmMinZ                = 2
    CoastingSpeed           = 20
    CoastingFriction        = 50
    PressureMotionMinZ      = 30
    PressureMotionMaxZ      = 160
    PressureMotionMinFactor = 1
    PressureMotionMaxFactor = 1
    GrabEventDevice         = 0
    TapAndDragGesture       = 1
    AreaLeftEdge            = 0
    AreaRightEdge           = 0
    AreaTopEdge             = 0
    AreaBottomEdge          = 0
    HorizHysteresis         = 15
    VertHysteresis          = 15
    ClickPad                = 1
    RightButtonAreaLeft     = 1386
    RightButtonAreaRight    = 0
    RightButtonAreaTop      = 1190
    RightButtonAreaBottom   = 0
    MiddleButtonAreaLeft    = 0
    MiddleButtonAreaRight   = 0
    MiddleButtonAreaTop     = 0
    MiddleButtonAreaBottom  = 0

I can however enable the required options with synclient on the command line:

Code:

    #synclient RightButtonAreaTop=0
    #synclient RightButtonAreaLeft=0

And then I confirm with synclient -l that the settings have indeed been changed.

Can anybody think of any reason why they don't work from the config file, but work from the command line (while all the other options work from the config file)?

bassmadrigal · 12-10-2016, 02:34 PM

Maybe some of the other options are overriding the first ones. Have you tried changing them to the bottom of the list instead of the top?

GazL · 12-10-2016, 03:32 PM

I can't see any mention of the RightButton* options on the synaptics driver man-page. When I configured my clickpad I used the "SoftButtonAreas" option to configure the button behaviour to my liking. Perhaps you can try that.

xj25vm · 12-10-2016, 07:40 PM

@bassmadrigal - I tried placing them at the bottom of the list, and I tried removing ALL the other options and leaving only the two I'm interested in place. It doesn't make any difference - the "synclient -l" command confirms they still don't kick in.

@GazL - the "synclient -l" command lists the RightButtonAreaLeft and RightButtonAreaTop options (see output of the command above). This seems to be the recommended way of obtaining available options, based on various online sources. Also, the same command confirms they get changed to "0" value when the synclient command is used to amend them on the command line. This would suggest the options do exist, I guess. Trying the "synclient -l" on different laptops I get a different set of available options - I guess maybe that is because of different hardware capabilities of different touchpads. Also, the SoftButtonAreas doesn't seem to be among the available options on my clickpad.

Edit: reading through the documentation, using the "SoftButtonAreas" is equivalent to setting all of the following options in one go: RightButtonAreaLeft RightButtonAreaRight RightButtonAreaTop RightButtonAreaBottom MiddleButtonAreaLeft MiddleButtonAreaRight MiddleButtonAreaTop MiddleButtonAreaBottom.