Touchpad support for X.org ?

[Daniel Stone]

On Fri, Jun 10, 2005 at 08:36:49PM -0700, Karl Hegbloom wrote:
> On Sat, 2005-06-11 at 13:21 +1000, Daniel Stone wrote:
> > This is what we do by default on laptops.  I don't see why you want to
> > move this from done-by-default to a Debconf question?
> 
> I'm sorry; it was not there by default when I installed on my one and
> only laptop.  If it's writing a synaptics entry now, and using the
> synaptics driver rather than the ps/2 mouse driver for it, then great
> work.  Back when I installed this, I had to write it in by hand... in
> fact, it was probably an XF86Config originally.

Every Ubuntu install (since Warty) has written a Synaptics section if
laptop-detect determines that you're on a laptop.

> > SHMConfig is hideously insecure, and also breaks hard if you have more
> > than one X server.  So my mum would be there trying to change the
> > touchpad settings on her session, and changing them to extremities
> > because it's not working.  Then I'd log back in to my session and find
> > my touchpad is unusable.
> 
> Why would more than one X server be running on the typical laptop with a
> touchpad?

Applications -> System Tools -> New Login.  If multiple people were
using it.

> What are the security risks?  Why is it insecure?  I must admit relative
> ignorance of how SHMConfig actually works.  I understand that it's using
> shared memory, vs some sort of command pipeline.  Isn't access to shared
> memory controlled in some way?  Apache uses it, right?  I promise to
> read W.R. Stevens fairly soon...  a pristine copy is on my shelf glaring
> at me even as I type this.

The way the Synaptics driver uses it is insecure.

> Do you think there's a way to make it more secure, so that it would be
> safe to enable it, or a revised incarnation of something like it?

There are ways to fix it, but they're rather non-trivial, and I don't
have the time.
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