evdev
evdev is a generic input event interface in the Linux kernel.[1] It generalizes raw input events from device drivers and makes them available through character devices in the /dev/input/
directory.
The user-space library for the Linux kernel component evdev is called libevdev. Libevdev abstracts the evdev ioctls through type-safe interfaces and provides functions to change the appearance of the device. Libevdev shares similarities with the read system call.[2]
It sits below the process that handles input events, in between the kernel and that process.
Linux kernel → libevdev → xf86-input-evdev → X server → X client
For Weston/Wayland, the stack would look like this:
Linux kernel → libevdev → libinput → Weston → Wayland client
Since version 1.16 the xorg-xserver obtained support for libinput:
Linux kernel → libevdev → libinput → xf86-input-libinput → X server → X client
evdev is primarily used by display servers like X.org (via xf86-input-evdev driver and libevdev) and Weston.
See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Evdev. |
References
External links
- "Linux Input drivers v1.0" by Vojtech Pavlik, 2001 (Linux kernel document, now somewhat dated)
- libevdev, a C library for evdev interface
- Python bindings for evdev interface
- Go bindings for evdev interface
- "linux input ecosystem" by Joe Shaw, 1 October 2010 (blog post)