Re: config option to change key soft autorepeat behavior

Re: config option to change key soft autorepeat behavior

[Dmitry Torokhov]

Hi Will,

On Wed, Jan 08, 2020 at 01:08:54PM -0800, Will Tipton wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I'd like to add an option to the input subsystem to change the behavior of
> key repeat. Essentially, when two keyboard keys 'a' and 'b' are held down
> simultaneously, I'd like to get 'abababab...' rather than 'abbbbbbbb...'.
> Another example of a request for this feature is here
> <https://tl.net/forum/sc2-strategy/446530-rapid-fire-hotkey-trick?page=4#64>
> .
> 
> Re: implementation -- I think this is a relatively minor change in
> input.h/.c
> <https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/master/drivers/input/input.c#L153>.
> When this kernel option is enabled, the timer and repeat_key
> <https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/master/include/linux/input.h#L165>
> members of input_dev are replaced by a container of (timer, key) tuples.
> There's one entry in this container for each currently-pressed key, and
> each entry is basically managed the same way the singular timer and
> repeat_key are managed currently.
> 
> I'm curious whether:
> - a patch adding this feature is likely to be accepted.
> - the implementation strategy I mentioned is the best approach.

Given that most environments (X, Wayland) ignore kernel autorepeat and
implement it themselves (since autorepeat parameters are really more of
a user preferences rather than hardware/system properties), I do not
think we should leave the kernel as is.

Thanks.

-- 
Dmitry