How does this compare to libinput lua scripting?

[etam]

The libinput 1.30 release introduced lua scripting: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/libinput/libinput/-/releases/1.30.0

How does it compare to InputPlumber? Is there an overlap in functionality? What are the differences? In which case one is better than the other?

[pastaq]

Briefly looking at the docs, there is some overlap but the scale and purpose are vastly different. Libinput to ua scripts seem to be for modification of specific events on a single evdev. The configs are static and load automatically. InputPlumber is a system daemon whose functionality (scope, behavior, etc) can be modified at runtime and it can combine input from multiple sources and subsystems into a single virtual device or even multiple devices. InputPlumber is essentially an open source version of steam input on steroids, whereas the libinput scripts are for handling small issues like addressing the size of a touchscreen device that is misconfigured.

[whot]

Libinput to ua scripts seem to be for modification of specific events on a single evdev.

just a minor clarification here: a libinput lua script can work between multiple event nodes so re-routing events between event nodes is possible. You cannot however create new devices, you're stuck with what the system provides (which matches libinput being primarialy a hardware abstraction layer).

but otherwise, fully agree, libinput's lua plugins are very explicitly not designed to replace things like InputPlumber. There is no IO at all thus no run-time configuration change.

[pastaq]

Plus you're limited to evdev notes. Iio & hidraw can't be touched