WSMOUSED(8) System Manager's Manual WSMOUSED(8)

NAME

wsmousedmultipurpose mouse daemon

SYNOPSIS

wsmoused [-d device] [-f conf_file] [-m modes] [-n]

DESCRIPTION

The wsmoused daemon provides mouse support in console, allowing copying and pasting text. The left mouse button is used to select text when held and you use the right button to paste it in the active console.

Supported options are as follows:

-d device
specifies the device file to be used as the wsmouse(4) device. Defaults to /dev/wsmouse.
-f conf_file
specifies the configuration file to be used. Defaults to /etc/wsmoused.conf.
-m modes
specifies which modes should be activated. Mode names are given in the argument as a whitespace separated list. Overrides the ‘modes' directive in the configuration file.
-n
do not fork in the background (for debugging purposes). Overrides the ‘nodaemon' directive in the configuration file.

Many other details can be tuned. See wsmoused.conf(5) for more information.

wsmoused is designed to be a multipurpose mouse daemon. Functionality is provided through independent modes, enabled either through the -m flag or through the ‘modes' property in the configuration file (the former takes precedence).

The action mode

The ‘action' mode executes commands upon receiving mouse button events. Commands can be associated on a button basis, and can differentiate between push or release events.

The selection mode

The ‘selection' mode provides visual copy and paste support in text consoles when using the wscons(4) device. A selection is created by clicking with the primary mouse button at any point on the screen and dragging it while clicked. When the button is released, the selected text is copied to an internal buffer for further pasting with the secondary button.

FILES

/dev/ttyE[0-n]
tty devices
/dev/ttyEstat
wsdisplay status notification device
/dev/wsmouse[0-n]
mouse control device
/etc/wsmoused.conf
default configuration file

SEE ALSO

su(1), wscons(4), wsdisplay(4), wsmouse(4), rc.conf(5), ttys(5), wscons.conf(5), wsmoused.conf(5), moused(8), rc.subr(8)

HISTORY

The wsmoused command first appeared in NetBSD 2.0.

AUTHORS

The wsmoused command was developed by Julio M. Merino Vidal <jmmv@NetBSD.org>.

CAVEATS

wsmoused does work properly only with display drivers, which implement WSDISPLAYIO_GETWSCHAR and WSDISPLAYIO_PUTWSCHAR ioctls. Currently only vga(4) and drivers utilizing vcons(9) support it.

SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS

When using the ‘action' mode, commands specified in the configuration file are executed as the user who started the daemon. By default, this user is ‘root' when using the rc.subr(8) framework. You should set ‘wsmoused_user="<some_user>"' in rc.conf(5) to a safer user (and adjust file permissions accordingly) if the commands you want to execute do not require superuser privileges. An alternative is to use su(1) as part of the command string in the configuration file.

NOTES

The following notes apply to all work modes:

The following notes apply to the ‘selection' mode only:

January 1, 2012 NetBSD 6.1