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Configuration Files

Device controls are an extensible way to change or query things about devices. They fall into two categories: those intercepted by the X server and those used by the device drivers. The server uses the x_init controls, which change the way the X server views devices. The device drivers use device_init controls, which change device characteristics.

You can issue X server device controls on the fly by using the devctrl program (in 4Dgifts[5]) or by calling XSGIDeviceControl from within a program, or by storing them in configuration files, which reside in the
/usr/lib/X11/input/config directory.

There are (potentially) two configuration files per device in the directory
/usr/lib/X11/input/config. The device_init options live in a file with the same name as the STREAMS module that implements the device (this is also the name of the link created in /dev/input). The x_init options live in a file with the X name of the device (as supplied by the STREAMS modules). Some devices use the same name for the STREAMS module and for the X device (tablet, mouse), but some use different names for the two:

STREAMS NameX Device Name
sballspaceball
calcomptablet

When the X server finds a new device (or when it starts up), it:

When a program opens a device that is not autostarted or opened by another program, the X server:

The X server intercepts about a dozen x_init controls. For a list of the x_init controls and some of the more common device_init controls, see the README file in /usr/lib/X11/input/config.

[5] While some of the files in /usr/poeple/4Dgifts are in the IRIX 6.0 release, 4Dgifts itself is not included.
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