Score:0

Ubuntu

What is xserver-xorg-input-all and its purpose?

Pritam Banerjee

10/26/22, 7:17 AM

I recently bought a Asus laptop and installed Ubuntu 20.04. After power off-on I found the laptop keyboard is not working. I found online the following command: sudo apt install xserver-xorg-input-all and the keyboard issue was solved after reboot.

I want to know what the above command did. What is its purpose?

P.S. I still have the keyboard problem. When I power off/on the laptop keyboard stops working. Above command solves the problem unless I power off my laptop (rebooting is fine). I have asked the same problem here:

keyboard not working in ubuntu 18.04

I ask the question to understand why the above command fix the problem temporarily but not permanently. A permanent solution will be highly appreciated.

I ran more specific command sudo apt install xserver-xorg-input-libinput which also solved the keyboard problem after rebooting.

Following terminal outputs are obtained:

 sudo apt install xserver-xorg-input-libinput

TERMINAL OUTPUT:

Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done xserver-xorg-input-libinput is already the newest version (0.29.0-1). xserver-xorg-input-libinput set to manually installed. 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

sudo apt install xserver-xorg-input-all

TERMINAL OUTPUT:

Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done xserver-xorg-input-all is already the newest version (1:7.7+19ubuntu14). 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

Both the commands solve keyboard problem temporarily after reboot. Keyboard works fine after multiple reboots, but does not work after power off and on.

1680

2 + 2

xorg

xserver

Mark Smith

10/26/22, 8:17 AM

I guess what you really want to know is how permanently to fix the problem, and you think (possibly correctly) that understanding why this command temporarily fixes it might help. I hope that adds useful context to people who might be able to help (I have no idea).

nobody

10/26/22, 10:39 AM

maybe same Problem like https://askubuntu.com/questions/1293849/why-does-my-keyboard-not-work/1293879#1293879

Score:0

Ubuntu

guiverc

10/26/22, 8:12 AM

Installing the package xserver-xorg-input-all

would have caused the package to have been installed, or if it was already installed, caused it be recorded as manually installed.

You can read the above link to see the what files are installed ie.

/usr/share/doc/xserver-xorg-input-all/changelog.gz
/usr/share/doc/xserver-xorg-input-all/copyright

ie. documentation files only (it's a meta-package)

It however has a dependency which if it didn't already exist on your system, would have been installed. ie.

https://packages.ubuntu.com/bionic/xserver-xorg-input-libinput

You can follow the links to see what that causes to be installed.. (it also had a recommends but I'll skip that as I don't know your defaults; I opt to --no-install-recommends by default)

I however don't see the point to your question, unless it's how to look up what's in a package, and what dependencies are brought in by packages/metapackages.

0 + 3

Pritam Banerjee

10/26/22, 4:40 PM

Thank you for your reply. I need a permanent solution of the keyboard problem. I have to use a USB keyboard everytime I power on my laptop, to login and then to run the command in terminal and reboot. After that I can use my keyboard until next power off/on.

guiverc

10/26/22, 10:19 PM

Your question title is "What is xserver-xorg-input-all and its purpose?" and doesn't mention keyboard. You do mention keyboard in the description text, but the only clear question I see is about `xserver-xorg-input-all` package and what is it's purpose.

Pritam Banerjee

10/27/22, 4:42 PM

I have asked a question here: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1347702/keyboard-not-working-in-ubuntu-18-04

Score:0

Ubuntu

vanadium

10/26/22, 2:21 PM

This is merely a meta-package, aimed "to pull in the full suite of drivers for the Xorg server". However, in practice, it only pulls in libinput and wacom.

xserver-xorg-input-libinput provides the drivers for keyboard, mouse and touchpad. It is a more modern system, replacing the venerable kbd and synaptics drivers. This is the only dependency of the package. xserver-xorg-input-wacom is merely a recommended package, but Ubuntu is configured to also automatically pull in recommended packages, so that one is also installed by default.

I am surprised that running this command would "revive" your keyboard: once a package is installed, a mere sudo apt install of that package essentially will only tell it is already installed, and do nothing else - except setting it to "manually installed" if it would have been marked as "automatically installed (which it probably isn't, by default). It would be good to include your output of the command sudo apt install xserver-xorg-input-all in your question. That may give a hint of what special is going on on your system.

0 + 3

Pritam Banerjee

10/26/22, 4:44 PM

Thank you for your reply. I have added the terminal outputs in the question. libinput also works as suggested by you. However, it is temporary solution. Evryday I have to power on my laptop and run the command using usb keyboard to enable my laptop keyboard. A permanent solution is highly appreciated. Thank you.

vanadium

10/27/22, 9:51 AM

The solution of your actual problem is *not* the topic of your current question. You asked what `xserver-xorg-input-libinput` is, so here is my take on that question. If this is OK, then accept this question. If you have a specific problem to solve, put it in a question and we will try to answer that. Do not change the current question after people have answered: this is not the policy of this site. Ask a new question instead.

Pritam Banerjee

10/27/22, 4:41 PM

I have asked a question for the keyboard problem here: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1347702/keyboard-not-working-in-ubuntu-18-04