Gsynaptics Problems

When doing a fresh install from the 11.0 beta 3 liveCD, the Touchpad applet in the GNOME Control Center crashes when you try to use it. Doesn't work at all.

Once you install the update from OSS it is functional again.

But, the settings seem to be reset. When I reboot (at any time -- before or after installing the gsynaptics update), upon logging back in, I discover that acceleration, max speed, min speed, etc. -- all touchpad settings -- have been set to zero. In essence, the touchpad cannot be used. In fact I'm doing this forum post entirely by keyboard, and it sure it is a pain to tab through these forums.

(I discovered these values only after installing the updating gsynaptics and finding out what happened. But this occurs whether I reboot, update gsynaptics, or update gsynaptics, then reboot. Always occurs).

I bittorrented a version of the 11.0b3 DVD today for a fresh install, and it has the same problem. This is also my fifth reinstall, and it happens consistently every time.

There is a bug open for this : https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=384028 and also https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=388236

It would be very valuable if you could add your comments to it!

As a workaroud it's good to make a copy of your users home directory before touching the touchpad module on the control center. I haven't found the exact file thats causing trouble, but If your mouse stops working it's then just a question of copying back the copy of your users homedir and rebooting. Touchpad should be working again. So far other users on the same system won't be affected until they also start the touchpad tool, so you don't have to reinstall, just revert to the previous or first user settings...

Cheers,
Wj

Thanks! It didn't occur to me that maybe the buggy gsynaptics applet itself is what destroys the touchpad settings.

They look like they've got it taken care of, though. I think I'll search around en.opensuse.org for a guide on how to help bug-hunt. I have no idea how to run debuggers or stuff like that.

Thanks! It didn't occur to me that maybe the buggy gsynaptics applet itself is what destroys the touchpad settings.

They look like they've got it taken care of, though. I think I'll search around en.opensuse.org for a guide on how to help bug-hunt. I have no idea how to run debuggers or stuff like that.
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Well, if you would like to help you are very welcome to

One place to start is to add yourself to one of the mailing lists, in this case the factory list, mailtopensuse-factory+subscribe@opensuse.org
You can mail questions about bugs you think you have found to verify if it needs to be reported or maybe it's a known issue.

When reporting a bug:
The devs over at openSUSE and Novell are quite good in guiding you to get the info they need. As long as you have basic knowledge and are willing to dive in there is a lot to learn from it.
If you have found a bug that needs fixing, read though the FAQ http://en.opensuse.org/Bug_Reporting_FAQ and report it here : http://en.opensuse.org/Submitting_Bug_Reports.
Most important, try to give a good subject and description, that is always a good start.

You could always give one bug report a go, or join in by adding your comments and see if it's something for you?!

Cheers,
Wj