gpm effectively turns my mouse into a Microsoft mouse

[Eric Hanchrow <offby1@blarg.net>]

I have discovered, through trial and error, that by default, the boot
floppies install gpm, and that gpm sets /dev/mouse to be a symlink to
/dev/gpmdata.  Nothing wrong with that, but I notice that X only works
properly if I tell it that my mouse talks the Microsoft mouse
protocol.  Nothing particularly wrong with that either, except that if
I don't install gpm (and point /dev/mouse to /dev/psaux), I need to
tell X that my mouse uses the PS/2 protocol.  Over the years I've come
to learn that my mouse -- which is a Microsoft mouse that says "Mouse
Port Compatible Mouse 2.1A" on the bottom -- talks the "PS/2"
protocol, and so I've formed a habit of telling X that.  But now comes
gpm, which apparently changes it to the Microsoft protocol.

So: I don't mind that gpm is doing that -- it probably has a good
reason -- but I wish something had warned me about it.  I wasted a lot
of time wondering why my mouse pointer was moving erratically; if I'd
seen a message from gpm when it installed itself, saying "Note: if you
install X, tell it that your mouse talks the Microsoft protocol", that
would have saved some time.

Should the boot floppies be responsible for this warning, or does this
sound like a wishlist bug for gpm?