Mouse configuration during installation needs improvement
Per the suggestion of Jérémy Bobbio when he closed Bug
# 481514 against installation-reports, I am posting
this item to the debian-devel mailing list.
The Debian installer needs some improvement when it
comes to mouse configuration. Currently, if the user
requests a "standard system" and a "desktop
environment" in the Debian installer, the X Window
System will be installed in such a way that it drives
the mouse directly, rather than going through gpm; and
gpm is not installed. I recommend that gpm be
installed whenever a mouse is detected on the system;
and if the X server is also installed, it should
always be configured to get mouse events from the gpm
daemon rather than drive the mouse directly.
This will allow the use of the mouse both in a virtual
console and in X. Not only that, but "hot swapping"
the mouse will be far less disruptive for X users.
When the X server drives a standard PS/2 mouse
directly, if the user unplugs the mouse and plugs in
another one while the system is running, he must stop
and restart the X server, losing all of his X
applications in the process, in order to regain the
use of the mouse. But when using gpm, all he must do
is stop and re-start the gpm daemon to make the mouse
work again. The X server is unaffected and the X
applications are unaffected.
With this recommendation, you should also move gpm to
CD-ROM number 1.
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