Bug#525473: xserver-xorg-input-synaptics: MaxSpeed stuck at 0

[Dima Kogan <dkogan@cds.caltech.edu>]

Package: xserver-xorg-input-synaptics
Version: 1.1.0-1
Severity: important


Since the upgrade to the new version of the synaptics driver, I'm seeing the
MaxSpeed and AccelFactor settings not respond correctly. I'm running with HAL
disabled, so my settings should come from the commandline and from the
xorg.conf. The relevant section of xorg.conf is

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "Synaptics Touchpad"
	Driver      "synaptics"
	Option	    "SendCoreEvents" "true"
	Option	    "Device" "/dev/input/by-path/platform-i8042-serio-1-event-mouse"
	Option	    "Protocol" "synaptics"
	Option	    "HorizScrollDelta" "60"
	Option	    "HorizEdgeScroll" "1"
  Option      "VertEdgeScroll"  "1"
	Option	    "EmulateMidButtonTime" "0"
	Option	    "VertTwoFingerScroll" "0"
	Option	    "SHMConfig" "on"
	Option	    "RTCornerButton" "4"
	Option	    "RBCornerButton" "5"
	Option	    "LTCornerButton" "0"
	Option	    "LBCornerButton" "0"
	Option	    "TapButton2" "0"
	Option	    "TapButton3" "0"
	Option	    "Emulate3Buttons" "0"
	Option	    "MaxSpeed" "1"
	Option	    "AccelFactor" "0.5"
EndSection

When I start up, the cursor is too fast. So I run the following:

dkogan@smart:~$ synclient -l | grep -E "(\sMaxSpeed|\sMinSpeed|AccelFactor)"
    MinSpeed                = 0.4
    MaxSpeed                = 0
    AccelFactor             = 1
dkogan@smart:~$ synclient MinSpeed=1 
dkogan@smart:~$ synclient MaxSpeed=1 
dkogan@smart:~$ synclient AccelFactor=1 
dkogan@smart:~$ synclient -l | grep -E "(\sMaxSpeed|\sMinSpeed|AccelFactor)"
    MinSpeed                = 1
    MaxSpeed                = 0
    AccelFactor             = 0.2


So at startup, MaxSpeed and AccelFactor do not reflect xorg.conf. Then when I
try to change them, AccelFactor and MaxSpeed seem to have a cap of 0.2 and 0
respectively. MinSpeed responds fine, though. After the attempted changes, the
cursor becomes too slow with no way to speed it up, because of the
just-mentioned limits.

Interestingly, if I use xinput instead of synclient to manipulate the settings,
the situation is a bit different: 

dkogan@smart:~$ xinput set-float-prop "Synaptics Touchpad" 230 0.3 0.4 0.6 0
dkogan@smart:~$ xinput list-props "Synaptics Touchpad" | grep "Move Speed"
        Synaptics Move Speed (230):     0.300000, 0.000000, 0.600000, 0.000000
dkogan@smart:~$ synclient -l | grep -E "(\sMaxSpeed|\sMinSpeed|AccelFactor)"
    MinSpeed                = 0.3
    MaxSpeed                = 0
    AccelFactor             = 0.6

So unlike synclient, xinput is able to change AccelFactor past 0.2, but MaxSpeed
is still stuck at 0. What I would really like to do is to have a high
acceleration and an high speed limit so that the cursor is both responsive and
accurate. I had settings that worked well in the older version of the synaptics
driver, but the new one is currently unable to do what I want. For reference, my
version of xinput is

dkogan@smart:~$ dpkg -l | grep xinput
ii  xinput                                      1.4.1-1                                Runtime configuration and test of XInput dev


-- System Information:
Debian Release: squeeze/sid
  APT prefers oldstable
  APT policy: (500, 'oldstable'), (500, 'unstable'), (500, 'testing'), (500, 'stable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.29-1-amd64 (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash

Versions of packages xserver-xorg-input-synaptics depends on:
ii  libc6                         2.9-7      GNU C Library: Shared libraries
ii  libx11-6                      2:1.2.1-1  X11 client-side library
ii  libxi6                        2:1.2.1-2  X11 Input extension library
ii  xserver-xorg-core             2:1.6.1-1  Xorg X server - core server

xserver-xorg-input-synaptics recommends no packages.

Versions of packages xserver-xorg-input-synaptics suggests:
ii  gsynaptics                    0.9.16-1   configuration tool for Synaptics t
ii  qsynaptics                    0.22.0-6.1 Synaptic TouchPad configuration to

-- no debconf information