Re: Track keyboard and mouse usage
Dennis Lee Bieber wrote: > On 17 Jul 2006 21:00:09 -0700, "dfaber" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> declaimed > the following in comp.lang.python: > > > Is there no clean method of accessing the keyboard device or the mouse > > on linux? > > It seems that looking at /proc/interrupts might prove to be useful for > > keyboard monitoring. What about checking if the left mouse button is > > clicked or finding the position of the cursor on the screen? > ... > > I don't think anyone has ported raw X-protocol access to Python. > Actually someone did. http://python-xlib.sourceforge.net/ It's old but it works fine. Speaks X protocol in pure python. HTH, ~Simon -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Re: Track keyboard and mouse usage
Hi Francois, Thank you for providing me the evdev link! That was exactly what I was looking for. Instead of sudo'ing the script, I changed /dev/input/ directory to be world readable. After that, I had to change the way a file was accessed in evdev.py to: Line No: 91 #self.fd = os.open(filename, os.O_RDWR | os.O_NONBLOCK) self.fd = os.open(filename, os.O_RDONLY | os.O_NONBLOCK) Runs great. Thanks again. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Hello dfaber, > > I had the same problem not long ago. I tried to use the Xlib since its > obvious the X server has all the events but I couldn't have the mouse > events if my app was out of focus. If you have a way to do that I'm > really interested. > > Anyway I found this to be a good introduction to Xlib: > http://users.actcom.co.il/~choo/lupg/tutorials/xlib-programming/xlib-programming.html#preface > > Since I didn't find a way to do it I went down to the source of the > events which are provided by the evdev drivers: > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evdev > > Fortunately you can use Python to access it: > http://svn.navi.cx/misc/trunk/python/evdev/ > > First you need to know your input devices, search the eventX in > relation to your device here: > cat /proc/bus/input/devices > > Then you can do: > sudo python evdev.py /dev/input/eventX # where X is the event number > in relation to your device (kb is usually zero) > > It works well but there is two problems with this solution: > - the root access is annoying (but I'll have to try Diez suggestion) > - The X event number of the mouse can change from a PC to another one > (you need to check the PC first with that cat command and search for > your "mouse" > > francois > > > > > > dfaber wrote: > > Hi all, > > I have been searching for a keyboard and mouse tracker on linux. I've > > read solutions (watch at sourceforge) which look at /proc/interrupts to > > check keyboard or mouse activity. I also read one post where "watch" > > seems to have difficulty tracking usb keyboards and mice. So, I'm out > > of ideas here. > > > > My goal are: > > 1. Check keyboard activity. I'm not interested in logging which keys > > are pressed or record them. > > 2. Monitor mouse activity. I want to know the pointer position, > > left-clicks, right-clicks, middle-mouse button usage. > > > > I know that these things can be done in a GUI environment. I am looking > > for some approach that helps me do this system-wide. > > > > Any suggestions would be welcome. Again, I am looking for trackers on > > Linux based machines. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Re: Track keyboard and mouse usage
Hello dfaber, I had the same problem not long ago. I tried to use the Xlib since its obvious the X server has all the events but I couldn't have the mouse events if my app was out of focus. If you have a way to do that I'm really interested. Anyway I found this to be a good introduction to Xlib: http://users.actcom.co.il/~choo/lupg/tutorials/xlib-programming/xlib-programming.html#preface Since I didn't find a way to do it I went down to the source of the events which are provided by the evdev drivers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evdev Fortunately you can use Python to access it: http://svn.navi.cx/misc/trunk/python/evdev/ First you need to know your input devices, search the eventX in relation to your device here: cat /proc/bus/input/devices Then you can do: sudo python evdev.py /dev/input/eventX # where X is the event number in relation to your device (kb is usually zero) It works well but there is two problems with this solution: - the root access is annoying (but I'll have to try Diez suggestion) - The X event number of the mouse can change from a PC to another one (you need to check the PC first with that cat command and search for your "mouse" francois dfaber wrote: > Hi all, > I have been searching for a keyboard and mouse tracker on linux. I've > read solutions (watch at sourceforge) which look at /proc/interrupts to > check keyboard or mouse activity. I also read one post where "watch" > seems to have difficulty tracking usb keyboards and mice. So, I'm out > of ideas here. > > My goal are: > 1. Check keyboard activity. I'm not interested in logging which keys > are pressed or record them. > 2. Monitor mouse activity. I want to know the pointer position, > left-clicks, right-clicks, middle-mouse button usage. > > I know that these things can be done in a GUI environment. I am looking > for some approach that helps me do this system-wide. > > Any suggestions would be welcome. Again, I am looking for trackers on > Linux based machines. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Re: Track keyboard and mouse usage
Lars wrote: > Diez B. Roggisch wrote: >> will make the devices world readable. While I haven't thought about any >> security implications that might have (and am not especially >> knowledgeable in such things to be honest), I'm convinced it is way less >> likely to introduce any exploitable holes than suid root would. > > Depending on what kind of info these devices produce, couldn't they be > used to spy on someone typing in a password? (I can't check, I'm on > FreeBSD.) I guess so. Good point. Diez -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Re: Track keyboard and mouse usage
Diez B. Roggisch wrote: > will make the devices world readable. While I haven't thought about any > security implications that might have (and am not especially > knowledgeable in such things to be honest), I'm convinced it is way less > likely to introduce any exploitable holes than suid root would. Depending on what kind of info these devices produce, couldn't they be used to spy on someone typing in a password? (I can't check, I'm on FreeBSD.) -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Re: Track keyboard and mouse usage
Dennis> Problem: X-Window supports remote displays; you'd need a means Dennis> of specifying which display to track (unless you've opened a GUI Dennis> application and that application is asking for positions ... Watch does this via server mode (sort of). You run watch on both your local and remote machines. The remote machine forwards information about mouse movement to the local machine. Dennis> I don't think anyone has ported raw X-protocol access to Python. There is a (defunct) Xlib wrapper for Python. Nowadays you could probably redo just the parts you need pretty easily with ctypes. Dennis> * If working raw xt/DECWindows wasn't bad enough... Add GKS Dennis> (is that still around?) on top of it -- I had a DECWindows UI Dennis> whose [... many magical reminiscences elided ;-) ...] I believe OpenGL pretty much killed the market for stuff like GKS. X servers have enough features and video boards have enough performance that for all but the most demanding graphics applications there's no desired to write bits using something other than OpenGL and no need to expose the raw framebuffer at the application program level. Skip -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Re: Track keyboard and mouse usage
That IS brain-crushingly complicated. However, thanks for the insight.
I really appreciate it.
Dennis Lee Bieber wrote:
> On 17 Jul 2006 21:00:09 -0700, "dfaber" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> declaimed
> the following in comp.lang.python:
>
> > Is there no clean method of accessing the keyboard device or the mouse
> > on linux?
> > It seems that looking at /proc/interrupts might prove to be useful for
> > keyboard monitoring. What about checking if the left mouse button is
> > clicked or finding the position of the cursor on the screen?
>
> For a GUI application, it probably depends upon the interface
> supplied by that GUI system... So far as I know, all Linux variants are
> using an X-Window clone as the bottom protocol.
>
> Problem: X-Window supports remote displays; you'd need a means of
> specifying which display to track (unless you've opened a GUI
> application and that application is asking for positions -- but it may
> not be able to track outside the application window... Sorry to be so
> vague -- I last coded an X interface back in 1990, using xt/DECWindows
> calls; didn't even have a GUI designer available*)
>
> I don't think anyone has ported raw X-protocol access to Python.
>
> All those "monitoring" operations you are asking for are "events" to
> a windowing environment, and applications have to "register" for the
> events they are interested in seeing.
>
>
>
> * If working raw xt/DECWindows wasn't bad enough... Add GKS (is that
> still around?) on top of it -- I had a DECWindows UI whose main window
> was a plain drawing region, and GKS was used to handle the underlying
> data. The application was both graphics intensive, and needed a display
> list (in scaleable coordinates to handle window resize) for refresh
> operations; it used a 32 color "data" field, and four or so single color
> "overlays" -- and any one of the five could be enabled/disabled without
> requiring a recomputation of the drawing. This mess was because the
> DECWindows/GKS application was an emulation (at the API level) of a late
> 70s/early 80s RAMTEK graphics engine... The "main" application was
> really something like 50 specialized programs that all "connected" to
> the "graphics engine", drew some data, and exited; allowing other
> programs in the suite to draw on the /same/ window -- which is why the
> need for GKS; refreshes couldn't ask for the source application to
> repaint the screen. {The very oldest version of the software ran on
> PDP-11s, hence the modular programs, the control program would collect
> user data/parameters, write a "common block file" then invoke the needed
> submodule as an overlay.
> --
> WulfraedDennis Lee Bieber KD6MOG
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> HTTP://wlfraed.home.netcom.com/
> (Bestiaria Support Staff: [EMAIL PROTECTED])
> HTTP://www.bestiaria.com/
--
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Re: Track keyboard and mouse usage
Is there no clean method of accessing the keyboard device or the mouse on linux? It seems that looking at /proc/interrupts might prove to be useful for keyboard monitoring. What about checking if the left mouse button is clicked or finding the position of the cursor on the screen? -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Re: Track keyboard and mouse usage
MCI> Look PyHook ( http://cheeseshop.python.org/pypi/pyHook/1.4 ) MCI> Ooooh!!! Sorry! It's for Windows... That's okay (well, for me anyway). Watch runs on Windows. Perhaps someone with Windows would like to plug pyHook into watch? Skip -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Re: Track keyboard and mouse usage
dfaber schrieb: > So, how would I access /dev/input/ devices? > Can I just 'cat' them or read in those files? Yes, just read them. Which is what cat does, btw. If you cat your keyboard, you should see garbage appearing in the terminal when you type any key. Same is true for the mouse. Diez -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Re: Track keyboard and mouse usage
So, how would I access /dev/input/ devices? Can I just 'cat' them or read in those files? Diez B. Roggisch wrote: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] schrieb: > > Diez> You could use the /dev/input/event* devices. > > > > On the only Linux system I have available (Mojam's CentOS-based web server), > > /dev/input/* are readable only by root. That doesn't seem like it would be > > very useful to tools like watch unless they were to run suid to root > > (creating other problems). > > You don't need to give it root access. A simple rule for the udev that > looks like this: > > KERNEL=="event[0-9]*",NAME="input/%k", MODE="0444" > > > will make the devices world readable. While I haven't thought about any > security implications that might have (and am not especially > knowledgeable in such things to be honest), I'm convinced it is way less > likely to introduce any exploitable holes than suid root would. > > Diez -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Re: Track keyboard and mouse usage
So, how would I access /dev/input/ devices? Can I just 'cat' them or read in those files? Diez B. Roggisch wrote: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] schrieb: > > Diez> You could use the /dev/input/event* devices. > > > > On the only Linux system I have available (Mojam's CentOS-based web server), > > /dev/input/* are readable only by root. That doesn't seem like it would be > > very useful to tools like watch unless they were to run suid to root > > (creating other problems). > > You don't need to give it root access. A simple rule for the udev that > looks like this: > > KERNEL=="event[0-9]*",NAME="input/%k", MODE="0444" > > > will make the devices world readable. While I haven't thought about any > security implications that might have (and am not especially > knowledgeable in such things to be honest), I'm convinced it is way less > likely to introduce any exploitable holes than suid root would. > > Diez -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Re: Track keyboard and mouse usage
Hi! Look PyHook ( http://cheeseshop.python.org/pypi/pyHook/1.4 ) Ooooh!!! Sorry! It's for Windows... -- MCI -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Re: Track keyboard and mouse usage
[EMAIL PROTECTED] schrieb: > Diez> You could use the /dev/input/event* devices. > > On the only Linux system I have available (Mojam's CentOS-based web server), > /dev/input/* are readable only by root. That doesn't seem like it would be > very useful to tools like watch unless they were to run suid to root > (creating other problems). You don't need to give it root access. A simple rule for the udev that looks like this: KERNEL=="event[0-9]*", NAME="input/%k", MODE="0444" will make the devices world readable. While I haven't thought about any security implications that might have (and am not especially knowledgeable in such things to be honest), I'm convinced it is way less likely to introduce any exploitable holes than suid root would. Diez -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Re: Track keyboard and mouse usage
Diez> You could use the /dev/input/event* devices. On the only Linux system I have available (Mojam's CentOS-based web server), /dev/input/* are readable only by root. That doesn't seem like it would be very useful to tools like watch unless they were to run suid to root (creating other problems). As the author of watch, I'm more than happy to incorporate "drivers" from other people into the code, however, I have very little access to Linux these days (and none on the desktop) and no Windows access. Skip -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Re: Track keyboard and mouse usage
dfaber schrieb: > Hi all, > I have been searching for a keyboard and mouse tracker on linux. I've > read solutions (watch at sourceforge) which look at /proc/interrupts to > check keyboard or mouse activity. I also read one post where "watch" > seems to have difficulty tracking usb keyboards and mice. So, I'm out > of ideas here. > > My goal are: > 1. Check keyboard activity. I'm not interested in logging which keys > are pressed or record them. > 2. Monitor mouse activity. I want to know the pointer position, > left-clicks, right-clicks, middle-mouse button usage. > > I know that these things can be done in a GUI environment. I am looking > for some approach that helps me do this system-wide. > > Any suggestions would be welcome. Again, I am looking for trackers on > Linux based machines. You could use the /dev/input/event* devices. The link I had for the docs is unfortunately dead - I guess lubusb and its python binding might help you, too. Diez -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
