Labwc 0.20.3 Wayland compositor adds custom pointer acceleration and input fixes

Labwc 0.20.3 expands input device configuration with libinput's native custom pointer acceleration profile, allowing per-device curves for pointer motion, scrolling, and fallback behavior. The release also adds touchpad clickfinger button mapping, rotation angle controls, and mouse binding override options for inhibited windows.

Several stability fixes address a screen-locking failure when popups hold input grabs, pointer constraint issues affecting Lan Mouse remote input, XWayland focus and geometry bugs from stale window dimensions, and an xdg-shell regression where restored maximized windows retained incorrect sizes. Additional corrections cover touch coordinate overflow, menu keyboard handling, and privileged execution compatibility with xkbcommon environment access.

Input and windowing changes in Labwc 0.20.3

• Custom pointer acceleration: New accelProfile, motionCurve, scrollCurve, and fallbackCurve settings expose libinput's native custom acceleration profile for separate configuration of pointer motion, scrolling, and fallback curves.
• Touchpad and device configuration: Two new libinput options, clickfingerButtonMap and rotationAngle, extend control over touchpad button mapping and input device orientation.
• Mouse binding enhancement: The overrideInhibition option on mouse bindings allows certain bindings to function even when window inhibition would normally block them.
• Window snapping UI: A new snapping configuration setting enables the snap overlay to render above the window currently being dragged, improving visual feedback during tiling operations.
• Screen-locking fix: Resolves a failure where the lock screen would not receive input focus if a popup with an active grab existed at session lock time, closing a potential security gap in session locking.

Why it matters

Labwc serves as a critical lightweight alternative to larger Wayland compositors for users migrating from Openbox and other traditional X11 window managers, particularly on modest hardware and in embedded contexts. The libinput acceleration improvements bring it closer to feature parity with GNOME and KDE input stacks while maintaining its minimal footprint, and the screen-locking fix eliminates a concrete security concern that could leave sessions exposed during lock transitions.