Scroll mode not working on i3wm (X11)

[so1e1]

Scroll mode not working on i3wm (X11)

Environment

• OS: Ubuntu
• Window Manager: i3wm
• Session Type: X11
• hints version: 0.0.6
• Installation method: pipx

Description

Scroll mode doesn't work when activated in i3wm. The interceptor window is created and keyboard grab appears successful, but scrolling doesn't occur.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install hints and configure hintsd service
2. Add i3 keybinding: bindsym $mod+g exec hints --mode scroll
3. Press the keybinding to activate scroll mode
4. Try pressing h/j/k/l keys to scroll
5. Nothing happens - the window doesn't scroll

Expected Behavior

Pressing h/j/k/l should scroll the focused window in the corresponding direction.

Actual Behavior

• Scroll mode window is created successfully
• Keyboard grab reports SUCCESS
• Key press events ARE being detected (verified with logging)
• However, no scrolling occurs in the focused window

Investigation Findings

Issue 1: Typo in mouse_service.py (line 277)

The socket message handler has a typo - "scoll" instead of "scroll":

{
    "click": self.mouse.click,
    "move": self.mouse.move,
    "scoll": self.mouse.scroll,  # <-- TYPO
    "do_mouse_action": self.mouse.do_mouse_action,
}[method](*args, **kwargs)

This prevents scroll commands from reaching the scroll method.

Issue 2: Additional unknown issue

Even after fixing the typo, scroll mode still doesn't work on i3wm. Key events are captured, but scrolling doesn't happen. This suggests there may be:

• An issue with how scroll events are sent to the window manager
• A problem with the 1x1 pixel window placement/focus
• An incompatibility with how i3 handles synthetic scroll events

Temporary Workaround Attempted

Changing the keyboard grab to use owner_events=True allows key capture but doesn't fix the scrolling itself.

Request

Could you please investigate why scroll mode doesn't work on i3wm? The typo fix is straightforward, but there appears to be a deeper issue with scroll event delivery in this window manager.

Additional Notes

• Regular hints mode (clicking) works perfectly
• hintsd daemon is running correctly
• The issue is specific to scroll mode functionality

[AlfredoSequeida]

Really interesting.

First of all thank you for finding that typo. But I also don't think it's related to the typo. I also run hints on i3 and don't have this issue scrolling works for me.

I have noticed focus issues like the one you mentioned, but only on Wayland not X11. Given that I don't have that issue, maybe more information would be helpful here. Can you share:

• What application(s) you are seeing this behavior with?
• What your distribution is.
• Your i3 config, maybe we have something different in our configs that could explain this.

[so1e1]

Thanks for looking into this!

Applications: The issue happens in all applications, not specific to any one app.

Distribution: Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS, i3 version 4.20.1

• I use dual keyboard layouts: setxkbmap -layout 'us,ru' -option 'grp:win_space_toggle,caps:escape'
• I have automatic layout switching on $mod press that switches to English when $mod is held and restores the previous layout on release:
• I use picom compositor: exec --no-startup-id picom -b --config /home/sole/.config/picom/picom.conf
• Hints scroll binding: bindcode $mod+42 exec --no-startup-id /home/sole/.local/bin/hints --mode scroll
• Focus keys use bindcode with keycodes 44/45/46/47 (j/k/l/semicolon)

I suspect the dual keyboard layout or the $mod layout-switching hook might be interfering with the keyboard grab in scroll mode.

i3config_for_github_issue.txt