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Part 1: German Documentation

dotool – Installation & Configuration (Manjaro / Arch-based)

What is dotool?

dotool is a tool for simulating keyboard input. Unlike xdotool, it communicates directly with the kernel via uinput and therefore works universally under X11 and Wayland.

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Installation (Manjaro / Arch)

1. Install package

pamac build dotool
# oder: yay -S dotool

2. Set Permissions

In order for dotool to type without root rights, your user must be in the input group and a udev rule must be active:

1. User to the group: sudo gpasswd -a $USER input

2. udev rule:

   echo 'KERNEL=="uinput", GROUP="input", MODE="0660", OPTIONS+="static_node=uinput"' \
     | sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/80-dotool.rules
   

3. Reload rules:

   sudo udevadm control --reload-rules && sudo udevadm trigger
   

Important: After that, log out and log in again, so that the group permissions become active.

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Configuration in the project (config/settings.py)

# Erzwingt dotool unter X11 (empfohlen für bessere Layout-Stabilität)
x11_input_method_OVERRIDE = "dotool"

# Verzögerung zwischen Anschlägen (in ms)
# 2ms = Standard, sicher für Umlaute (ä, ö, ü, ß)
# 0ms = Maximal schnell (Blitz-Modus)
dotool_typedelay = 2

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Implementation in the script

Persistent Process (FIFO)

To avoid the overhead of constantly recreating the virtual keyboard, the script uses a pipe (FIFO). This allows dotool to respond without delay.

# Vorbereitung im Hauptskript
mkfifo /tmp/dotool_fifo 2>/dev/null
dotool < /tmp/dotool_fifo &
DOTOOL_PID=$!

The Input Function

do_type() {
    local text="$1"
    if [[ "$INPUT_METHOD" == "dotool" ]]; then
        # Sendet Befehle direkt an den wartenden Prozess
        printf 'typedelay %s\ntype %s\n' "$DOTOOL_TYPEDELAY" "$text" > /tmp/dotool_fifo
    else
        LC_ALL=C.UTF-8 xdotool type --clearmodifiers --delay 12 "$text"
    fi
}

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Notes & Troubleshooting

• Missing characters: If umlauts are being dropped, increase dotool_typedelay to 5 or 10.

• Fallback: If dotool is not configured correctly, the system automatically falls back to xdotool.

• Wayland Support: Under Wayland, dotool is automatically preferred because xdotool does not work there.