A lightweight, config-driven gesture daemon for Linux touchscreens. It translates raw multi-touch input into arbitrary shell commands via evdev - no desktop environment required, perfect for headless kiosk setups on Raspberry Pi and similar devices.

💡 The name bodgestr is a portmanteau of bodge + gesture – a nod to the pragmatic, "good enough" engineering spirit behind the project.

🖥️ Looking for a full kiosk setup? See the kub62-ansible kiosk role for an Ansible-based deployment that includes bodgestr.

• 👋 Swipe, tap, double-tap, long-press & pinch gesture recognition
• 🖥️ Multi-device support - configure multiple touchscreens in one file
• 🎚️ Two-tier config hierarchy: global → per-device (thresholds & gestures)
• 🔄 Automatic reconnection on USB disconnect
• 📦 .deb and .rpm packages - single install, ready to go
• 🪵 systemd + journald logging with optional file logging and logrotate
• ⚡ Single binary, minimal footprint - no runtime dependencies beyond glibc

• 🐧 Linux with evdev support
• 👆 A multi-touch capable touchscreen
• 🔑 Read access to /dev/input/event* (typically requires root or input group)
• 🦀 Rust ≥ 1.85 (only for building from source)

Download the latest .deb for your architecture from GitHub Releases:

sudo apt install ./bodgestr_*.deb

Download the latest .rpm for your architecture from GitHub Releases:

sudo dnf install ./bodgestr-*.rpm

git clone https://github.com/mzellho/bodgestr.git && cd bodgestr
cargo test              # run tests
make build              # release build
sudo make install       # install to /usr/bin, /etc, systemd

bodgestr --list-devices

Edit /etc/bodgestr/gestures.toml - register your device and enable the gestures you need:

[global]
log_level = "info"
log_file = "/var/log/bodgestr/bodgestr.log"

[global.thresholds]
swipe_time_max = 0.9
swipe_distance_min_pct = 0.15
angle_tolerance_deg = 30.0
tap_time_max = 0.2
long_press_time_min = 0.8
double_tap_interval = 0.3
tap_distance_max = 50.0
double_tap_distance_max = 50.0
pinch_threshold_pct = 0.1

[global.gestures.tap]
action = "xdotool click 1"
enabled = true

[global.gestures.long_press]
action = "notify-send 'bodgestr' 'Long press detected'"
enabled = true

[device.kiosk]
device_usb_id = "1234:5678"
enabled = true

[device.kiosk.gestures.swipe_left]
action = "xdotool key Left"
enabled = true

[device.kiosk.gestures.swipe_right]
action = "xdotool key Right"
enabled = true

[device.kiosk.gestures.swipe_up]
action = "brightnessctl set +10%"
enabled = true

All thresholds and gesture actions follow a two-tier priority: per-device → global. Devices inherit everything from the global section - you only need to override what differs.

📄 See config/gestures.example.toml for the full reference with all available options.

bodgestr                                              # ▶️  default config (/etc/bodgestr/gestures.toml)
bodgestr /path/to/gestures.toml                       # ▶️  custom config path
bodgestr -v                                           # 🐛 verbose / DEBUG

sudo systemctl enable --now bodgestr                  # 🔁 as systemd service
sudo systemctl status bodgestr                        # ✅ check status
sudo journalctl -u bodgestr -f                        # 📋 follow logs

Each gesture can trigger any shell command - actions are executed via sh -c, so anything your system can run works:

xdotool click 1                                          # simulate mouse click
xdotool key --clearmodifiers ctrl+Tab                    # keyboard shortcut
notify-send "Gesture" "Swipe detected!"                  # desktop notification
/usr/local/bin/my-script.sh                              # custom script
brightnessctl set +10%                                   # hardware control
playerctl next                                           # media control
brightnessctl set +10% && notify-send "Brightness" "Up"  # chained commands

The configuration file uses TOML format. Both thresholds and gestures follow the same two-tier priority: per-device → global.

Every device must be registered with its USB ID and explicitly enabled:

[device.kiosk]
device_usb_id = "1234:5678"
enabled = true

Devices inherit all global thresholds. Override per device:

[device.kiosk.thresholds]
swipe_time_max = 1.5          # allow slower swipes on this device
tap_distance_max = 80.0       # more forgiving tap radius

Devices inherit all global gestures. Override action or enabled state per device:

# Global: all devices get this tap action
[global.gestures.tap]
action = "xdotool click 1"
enabled = false

# Device: enable tap, add swipe
[device.kiosk.gestures.tap]
enabled = true

[device.kiosk.gestures.swipe_left]
action = "xdotool key Left"
enabled = true

The project includes full debian/ packaging. Build a .deb with:

sudo apt install debhelper
dpkg-buildpackage -b -us -uc

The project includes an RPM spec in dist/rpm/. Build an .rpm with:

sudo dnf install rpm-build rpmdevtools
rpmdev-setuptree
# create source tarball and build (see ci.yml for the full steps)
rpmbuild -bb dist/rpm/bodgestr.spec

Logs always go to stderr (picked up by journald when running as a systemd service). Additionally, set log_file in [global] to write to a file:

[global]
log_file = "/var/log/bodgestr/bodgestr.log"

Omit log_file to disable file logging. Both .deb and .rpm packages ship a logrotate config for /var/log/bodgestr/bodgestr.log by default.

# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt remove bodgestr

# Fedora / RHEL
sudo dnf remove bodgestr

# From source
sudo systemctl disable --now bodgestr
sudo make uninstall

src/
  config.rs        TOML parsing, threshold merging, gesture inheritance
  event.rs         Touch event classification & processing (pure logic)
  recognizer.rs    Gesture recognition (swipe, tap, pinch, long-press)
  manager.rs       Device I/O, threading, reconnect (evdev layer)
  main.rs          CLI entry point, logger setup

tests/
  test_config.rs       Config parsing, merging, error handling
  test_event.rs        Event pipeline, classify_event, resolve_action
  test_recognizer.rs   Gesture detection, thresholds, edge cases

config/                Example configuration
debian/                Debian packaging
dist/
  rpm/                 RPM spec
  systemd/             Systemd unit file
  logrotate/           Logrotate configuration

The GitHub Actions workflow runs on every push and PR:

This project was created as part of a personal experiment and developed with significant assistance from AI (GitHub Copilot / Claude). All code, tests, packaging, and documentation were reviewed and validated by a human.