I can confirm that the issue is not there in version 1.8.0-2. This means it has to be version 1.8.1 that is faulty.

Actually it seems now that this happens in version 1.7.3 also. I noticed that the problem occurs after using a 3 finger touch. To replicate, use three finger touch and then after use two finger touch. This opens multiple tabs in a browser if the mouse pointer is on a link. If a text box is focused, two finger touch results in continuous pasting of clipboard contents.

Please attach an evemu-record of a sequence that triggers that bug, thanks

Hello, thanks for reply. I am a total noob to do this. Unfortunately I currently can't risk changing my kernel again to replicate this issue.

However, here is a good post to look at to show how libinput behaves under different kernels. 

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=228673

I'm not sure if this is an issue with libinput or the kernel. It could be that libinput does not play well with the new kernel changes.

I've updated the "See Also" section. Bug appears to be related to https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=102270

Thanks. Perhaps evmu-record of his could be of help?

evemu merely records the sequence of events that libinput and other drivers will see. the kernel is unchanged. see https://wayland.freedesktop.org/libinput/doc/latest/reporting_bugs.html

(In reply to Harish from comment #4)
> I'm not sure if this is an issue with libinput or the kernel. It could be
> that libinput does not play well with the new kernel changes.

the evemu recording will tell us where the problem is, then we can work from there.

Sorry for the misunderstanding Peter, I meant that I can only send the recording report when I've upgraded my kernel to the latest 4.12.x series where the bug occurs. 

However this may take a while because I do not want to risk my laptop crashing because I'm working on important stuff. If there are any volunteers who are currently using the 4.12.x kernel, could you please confirm this and/or attach the evemu recording?

Created attachment 133737 [details]
evemu recording of the problem

Here is the evemu recording. Please do let me know what other information I can provide :)

whoah, confirmed. There's a flurry of BTN_MIDDLE presses when replaying this with libinput debug-events --enable-tap.

Looks like this is a kernel bug though, the kernel tells us the fingers are continuously lifted/put down again. Benjamin, have a look at the events around e.g. 2.920499, every frame ends one touch and starts a new one. That's not right.

Thanks for the confirmation. I've also opened a bug report at https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=196735

Would that be the right place to report this bug? I'm new to reporting kernel buys :)

Hopefully someone looks into this for the next kernel release. Until then I'm going to remain on the 4.9.x series LTS kernel.

It appears that reloading the mouse kernel module using:

rmmod psmouse
modprobe psmouse synaptics_intertouch=0

Apparently temporarily solves the problem. See https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=229349 for more information.

Just an update. Kernel 4.12.10 does not appear to fix the problem.

A reliable temporary fix for this issue can be found in https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=229349. Can confirm that this fix works in 4.12.10. However this is not a proper fix since this needs to be implemented in the kernel itself.

Sounds like this is: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1482640

Which was resolved with https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/dtor/input.git/commit/?h=for-linus&id=2b30297d481ad305134252557768c22391e0fed6