Any Way to Change Mouse Pointer under Linux?

[enuddleyarbl]

In Calibre under Linux, when the mouse pointer is in the top menu area it, it changes from the standard arrow pointer to a hand pointing to the side. Is there any way to change this so the pointer stays as the standard arrrow? The change in implied directions of that pointer (up for the base of the hand, but to the left for the pointing finger) makes it difficult for me to figure out where it's pointing.

[eschwartz]

That is controlled by the OS -- it's not really specific to calibre.
You'll see the same hand icon in the browser, when hovering over a link.


You can, however, change your cursor theme -- a rough guide is here: https://askubuntu.com/questions/3000...-mouse-pointer


If the hand pointer bothers you in calibre, I assume it will bother you in other applications as well. It would be a good idea to change it universally.

[enuddleyarbl]

I was wondering if it was controlled by the OS. But, I've never seen it anywhere else but in Calibre at the top menus. Right here, in Google Chrome, when I hover over a link, I get a hand icon as a pointer, but it's a straight up and down hand pointer.

But, thanks for the information. I'll hunt around through the OS and see if I can find it there.

[eschwartz]

Actually, I lie.


I get a different set of cursors when I use the official binaries, rather than my own source install.

Now, I know the official binaries bundle various libraries, themes, etc. necessary for calibre to run. But why those should include icon cursors? I don't know.
Maybe it's just telling the OS to use a different cursor when using the binaries? I don't know.



This is more barebones stuff than I am familiar with.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

This is more barebones stuff than I am familiar with.

Not surprising, he's been dead for three-hundred-years and more, Praise the Lord.

BR

[enuddleyarbl]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Actually, I lie.

I guess I confirm your faux pas . I'm using the DMZ-White set of mouse cursors in Linux Mint 17.2 Cinnamon. I went through every mouse cursor in /usr/share/icons/DMZ-White/Cursors, and that cursor isn't there. I also browsed around through the files included in my home folder's /.config/Calbre directories and don't see any mouse cursor there either. I've also tried changing to a different theme in Calibre and that doesn't seem to affect the mouse cursors either. Odd. But, I'll keep looking.

EDIT: Also, that mouse pointer is black instead of white.

[enuddleyarbl]

I'm looking through the Calibre code on GitHub (which is mostly pointless since I understand nothing about it), and after thrashing wildly I see:

resources/viewer/mathjax/jax/element/mml/optable/GeometricShapes.js
Showing the top match. Last indexed on May 30.

47 '\u25C4': MO.BIN4, // black left-pointing pointer

That's most likely random noise on my part. But, it's interesting that it talks about a black left-pointing pointer. Of course, it's sitting in a mathjax resource of some kind. So, I can't see how it would be relevant.

[eschwartz]

I suspect it is most likely part of the linux freeze, actually -- which means it is probably yanked from the configuration of Kovid's build machine.

Just like the builtin file browser, which you see when using Add Books (it is ugly, and has no labels for removable drives).




The reason I don't see any of this, is because I built calibre myself, from source. I do that because it is easy to keep up-to-date just issue a `git pull` and occasionally if any C++ files changed, `python2 setup.py build`

So no funky cursors or file browsers had a chance to make their way onto my computer.

[kovidgoyal]

IIRC there is a Ubuntu specific bug that causes this with Qt 5. The pointing hand cursor specifically is not loaded from the ubuntu cursor theme and instead fallsback to the default X11 cursor shape.

Some googling should find the bug report.

[eschwartz]

Why do I get the same default X11 cursor on ArchLinux, then, using your precompiled binaries rather than my source install?

[enuddleyarbl]

Still looking around the web and can't find anything on it (but I'll keep trying). Also, I've searched through my system and can't find anything that looks like it. To help clarify, it looks like a black version of "hand2" on this page:

https://camo.githubusercontent.com/f...6234642e676966

Or, XC_hand2 from this page:

http://tronche.com/gui/x/xlib/appendix/b/

[kovidgoyal]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Why do I get the same default X11 cursor on ArchLinux, then, using your precompiled binaries rather than my source install?

Probably because you've replicated whatever it is about Ubuntu that causes this on your Arch system It does not happen on my Arch system.

[kovidgoyal]

@Dave That's because it is exactly that. As far as I can tell, it is the hand cursor builtin into the Xserver. You wont find it in a cursor theme either on your computer or in calibre (calibre does not bundle any cursor themes in any case).

[enuddleyarbl]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

@Dave That's because it is exactly that. As far as I can tell, it is the hand cursor builtin into the Xserver. You wont find it in a cursor theme either on your computer or in calibre (calibre does not bundle any cursor themes in any case).

Do you happen to know the name of the cursor (hand, hand1, hand2, etc.) that's supposed to be used as the mouse pointer hovers over the menu buttons in the menu bar (it's probable the code just sets an attribute to MOUSEOVER or something, but I thought I'd ask)? It might help me find a reported bug. I don't see anything on the Linux Mint GitHub repositories and I guess I'll try reporting it myself

https://github.com/linuxmint

[kovidgoyal]

calibre uses Qt which uses the symbolic name Qt::PointingHandCursor, I dont know how Qt maps that to the X cursor names. Here is the bug report I opened about it in the Qt big tracker a while ago: https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTBUG-41151