Installation

Installation

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The repo ships an install.sh that does the whole job: detect your distro, install build dependencies, build seekey, install the binary, and set up input permissions so seekey can read /dev/input/event*.

Quick install

./install.sh                # user install (default) -> ~/.local/bin
./install.sh --system       # system install -> /usr/local/bin (uses sudo)

After a user install, log out and back in if it added you to the input group (it will tell you).

Options

Option	Effect
--user	Install to $HOME/.local (default)
--system	Install to /usr/local (uses sudo)
--no-input	Skip the udev rule + input group setup
--no-deps	Don't try to install build dependencies
--force	Overwrite an existing udev rule
--dry-run	Print what would happen, make no changes
--uninstall	Reverse a previous install
-h, --help	Show help

What it does, step by step

1. Detects your package manager — pacman / dnf / apt / zypper / apk / xbps-install. For an unknown manager it prints the dependency list and asks you to install manually.
2. Installs build deps — gtk4, libevdev, ncursesw, json-glib, gettext, pkg-config, gcc, make (plus gtk4-layer-shell optionally; see Build from Source).
3. Builds with make.
4. Installs the binary, example config, desktop entry, and compiled translations under the selected prefix. User builds are compiled with $HOME/.local/share/locale; system builds use /usr/local/share/locale.
5. Sets up input access (unless --no-input):
   • Writes /etc/udev/rules.d/99-seekey.rules so the input group can read /dev/input/event* (mode 0660).
   • Creates the input group if missing and adds your user to it.
   • Reloads udev rules.
6. Prints compositor hints — detects your desktop, warns when GNOME / KDE requires fallback mode, and reports when a layer-shell compositor was detected but this build lacks gtk4-layer-shell.

The installer does not add an autostart entry. See Autostart.

The script changes to its own source directory before building, so it can be invoked by absolute path from another working directory. --no-deps disables automatic package installation but still verifies every required tool and library.

Uninstall

./install.sh --uninstall

Removes the binary and data files. The udev rule is left in place (it's harmless and shared with other input tools) — remove it manually if you want:

sudo rm /etc/udev/rules.d/99-seekey.rules

Your config and input group membership are left untouched.

Input permissions

Seekey reads the kernel input devices directly, so it needs read access to the /dev/input/event* nodes (normally root-only). The installer fixes this by:

• giving the input group access (mode 0660), and
• adding your user to that group.

If you skipped that (--no-input) or built manually, you have two options:

# Option A: do it the same way the installer does
sudo groupadd input                       # if the group doesn't exist
sudo usermod -aG input "$USER"            # then log out and back in
# and add the udev rule from install.sh::install_udev_rule

# Option B: quick and dirty (less secure)
sudo chmod 644 /dev/input/event*

Option A is strongly preferred. See Troubleshooting for more.