[Bug 259410] x11-servers/xorg-server does not have dependency for x11-drivers/xf86-input-evdev

https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=259410

--- Comment #4 from Bob Frazier <bobf@mrp3.com> ---
(In reply to Niclas Zeising from comment #3)

I think you are right about this up to a point, since I never needed the evdev
driver before.

What I see is a little different, however.  First, when you look at the server
code and the Xorg log you can see a couple of things.

(log output)
[390208.315] (II) config/devd: EVDEV_SUPPORT is enabled, ignoring device
kbdmux0
[390208.315] (II) config/devd: EVDEV_SUPPORT is enabled, ignoring device psm0
[390208.315] (II) config/devd: EVDEV_SUPPORT is enabled, ignoring device
sysmouse

when you find those messages about EVDEV_SUPPORT in the X server code, you can
see a FreeBSD patch being applied

patch-config_devd.c

in that patch it has this section:
+       /* Skip legacy interfaces if EVDEV_SUPPORT is compiled into kernel */
+       if (evdev_support && hwtype->is_hybrid) {
+               LogMessage(X_INFO, "config/devd: EVDEV_SUPPORT is enabled,
ignoring device %s\n", dev_name);
+               return;
+       }

If I interpret this correctly, it seems that the latest FreeBSD patches
deliberately avouid using kbdmux0, psm0, and sysmouse.  Since the previous
version of Xorg Server used these (on this same system), I never had a problem
NOT having the evdev driver.  But this new thing appears to have been added
within the last couple of years (my last ports collection were from 2020,
version 1.18.4_12 - I could not find this block of code in the patch file).

In any case, it was a behavior change, and could affect anyone doing an upgrade
from an earlier version of xorg-server without already having the evdev driver
installed.

Hopefully this clarifies things.  This is basically how I discovered what I
needed to do, going through the same process (log, messages, patch file).  The
log (when the problem existed) actually clued me in when it "could not find the
driver" but I did not initially connect the dots for needing to install the
evdev input driver.

(so that's why I suggested something about this in the handbook)

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