Fix crash on startup when the X11 server supports XInput < 2.4 (#53582)

## Summary

- Fix crash on startup when the X11 server supports XInput < 2.4 (e.g.
XInput 2.3)
- Gesture event mask bits (pinch begin/update/end) are now only
requested when the server advertises XInput >= 2.4
- Zed previously failed to open any window on affected systems, printing
`Zed failed to open a window: X11 XiSelectEvents failed`

## Self-Review Checklist:

- [x] I've reviewed my own diff for quality, security, and reliability
- [x] Unsafe blocks (if any) have justifying comments
- [x] The content is consistent with the [UI/UX
checklist](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md#uiux-checklist)
- [x] Tests cover the new/changed behavior
- [x] Performance impact has been considered and is acceptable









## Problem

On X11 systems where the XInput extension version is older than 2.4, Zed
crashes immediately on startup with:

```
Zed failed to open a window: X11 XiSelectEvents failed.

Caused by:
    X11 error X11Error { error_kind: Value, error_code: 2, sequence: 277,
    bad_value: 27, minor_opcode: 46, major_opcode: 131,
    extension_name: Some("XInputExtension"),
    request_name: Some("XISelectEvents") }
```

This makes Zed completely unusable on any X11 display server that only
supports XInput 2.3 or earlier, which includes many current Ubuntu
20.04/22.04 systems, remote X11 sessions, and VNC/Xvfb setups.

### Root cause

During window creation, `X11WindowState::new` calls `XISelectEvents`
with an event mask that unconditionally includes gesture event bits
(`GESTURE_PINCH_BEGIN`, `GESTURE_PINCH_UPDATE`, `GESTURE_PINCH_END`).
These gesture events were introduced in **XInput 2.4**.

When the X server only supports XInput 2.3 (or older), it does not
recognize these mask bits and rejects the entire `XISelectEvents`
request with a `BadValue` error. This is fatal because the error is
propagated up and prevents the window from being created.

A comment in the original code stated:

> If the server only supports an older version, gesture events simply
won't be delivered.

This is incorrect. The X11 protocol does **not** silently ignore unknown
mask bits in `XISelectEvents` — it rejects the whole request.

### How XInput version negotiation works

The client calls `XIQueryVersion(2, 4)` to announce the highest version
it supports. The server responds with the highest version **it**
supports (e.g. `2.3`). The client is then responsible for not using
features beyond the negotiated version. The existing code ignored the
server's response and used 2.4 features unconditionally.

## Fix

### Approach

Check the XInput version returned by the server. Only include gesture
event mask bits in `XISelectEvents` when the negotiated version is >=
2.4. On older servers, basic input events (motion, button press/release,
enter, leave) still work normally — only touchpad pinch gestures are
unavailable.

### Changed files

**`crates/gpui_linux/src/linux/x11/client.rs`**

1. Added `supports_xinput_gestures: bool` field to `X11ClientState`.
2. After the existing `xinput_xi_query_version(2, 4)` call, compute
whether the server version is >= 2.4:
   ```rust
   let supports_xinput_gestures = xinput_version.major_version > 2
|| (xinput_version.major_version == 2 && xinput_version.minor_version >=
4);
   ```
3. Added an `info!` log line reporting the detected XInput version and
gesture support status.
4. Pass `supports_xinput_gestures` through `open_window` into
`X11Window::new`.

**`crates/gpui_linux/src/linux/x11/window.rs`**

1. Added `supports_xinput_gestures: bool` parameter to both
`X11Window::new` and `X11WindowState::new`.
2. The `XISelectEvents` call now builds the event mask conditionally:
- Always includes: `MOTION`, `BUTTON_PRESS`, `BUTTON_RELEASE`, `ENTER`,
`LEAVE`
- Only when `supports_xinput_gestures` is true: `GESTURE_PINCH_BEGIN`,
`GESTURE_PINCH_UPDATE`, `GESTURE_PINCH_END`

### What is NOT changed

- The gesture event **handlers** in `client.rs`
(`XinputGesturePinchBegin`, `XinputGesturePinchUpdate`,
`XinputGesturePinchEnd`) are left as-is. They simply won't be triggered
on servers without gesture support, since the events are never
registered.
- No behavioral change on systems with XInput >= 2.4 — gesture events
continue to work exactly as before.

## Testing

| Test | Before fix | After fix |
|------|-----------|-----------|
| `./target/release/zed .` on XInput 2.3 | Immediate crash (exit code 1)
| Window opens successfully (runs until killed) |
| XInput version detection | Version queried but response ignored |
Version checked and logged |

Verified on an X11 system with XInput 2.3 (X.Org 1.20.13, Ubuntu 20.04).

## Test plan

- [x] Build succeeds (`cargo build --release`)
- [x] Zed launches and opens a window on XInput 2.3 system
- [x] No regression on the basic input event path (motion, clicks,
enter/leave still registered)
- [ ] Verify gesture pinch events still work on a system with XInput >=
2.4

Release Notes:

- Fixed Zed failing to start on X11 systems with XInput version older
than 2.4, which includes many Linux distributions and remote desktop
setups.
23830d5946CanWang committed on 4/10/2026, 8:05:39 AM· committed by GitHubparent60fac25
2 files changedLine totals unavailable