macOS: cached CGMainDisplayID goes stale after display re-enumeration; all mouse input collapses to (0,0)
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Assessment
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Newbie friendliness
- 68/100
- Issue type
- Bug
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Activity status
- Active
- Tech stack
- cpp, macos
- Domain
- desktop, operating-systems
Research direction
Start in macos_backend.cpp around line 387 and trace MacosInputState, submit_absolute_motion(), and post_mouse(), focusing on how the cached display ID is used after display re-enumeration. Reproduce the monitor reconnect scenario and verify that both absolute and relative mouse input continue to map to the current display rather than a zero-sized bounds rectangle.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Description
Bug
On macOS, MacosInputState caches CGMainDisplayID() once at construction (macos_backend.cpp:387). When the display later re-enumerates (monitor power cycle, DisplayPort link renegotiation), macOS assigns a new display ID and the cached ID becomes invalid. From that point on:
submit_absolute_motion()callsCGDisplayBounds(state_->display)on the stale ID, which returns a zero rect.scale_absolute_axis()then returns0fordisplay_size <= 0, so every absolute mouse event is mapped to (0,0) — the cursor is pinned to the top-left corner.post_mouse()clamps the target location into that same zero rect (std::clamp(raw, origin, origin + size - 1)), so relative motion is also trapped — observed cursor positions oscillate only between(0,0)and(-1,-1).
Restarting the consumer process (re-creating the state, hence re-caching the current display ID) restores input until the next display re-enumeration.
Evidence (observed via Sunshine v2026.914.233613 on Mac mini M4, macOS arm64)
- Main display ID changes across monitor reconnects: 10 → 12 → 1 over consecutive days.
- While the bug is active:
CGDisplayBounds(staleId 12)→(0,0,0,0)CGDisplayBounds(CGMainDisplayID() = 1)→(0,0,1920,1080)- Client input packets arrive (UDP control channel has traffic), video capture is unaffected (capture re-enumerates per session), but the cursor never leaves the origin.
- After restarting Sunshine, input works again — until the display ID changes once more.
Reproduction
- Start a libvirtualhid consumer (e.g. Sunshine) and note the main display ID.
- Force the display to re-enumerate: power-cycle the monitor, or unplug/replug it (many DP/USB-C monitors do this on their own when entering deep sleep).
- Send absolute or relative mouse input — cursor stays pinned at
(0,0).
Suggested fix
Either:
- Resolve the display at event time (
CGMainDisplayID()insubmit_absolute_motion/post_mouseinstead of the cached value), or - Register
CGDisplayRegisterReconfigurationCallbackand update the cacheddisplay/display_scalingon reconfiguration events.
Additionally, guard against zero-sized CGDisplayBounds results (invalid/offline display) instead of clamping into a degenerate rect — e.g. fall back to CGMainDisplayID() bounds.
Happy to provide more diagnostics if needed.
- Dominant language
- C++
- Stars
- 57
- Forks
- 15
- Avg merge
- 11h 15m
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 33
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
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- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
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