BLOCK_MOUSE=True breaks input routing to Kodi (and possibly other native apps) on webOS 4.10

[Grimw00d]

When BLOCK_MOUSE=True, navigation keys (arrow keys, OK, etc.) stop working inside Kodi completely. System keys (Home, Exit) still work. Magic Mapper correctly receives and forwards all keys to event4, but Kodi never receives them.
Root cause discovered:

lginput2 (webOS input service) does NOT read from event3 or event4
It reads from /dev/shm/libMRCU-shm (shared memory) and /IM_MQ_MRCU (message queue) directly from the remote firmware
When BLOCK_MOUSE=True blocks code 1198 from event4, something in the MRCU/lginput2 pipeline stops routing navigation keys to native apps like Kodi
lginput2 logs NL_BUTTON_CLICK for special buttons (Netflix, Amazon) but stops logging navigation keys entirely when frozen

Setup: LG B9 OLED, webOS 4.10.2-31, Kodi 21.90.703 (nightly webOS build)
Workaround: BLOCK_MOUSE=False fixes input but shows the pointer.

[andrewfraley]

@Grimw00d I tested this on my LG C9

• uname: Linux LGwebOSTV 4.4.84-169.gld4tv.4
• Kodi v21.0.0 stable release as well as 21.90.703 nightly
• Rebooted TV
• Ran Kodi
• Navigation was working, although there does seem to be an issue where it only registers one scroll and you have to stop scrolling and start again to get it to work again.
• I shook the remote to activate the mouse, mouse was blocked as usual by magic_mapper.py, navigation continued to work in Kodi

Questions

1. Did Kodi and magic_mapper.py work for you previously with an older version of Kodi or older firmware on your TV?
2. Are you using the latest version of magic_mapper.py? Awhile back I refactored this to locate the input device automatically as sometimes it shows up under different device names.

Note - edited after I found the correct nightly build.

[Grimw00d]

Hi Andrew, thanks for testing and for your quick reply!
First, I want to say I really appreciate this project — it's been incredibly useful and the work you've put into it is outstanding. Thank you!
To answer your questions:

I never tested Kodi with Magic Mapper before — this is my first time using both together. I'm running Kodi 21.90.703 nightly (rcorex build) on an LG B9 OLED, webOS 4.10.2-31.
I downloaded magic_mapper.py fresh from your GitHub repo yesterday.

My findings: With the original magic_mapper.py and BLOCK_MOUSE=True, Kodi navigation is completely frozen after first boot — no keys respond at all, not just scroll issues. Force closing and relaunching Kodi fixes it temporarily, but it can freeze again mid-stream.
After investigation with root SSH access, I discovered that lginput2 (webOS input service) reads from /dev/shm/libMRCU-shm and /IM_MQ_MRCU directly — not from event3 or event4. When BLOCK_MOUSE=True blocks code 1198, something in that MRCU pipeline stops routing navigation keys to Kodi entirely.
I worked around this by sending keys directly to Kodi via JSON-RPC HTTP (port 8080), which bypasses the broken webOS input routing completely.
Could the difference be between our setups be the webOS version? You're on 4.4.84, I'm on 4.10.2. Is there anything specific you'd like me to test or try on my end that might help narrow down the issue?