I think we should do those two things completely independently. We need to do something now to preserve the current interfaces for the glibc changes that are coming soon [1], and Deepa's patches do that (though I now realize the changelog doesn't mention the requirement).
I'll update the changelog in the next version of the series along with the task check for x32 mode.
An overhaul of the input_event handling with a new modern but incompatible format may or may not be a good idea, but this should be decided independently.
Just to clarify, we are going with the plan that Arnd suggested: leaving the overhaul of the input event protocol alone and proceeding with the series according to suggested changes. Are we in agreement over this?
-Deepa