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I love Linux, but the cut and paste situation is really terrible. The middle mouse paste isn't a problem for me--it's that there are two separate "clipboard" bu

I love Linux, but the cut and paste situation is really terrible. The middle mouse paste isn't a problem for me--it's that there are two separate "clipboard" buffers, which just causes all sorts of problems.

garciansmith 9mo ago
You can unify the middle mouse selection and the regular clipboard in KDE if you wish. Personally I find keeping them separate very convenient.
- SoftTalker 9mo ago
  I use "autocutsel" to synchronize the cut buffer and clipboard in X. Not sure what Wayland might need to do this or if it even has a similar concept. I love select to copy and middle-click to paste. https://www.nongnu.org/autocutsel/ https://www.nongnu.org/autocutsel/
- jolmg 9mo ago
  There are a number of DE-independent clipboard managers that can do that as well as other features, like keeping a clipboard history so you can copy in series then paste in series, or having keyboard shortcuts transform the clipboard contents by way of a command, so you can e.g. copy some multi-line text then paste it as a single line joined by spaces.
doubled112 9mo ago
Having two separate clipboard buffers is a feature I intentionally use.
- SkiFire13 9mo ago
  https://xkcd.com/1172/ https://xkcd.com/1172/
  - jolmg 9mo ago
    Except it's not a bug that found use. It's intentional behavior. From https://specifications.freedesktop.org/clipboard/latest/ https://specifications.freedesktop.org/clipboard/latest/: > The rationale for this behavior is mostly that [having a unified clipboard] has a lot of problems, namely: > - inconsistent with Mac/Windows > - confusingly, selecting anything overwrites the clipboard > - not efficient with a tool such as xclipboard [(tool that maintains a history of specifically CLIPBOARD; it would be messy to keep a history of all selections)] > - you should be able to select text, then paste the clipboard over it, but that doesn’t work if the selection and clipboard are the same > - the Copy menu item is useless and does nothing, which is confusing > - if you think of PRIMARY as the current selection, Cut doesn’t make any sense since the selection simultaneously disappears and becomes the current selection
    - doubled112 9mo ago
      The selection buffer is easier to understand if thought about more simply. Middle click to “put my selection here”. The actual clipboard is a separate feature in my mind.
- johnisgood 9mo ago
  You and I both.
- m132 9mo ago
  Yup, both have their uses. If you use a clipboard manager or have the clipboard synchronized between devices/remote desktops/VMs, the primary selection comes in handy for stuff you don't exactly want saved to disk, crossing VM boundaries, or transmitted over the network. I use middle-click pasting primarily for its separate buffer.

garciansmith 9mo ago

You can unify the middle mouse selection and the regular clipboard in KDE if you wish. Personally I find keeping them separate very convenient.

SoftTalker 9mo ago
I use "autocutsel" to synchronize the cut buffer and clipboard in X. Not sure what Wayland might need to do this or if it even has a similar concept. I love select to copy and middle-click to paste. https://www.nongnu.org/autocutsel/ https://www.nongnu.org/autocutsel/
jolmg 9mo ago
There are a number of DE-independent clipboard managers that can do that as well as other features, like keeping a clipboard history so you can copy in series then paste in series, or having keyboard shortcuts transform the clipboard contents by way of a command, so you can e.g. copy some multi-line text then paste it as a single line joined by spaces.

doubled112 9mo ago

Having two separate clipboard buffers is a feature I intentionally use.

SkiFire13 9mo ago
https://xkcd.com/1172/ https://xkcd.com/1172/
- jolmg 9mo ago
  Except it's not a bug that found use. It's intentional behavior. From https://specifications.freedesktop.org/clipboard/latest/ https://specifications.freedesktop.org/clipboard/latest/: > The rationale for this behavior is mostly that [having a unified clipboard] has a lot of problems, namely: > - inconsistent with Mac/Windows > - confusingly, selecting anything overwrites the clipboard > - not efficient with a tool such as xclipboard [(tool that maintains a history of specifically CLIPBOARD; it would be messy to keep a history of all selections)] > - you should be able to select text, then paste the clipboard over it, but that doesn’t work if the selection and clipboard are the same > - the Copy menu item is useless and does nothing, which is confusing > - if you think of PRIMARY as the current selection, Cut doesn’t make any sense since the selection simultaneously disappears and becomes the current selection
  - doubled112 9mo ago
    The selection buffer is easier to understand if thought about more simply. Middle click to “put my selection here”. The actual clipboard is a separate feature in my mind.
johnisgood 9mo ago
You and I both.
m132 9mo ago
Yup, both have their uses. If you use a clipboard manager or have the clipboard synchronized between devices/remote desktops/VMs, the primary selection comes in handy for stuff you don't exactly want saved to disk, crossing VM boundaries, or transmitted over the network. I use middle-click pasting primarily for its separate buffer.