Autocutsel

Autocutsel is a handy tool that acts like a simple buffer for any application to store text. It’s super useful for keeping your clipboard organized!

How Copying Text Works

X servers have two main ways to copy text between applications. The first method, which is kind of outdated now, is called the cutbuffer. The second method is known as the selection and it works a bit differently.

Understanding Selections

You can actually have multiple selections on one server at the same time. When you use an application, it doesn’t just copy data into a selection; instead, it “owns” that selection. If another app wants to grab that text, it needs to ask the owner for permission.

Clipboard Magic with Recent Applications

Modern desktop apps like GNOME and KDE use two types of selections: PRIMARY and CLIPBOARD. The PRIMARY selection comes into play when you highlight some text with your mouse, and you usually paste it by clicking the middle button. On the other hand, CLIPBOARD is used when you copy text through menus—like Edit/Copy—and you can paste it using Edit/Paste.

Synchronizing Clipboards with Windows VNC Clients

If you're using Windows VNC clients, they keep the Windows clipboard synced with the cutbuffer but not with the selections. Since most recent applications don’t really use cutbuffers anymore, this means that the server's CLIPBOARD isn’t synced up with Windows’ clipboard either.

The Power of Autocutsel

This is where Autocutsel steps in! It tracks any changes happening in both the server's cutbuffer and CLIPBOARD selection. So whenever there’s an update in CLIPBOARD, it automatically updates the cutbuffer too. And vice versa! This way, everything stays synchronized all the time.

Synchronized Clipboard Action!

This synchronization means that if you copy something in Windows, both cutbuffer and CLIPBOARD will be updated right away. Similarly, if you copy text on your server using either option, Windows’ clipboard gets updated as well!

How to Install Autocutsel

If you're looking to install Autocutsel from CVS, just run:

./autogen.sh

  ./configure

  make

  make install

  autocutsel

  

If configure doesn’t work because it's missing X or Xaw libraries, you'll need to install those development packages first.

Selecting Between PRIMARY or CLIPBOARD

By default, Autocutsel syncs with CLIPBOARD selection. But if you want to switch things up and use PRIMARY instead (especially if your apps are using Motif or another toolkit), just run:

autocutsel -selection PRIMARY

What's New in This Release:

• A bug fix for 64-bit systems.


• A workaround for OpenOffice.org writer has been added!


• A compilation issue on NetBSD has been resolved.


• A new test suite has been introduced.