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Linux: Stop clipboard from disappearing when app is closed!

Posted By Scott Klarr on Dec 22, 2007 at 9:20 am

Where'd It Go?!

One of the things that I found annoying when I switched to linux, is that if you copy a bit of text from a program, and then closed it, the clipboard selection would disappear with it. I store a lot of information in text files which i access frequently and the workflow is much smoother when i can copy, close, then paste. Not copy, minimize, paste, maximize, close, resume. very, very annoying.

Why Does It Do That?

In linux when you copy a string, it is stored in the buffer of that application rather than a system-wide clipboard (like windows windows has). So when you close that application, the buffers are cleared - taking your copied text with it.

Solution!

By using a clipboard utility, such as xclipper, glipper for gnome, or klipper for KDE, you will not have this problem any more. These utilities also offer the functionality of being able to save X amount of copies, which you can access from a popup menu from the task-bar icon (applet). This can be very useful if say your copying+pasting different passwords while working between multiple accounts.

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