TIL: middle click is paste?
the middle click is “paste selection” not “paste clipboard”. those are 2 different things under *nix.
I personally use this constantly because you need the funtionality to quickly copy some text somewhere so often, it makes much more sense to not have to do: Select text, ctrl-c, move mouse, click text field, ctrl-v. much nicer to just: select text, move mouse, press middle button.
I’m just lost why it’s so hard baked into x11 instead of configurable. I don’t want middle click to paste my selections. Yes I know x11 has some history and that it’s a feature, I do not like that feature. I will never like that feature. I want to copy manually and paste manually.
I don’t want my selections to be captured in a buffer.
I like it, it’s especially useful in a tty(tho many distros don’t have it by default)
It’s one of those things you either use constantly or not at all. Activating the feature intentionally and having it fail is irritating, but activating it unintentionally because you didn’t know it was there could have serious consequences. I mean, I can even come up with cases where the wrong information being C&P’d accidentally into the wrong Web form could result in someone ending up dead.
Given the difference in stakes, “off by default” makes sense for this feature. I wouldn’t call it a dumpster fire, though—more like a relic of a more innocent time.
As a newgen (derogatory), Id appreciate this. Middle click has always been auto-scroll to me and it takes a good search to figure out how to disable it on a new installation.
Calling it a ‘dumpster fire’ is a bit dramatic.
Urgh, I use it at least 300 times a day.
From the other thread it seems it’ll just be disabled by default, and enableable if wanted
Same, and I have done so since the mid-90’s. It’s muscle memory at this point.
never even knew that was a thing until a couple months ago, found it by accident. for 15-ish years I’ve just used a programmable mouse button for paste. still don’t know what i should do with that button now since middle click can paste.
Bravo Michael for continuing to farm bullshit drama with clickbait headlines on the most inane topics like “how my DE handles pasting text”
For me it’his is one of the most useful features of Linux desktops and one of the main reasons I feel lost when I have to use Windows.
You won’t lose it. They’ll just turn it off by default for new users.
And soon new users will never know, as each great Linux feature becomes hidden until the default desktop is a awful as all the rest.
As much as new windows users don’t know about ctrl+c, alt+f4, win+d… Those who don’t care won’t learn, those who do, will, it’s as simple as that.
They won’t though, because they will never know.
I am not a fan of dumbing everything down and hiding all the good stuff.
Is there a big popup at startup with windows that I somehow missed with all the shortcuts? Or did linux became sudenly less documented overnight? Why wouldn’t they know? Why do you think that users magicaly knows about shortcuts almost never referenced anywhere on windows but wouldn’t know about one sparking a debate among linux users with a toggle in settings directly referencing it?
Damn, the amount of comments that didn’t even read the full… title… Is reading comprehension getting this bad? Middle clic paste isn’t getting removed, just being opt-in rather than opt-out, yet a bunch of commenters are up in arms “time to ditch firefox”…
Historically speaking, the gnome devs have made “disabled by default” the first step towards removing a feature everyone uses.
Historically speaking, from what I’m reading is that gnome devs have a history of bad decisions birthing forks here and there “fine, I’ll do my own gnome, with blackjack and hookers” too, so I don’t know how much weigh such a decision can have to be perfectly honnest.
Eh, gnome is the default on some of the biggest distributions in a time when apparently lots of people are trying Linux for the first time so there’s an outsized opportunity for their usual shenanigans to have consequences for the rest of us.
Which has happened a bunch of times in the past.
Middle click paste sucks, I keep accideE&4nry!NAnY6Yfntally activating it in the middle of my documents which is bad when I have st6SFMzZkTR7!b^yuff like passwords copied and don’t notice, so good
No hunter2 in there, this is fake.
Ill be very happy when that day comes. Its one of the first things I need to search for how to disable every time i setup a new machine. To me, middle click has always been panning a canvas, and rectangle selecting text in editors. Its always super jarring having it paste text on new gnome machines
wait where does that get overridden? its going back a few years but when I was trying blender I used middle click paste and I don’t think I had any issues with it affecting whatever middle click does by default in blender
Yes, please. Lets dumb down userinterfaces more. I think the right mouse button should go away next, people can’t rightclick on touchscreens anyway, and many are confused by the extra button.
/s. so many /s. thank good it’s open source, if they ever remove the setting to turn it back on, i can just put the code back in.
Didn’t know if it was possible for open source to disappoint me, but here we are. Instead of removing it entirely make it an option so the people can decide.
That’s exactly what’s happening.
as someone new to linux i don’t get it. if you have your hand in ctrl-c anyway ctrl-v is right there?
It’s like a second, separate clipboard. You “copy” text to this one by simply selecting it, then “paste” from it by middle-clicking.
Well, I guess I’d have to use a fork of… oh, wait a second, I’ve already been alternating between Pale Moon, SeaMonkey, LibreWolf, and Firefox along with Tor and Links.
I just would be using less of Firefox and more of LibreWolf. And when Ladybird is ready, I’ll use that and dillo.
Or you could change the preference to enable the feature again.









