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https://github.com/dnut/clipboard-sync

Synchronizes the clipboard across multiple X11 and wayland instances running on the same machine.
https://github.com/dnut/clipboard-sync

arch archlinux clipboard desktop environment gnome linux rust sway wayland x11 xorg

Last synced: about 1 month ago
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Synchronizes the clipboard across multiple X11 and wayland instances running on the same machine.

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README 

        
# Clipboard Sync



Synchronizes the clipboard across multiple X11 and wayland instances running on the same machine.



To use clipboard sync, you only need to install it and start the service. It identifies and synchronizes your clipboards automatically.



Example use cases:



- **Improve Wayland compatibility**: You have already enabled support for wayland in your system, but your computer does not synchronize the clipboard between X11 and wayland windows. clipboard-sync can solve this problem. [more details](https://github.com/dnut/clipboard-sync/issues/9#issuecomment-1502368133)

- **VNC**: You run a VNC server and would like all host and client logins from the same user to share the same clipboard.

- **Multiple displays**: You run two or more desktop environments or window managers in separate ttys, switching between desktops using ctrl-alt-F*. 

- **Nested Wayland**: You run a wayland compositor within a window. examples:

  - you primarily use kde, but run sway in a window to consolidate all your messenger apps into a single tiled/tabbed window.

  - you use gnome and develop extensions for gnome, so you run a nested gnome environment for testing.



Table of Contents:

- [Installation](#installation)

- [Usage](#usage)

- [Build From Source](#build-from-source)



# Installation

Install clipboard-sync with your system's package manager. If your system is not supported, please vote on [the appropriate issue](https://github.com/dnut/clipboard-sync/issues?q=is%3Aissue+label%3Adistribution), or create one if it does not exist.



### Arch Linux

[clipboard-sync](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/clipboard-sync) is available in the Arch User Repository.



### Ubuntu & Debian

Install from the official repository:

```bash

sudo wget -P /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dnut/deb/master/dnut.list

sudo apt update && sudo apt install clipboard-sync

```



## Advanced Installation

If your system is not supported, you have two other options:

- [Generic Linux](#generic-linux)

  - automatically and cleanly installs or uninstalls the entire package.

  - requires extra steps to acquire the source code.

- [Cargo](#cargo)

  - only installs the executable, which needs to be run manually.

  - requires extra steps to manually edit and install a systemd service if desired.

  - If you use [cargo-update](https://crates.io/crates/cargo-update), it can make updates to the executable easier.



### Generic Linux

[Build from Source](#build-from-source), then install ***either*** system-wide ***or*** for only the current user:

```bash

sudo make install  # system

make user-install  # user

```

It can be easily uninstalled:

```bash

sudo make uninstall  # system

make user-uninstall  # user

```



### Cargo

[clipboard-sync](https://crates.io/crates/clipboard-sync) is published to crates.io, so it can be installed as a normal binary crate.



1. Install rust: https://www.rust-lang.org/tools/install

2. Install clipboard-sync

```bash

cargo install clipboard-sync

```

3. If you want it to run in the background, you can use tmux, or you can manually download the systemd service file and copy it to a systemd folder. You can download it to the correct path using this command, after which you may need to manually edit the file to point the correct binary location:

```bash

wget -P "$HOME/.config/systemd/user/" https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dnut/clipboard-sync/master/clipboard-sync.service

```

It can be easily uninstalled:

```bash

cargo uninstall clipboard-sync

rm -r "$HOME/.config/systemd/clipboard-sync.service"

```



### Ubuntu & Debian (advanced)

In addition to installing from the official repository, you can also build and install the deb package from source. Follow the instructions to [Build from Source](#build-from-source), then create a deb file and install it with:

```bash

make deb && sudo apt install ./dist/deb/clipboard-sync_*.deb

```



# Usage

The typical set-and-forget approach is to enable to service:

```bash

systemctl --user enable --now clipboard-sync

```



If you don't want it to run constantly, only on-demand, don't use systemd. Directly call the binary as needed:

```bash

clipboard-sync

```



You can also daemonize clipboard-sync using tmux instead of systemd. ~/.bashrc aliases may be handy for these commands.

```bash

tmux new-session -ds clipboard-sync clipboard-sync  # start in background

tmux attach -t clipboard-sync                       # view status

ctrl-b, d                                           # while viewing status, send back to background

ctrl-c                                              # while viewing status, terminate the process

```



# Build from Source



1. Ensure you have the build dependencies: rust make gcc libc libxcb

- install rust using rustup: https://www.rust-lang.org/tools/install

- For the rest:

  - arch linux: `sudo pacman -Syu make gcc libxcb`

  - debian/ubuntu: `sudo apt install make gcc libxcb1-dev libxcb-render0-dev libxcb-shape0-dev libxcb-xfixes0-dev`



2. Download the source from [the releases page](https://github.com/dnut/clipboard-sync/releases/) and unzip it. Alternatively, select *one* of these commands to download the source:

```bash

wget -O- https://github.com/dnut/clipboard-sync/archive/refs/tags/0.2.0.tar.gz | tar xvz

curl -L https://github.com/dnut/clipboard-sync/archive/refs/tags/0.2.0.tar.gz | tar xvz

git clone https://github.com/dnut/clipboard-sync.git --branch stable

```



3. Compile the program

```bash

cd clipboard-sync*

make

```



The executable is here:

```bash

./target/release/clipboard-sync

```