Bug#793029: general: Copy-paste clipboards: Vim can't write to them anymore or corrupts them.
Package: general
Severity: normal
Dear Maintainer,
I recently made a fresh install of Debian 8, Jessie, on my laptop where
Debian 7, Wheezy was still running a week ago, thank you for this release.
Everything seems to work fine so far. I am experiency a small trouble
though, which we begin to think it might be worth reporting to you. You will
find 2 original posts describing it on StackExchange, but I shall still
describe it hereafter.
Unix & Linux StackExchange :
http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/217145
StackOverflow :
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/31512364
The problem stands in the communication between Vim and the system's
copy-paste clipboard. Copying and pasting from any application to any other
application works fine, except with Vim. I am talking about "hard" copy (ctrl+C
or right-click "Copy") *and* "swift" copy (select text then central mouse
button or shift+insert).
I have compiled Vim myself from source, with all the flags I knew they
were needed for this to work (`+clipboard` and `+xterm_clipboard`). Here is the
output of `vim --version`:
================================================================================
VIM - Vi IMproved 7.4 (2013 Aug 10, compiled Jul 20 2015 09:13:27)
Included patches: 1-789
Compiled by iago-lito@etak
Huge version with GTK2 GUI. Features included (+) or not (-):
+acl +farsi +mouse_netterm +syntax
+arabic +file_in_path +mouse_sgr +tag_binary
+autocmd +find_in_path -mouse_sysmouse +tag_old_static
+balloon_eval +float +mouse_urxvt -tag_any_white
+browse +folding +mouse_xterm -tcl
++builtin_terms -footer +multi_byte +terminfo
+byte_offset +fork() +multi_lang +termresponse
+cindent +gettext -mzscheme +textobjects
+clientserver -hangul_input +netbeans_intg +title
+clipboard +iconv +path_extra +toolbar
+cmdline_compl +insert_expand +perl +user_commands
+cmdline_hist +jumplist +persistent_undo +vertsplit
+cmdline_info +keymap +postscript +virtualedit
+comments +langmap +printer +visual
+conceal +libcall +profile +visualextra
+cryptv +linebreak -python +viminfo
+cscope +lispindent +python3 +vreplace
+cursorbind +listcmds +quickfix +wildignore
+cursorshape +localmap +reltime +wildmenu
+dialog_con_gui +lua +rightleft +windows
+diff +menu +ruby +writebackup
+digraphs +mksession +scrollbind +X11
+dnd +modify_fname +signs -xfontset
-ebcdic +mouse +smartindent +xim
+emacs_tags +mouseshape -sniff +xsmp_interact
+eval +mouse_dec +startuptime +xterm_clipboard
+ex_extra -mouse_gpm +statusline -xterm_save
+extra_search -mouse_jsbterm -sun_workshop +xpm
system vimrc file: "$VIM/vimrc"
user vimrc file: "$HOME/.vimrc"
2nd user vimrc file: "~/.vim/vimrc"
user exrc file: "$HOME/.exrc"
system gvimrc file: "$VIM/gvimrc"
user gvimrc file: "$HOME/.gvimrc"
2nd user gvimrc file: "~/.vim/gvimrc"
system menu file: "$VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim"
fall-back for $VIM: "/usr/local/share/vim"
Compilation: gcc -c -I. -Iproto -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -DFEAT_GUI_GTK -pthread
-I/usr/include/gtk-2.0 -I/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/gtk-2.0/include
-I/usr/include/gio-unix-2.0/ -I/usr/include/cairo -I/usr/include/pango-1.0
-I/usr/include/atk-1.0 -I/usr/include/cairo -I/usr/include/pixman-1
-I/usr/include/libpng12 -I/usr/include/gdk-pixbuf-2.0 -I/usr/include/libpng12
-I/usr/include/pango-1.0 -I/usr/include/harfbuzz -I/usr/include/pango-1.0
-I/usr/include/glib-2.0 -I/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/glib-2.0/include
-I/usr/include/freetype2 -g -O2 -U_FORTIFY_SOURCE -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=1
Linking: gcc -L. -Wl,-z,relro
-L/build/ruby2.1-S44MX0/ruby2.1-2.1.5/debian/lib -fstack-protector -rdynamic
-Wl,-export-dynamic -Wl,-E -L/usr/local/lib -Wl,--as-needed -o vim
-lgtk-x11-2.0 -lgdk-x11-2.0 -lpangocairo-1.0 -latk-1.0 -lcairo -lgdk_pixbuf-2.0
-lgio-2.0 -lpangoft2-1.0 -lpango-1.0 -lgobject-2.0 -lglib-2.0 -lfontconfig
-lfreetype -lSM -lICE -lXpm -lXt -lX11 -lXdmcp -lSM -lICE -lm -ltinfo -lnsl
-lselinux -ldl -L/usr/lib -llua5.1 -Wl,-E -fstack-protector -L/usr/local/lib
-L/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/perl/5.20/CORE -lperl -ldl -lm -lpthread -lcrypt
-L/usr/lib/python3.4/config-3.4m-x86_64-linux-gnu -lpython3.4m -lpthread -ldl
-lutil -lm -lruby-2.1 -lpthread -lgmp -ldl -lcrypt -lm
================================================================================
After having copied or selected text from other applications, I can
paste it into Vim using `"+p` or `"*p`, which proves that the communication has
been established between Vim's registers and the system's copy-paste clipboard.
However, exporting text from Vim via the system's clipboard does not
work. After having done `"+y` or `"*y"` in Vim's visual mode --- which is the
standard way to do so ---, nothing can be pasted outside Vim, and the "Paste"
option from the right-click menu is not available in any other application..
until I copy something else outside of Vim.
Unless I missed something big, I suspect Vim to write into the copy-
paste clipboard in a way that makes it corrupted for some reason, even though
it is still able to read it. Did the clipboard format change in any way? Does
it have anything to see with Gnome or X?
Should I rather/also report the bug to Vim's developpers?
This is it. Thank you for your supporting Debian and good luck anyway. Should
you need any further information, please do not hesitate to ask :)
--
Iago-lito
-- System Information:
Debian Release: 8.1
APT prefers stable-updates
APT policy: (500, 'stable-updates'), (500, 'stable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Kernel: Linux 3.16.0-4-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=fr_FR.utf8, LC_CTYPE=fr_FR.utf8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
Reply to: