Re: OFFTOPIC: How about a /dev/clipboard ?

[Carl Mummert <mummert@cs.wcu.edu>]

>> /dev/clipboard would require kernel modifications, and is probably not
>> what you are lookign for.
>
>I don't see why it would?

  Everything in /dev is run by the kernel; when you write or read
a file in /dev, the kernel calls the appropriate driver functions
to deal with it.  Thus /dev/ttyS* interfaces with the serial
driver, /dev/eth* with the ethernet drivers, etc.   

  It would be a challenge to program something in the kernel to
take care of the clipboard thing because:

   1) You would have multiple users all using the same /dev/clipboard file  
   2) You would have to enforce quotas somehow
   3) You would have to interface with X somehow.  This is complicated
      by the fact that there may be several X sessions, and because
      the user who copies to /dev/clipboard may not own the X session 
      she wants to copy the data into.


The windowmaker thing, however, sounds like it provides the functionality
that the guy was looking for. 


Carl