this post was submitted on 08 Jan 2026
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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I've been using the "select copy + middle click paste" since the late 90s.
I find it useful for simple intra-document editing because you're just using the mouse, no need to reach for the keyboard.
It can be combined with the traditional copy/paste, say you have your password in the clipboard but you need to also copy some part of a long ssh command. You can have both and paste them on the command line one after the other.
I know I'm a minority and this will eventually be dropped because it's too confusing for the end users, man.
Yes, I get it. But I'll miss it.
You're describing the primary selection. The article's about patching secondary selection back into gtk3 (c. 2015?). It's ctrl+select followed by ctrl+middle to paste as yet another clipboard. This has the unique and useful property that neither selection nor paste changes the text cursor's position.
A more in-depth look at secondary selection is in the embedded video which has it's own write-up on https://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~lindsec/secondary.html
[I suspect primary-secondardy selection is not a confusion you have, but one a casual skip-the-article-direct-to-comments reader might have]
I assumed primary is ctrl-c/ctrl-v and secondary is select/middle-click. I've never come across this ctrl-middle-click, it does the same with and without the ctrl key.
I seen to recall reading something this week about a distro dropping middle click, so I probably conflated both issues and failed.
But you're right, I did not read the fine article.
There are lots of ways to move data between or within graphical windows! But the list is shrinking
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System_selection
Nobody is removing it?…