> I don't get it (Windows user). If I copy some text in the browser and then close the browser the clipboard is gone under linux? How is that good design, wouldn't it be preferable if the OS is holding the clipboard data as a middle man?
The essay covers this: it was picked because it means only the pasted data (of the right mimetype) gets copied, so it avoids unnecessary copies. This is especially useful if the source can generate large amounts of data e.g. an image program is able to copy in multiple image formats, in which case said program would have to export everything to the OS on copy.
But yes that also means all the data is lost unless the source program takes extra non-trivial measures to keep the data alive.
This made some sick kind of sense in X11, because all that data might have to transit over the network too if you were using remote X.
The essay covers this: it was picked because it means only the pasted data (of the right mimetype) gets copied, so it avoids unnecessary copies. This is especially useful if the source can generate large amounts of data e.g. an image program is able to copy in multiple image formats, in which case said program would have to export everything to the OS on copy.
But yes that also means all the data is lost unless the source program takes extra non-trivial measures to keep the data alive.
This made some sick kind of sense in X11, because all that data might have to transit over the network too if you were using remote X.