After the last system update of Mac OS X 10.5.7, cut &
paste didn't work anymore between Mac applications and X11
programs. The pasteboard of the Mac and the clipboard of X were
no longer synchronized. It turns out this is a preference that
can be set in the Xquartz X server, by using the
defaults
command. (See man Xquartz
for
details.)
This is what I did to make cut & paste work again:
defaults write org.x.X11 sync_pasteboard 1 defaults write org.x.X11 sync_pasteboard_to_clipboard 1 defaults write org.x.X11 sync_pasteboard_to_primary 1 defaults write org.x.X11 sync_clipboard_to_pasteboard 1
and then restart X11. (It is normally not recommended to use
defaults
to change defaults of a running program,
because the program might override the defaults when it exits;
but Xquartz doesn't seem to do that.)
Another effect of the latest update is that enabling key equivalents in the X11 preferences does not enable the ⌘~ (Apple + tilde) combination to switch windows. Instead, it enables ⌘→ (Apple + right arrow). If you want ⌘~, you'll have to disable key equivalents.
I decided to disable key equivalents as a result. It is bad enough that the Mac GUI forces you to think hard to get the right combination of ⌘Tab and ⌘~ to switch between windows; it's just too difficult if on top of that you need to remember to use ⌘→ instead of ⌘~ if the target window is under X11.
Bert Bos