Making everyday copying more predictable.

October 26 improved copying from Terminal programs, explained when Shift helps with text selection, and corrected desktop file drops and icons that stopped keeping up.

Copying should be a small part of using a computer. You select some text or drag a file, then carry on. October 26 focused on cases where Ecliptic made that simple expectation harder: text selected inside a terminal program did not reach the clipboard, a file dragged onto the desktop moved instead of copying, and desktop icons could stop reflecting what was actually in the folder.

The changes address those specific problems in Terminal, Files and the desktop. They also make the remaining differences easier to understand, especially for someone learning Linux while working with both local and remote computers.

Copy from a program, even when it runs elsewhere

Some terminal programs handle mouse selection themselves. A drag inside Vim, for example, can select text for Vim without selecting anything in Terminal. That distinction matters when the next step is pasting into another window.

Terminal now supports a standard way for compatible programs to copy text to this computer’s clipboard, called OSC 52. It can work in a local pane or through an SSH connection. Vim, Neovim and tmux have support for this, although the program’s version and configuration still matter. Terminal’s maintained help now explains the relevant setup rather than assuming every remote computer is already configured.

The Let programs copy to the clipboard preference is on by default and can be turned off under Mouse & Clipboard. A copy is limited to 1 MB of text; a larger request is refused with a message.

This does not give a remote program access to whatever you copied elsewhere. When a program asks for clipboard contents through this mechanism, Terminal answers only with what the program in that pane last copied through it, or nothing. To paste something from another application, use Ctrl+Shift+V or right-click paste if you have enabled it.

A small hint when the mouse belongs to the program

There is also a simpler option when you just want text visible on the screen: hold Shift while dragging to select it in Terminal itself, then copy with Ctrl+Shift+C. If automatic selection copying is enabled, it copies that selection too.

Shift selection was already available. The new part is a short Hold Shift to select text hint when a drag goes to a program that has taken control of the mouse. It disappears by itself, leaves keyboard focus alone and appears only occasionally. You do not have to know why the selection behaves differently before finding the way around it.

A copy onto the desktop should stay a copy

The desktop previously chose to move a dropped file whenever its source was on the same disk, even when Files offered a copy. That could remove the original from its folder when the person intended to leave it there.

Drags between Ecliptic Files and the desktop now copy by default. Hold Shift as the drag starts to make them a move instead. Files uses the same decision rule for drops onto folders and panes.

There are still distinctions worth making clear. Dragging a desktop icon onto a folder icon on the desktop still moves it on the same disk; Ctrl requests a copy. Drags from another file manager that allows moving can still move on the same disk and copy across disks. This change corrects Ecliptic’s own interaction without promising that every application uses identical drag conventions.

Icons that keep up with copy and Trash

Another failure made file operations look unsuccessful even when the files had changed. After a copy onto the desktop, its folder list could stop updating. New files would not appear, while icons for files moved to Trash could remain. Trying the stale icon again could then produce a missing-file error.

The cause was a folder-listing failure triggered by the short-lived staging folder used during a copy. The desktop now refreshes its file list through a different implementation, so it can keep following later additions, removals and writes. Renaming a file also keeps its icon’s position and selection.

Desktop errors are now kept in the system journal as well as shown where appropriate. That gives future troubleshooting a record to work from when a problem is intermittent.

Checks and what still needs real use

Terminal’s new tests exercise clipboard copies and their limits, the preference switch, replies restricted to the same pane, mouse selection and the Shift hint on a private test display. A Neovim copy-and-paste check was also recorded there. Regression checks cover terminal replies, split sizes and the last output from an exiting program.

Desktop regression tests cover files being created, removed, moved, renamed and written after they appear, including further changes after a staged copy. The development record also reports a virtual-machine check and passing final clean-export suites for Terminal, Files, the desktop and maintained help. Earlier private-display Terminal runs had four failures tied to features that need a different display environment; the later clean-export report records the full suite passing.

The updates were recorded as installed on the development computer by the end of October 26, with no desktop configuration errors or coredumps at that check. Hands-on confirmation of Vim or Neovim over SSH on the real desktop, and of the reported desktop Delete and drag operations, was still awaiting the owner. Those checks remain separate from automated coverage.

This is progress toward a desktop whose everyday actions are easier to trust, not a claim of universal application compatibility or a public release. The entry covers development through October 26 only.