Qlipper usability report

[aramazano]

I don't know how everyone is using Qlipper, but it was (and still is) unusable for me for a long time. In order to find a workable setup, I have tried every relevant setting of Qlipper, and with each setting I have tried to use Qlipper with 10 different applications, took notes, and compiled a table regarding text selection and its entry to history. The table doesn't include restoral (pasting) behavior as I haven't tested them. Just copying behavior. It explains why I wasn't able to use Qlipper so far (I use Clipman instead, but shut it down during these tests).

Here it is.

So far the most usable setting is:
(*) Use Platform Specific Extensions (Advanced)
[Synchronize clipboard & PSE instantly]

[Synchronize clipboard & PSE when item selected] behaves the same. Other options are worse, so I don't report them to prevent clutter. But I can provide them if asked.

Status	Application	Mouse	Ctrl+C
--	featherpad	Copy N	Recopy N
OK	mousepad	Copy 1	No recopy
OK	juffed	Copy 1	No recopy
--	midori	Copy 1	Recopy 1
OK	dillo	Copy 1	No recopy
--	qupzilla	Copy 1	Recopy 1
--	qterminal	Invisible Copy 1	n/a
OK	xfce4-terminal	Copy 1	n/a
OK	xterm	Copy 1	n/a
--	About LXQt	Copy N	Recopy N

• Copy 1 : When some text is selected (e.g. doubleclicked) it is copied to history only for once. Recurrent selections doesn't create duplicate entries in history. This is the way a clipboard is supposed to work. There is a separate column for mouse and Ctrl+C as they behave differen sometimes.
• Copy N : The more you select it by mouse, the more duplicate entries pop up in history.
• No recopy : Pressing Ctrl+C for an already selected text doesn't create duplicate entri(es) in history. This is the way it is supposed to work.
• Recopy 1 : Ctrl+C creates a duplicate entry in history.
• Recopy N : The more you select it by Ctrl+C, the more duplicate entries pop up in history.
• Invisible Copy : If first selection is made by dragging the mouse, then it is visible in CB history. OTOH, if selected by doubleclicking then it is invisible (shown as blank) but still it contains the selected text (i.e. when you choose that "blank" entry in the CB history it restores the original selection, even if it is shown as blank in the history). It depends on how the very first selection is made. If it is invisible (selected by by doubleclick), then it stays that way even if you reselect it later by mouse-dragging. If it is visible (selected by dragging) then it stays that way even if you reselect it later by doubleclick.

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One thing possibly peculiar to my environment is that I have installed both Xfce4 and LXQt, but only use LXQt. I don't know whether Xfce installation can affect my LXQt environment somehow.

aramazan@torik:~$ ps ax | grep xf
  838 ?        S      0:47 /usr/bin/xfwm4
  850 ?        S      0:00 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/xfce4/xfconf/xfconfd

System Information

• Distribution & Version: LXQt experimental-snapshots on top of Debian Testing (Buster)
• Kernel: 4.9.0-4-amd64
• Qt Version: 5.10.1
• libqtxdg Version: libqt5xdg3 / 3.1.1~13-gb5ddbd4-1
• lxqt-build-tools Version: Not installed
• lxqt version : 25
• qlipper version : 1:5.1.2~6-g25ba344-1

[aramazano]

Another observation: When Qlipper is running along with Clipman, then Clipman gets only one history entry per mouse selection, but Qlipper gets 2 of them. That is, the "Copy 1" in the table above becomes Copy 2 and "Copy N" becomes Copy 2N. This is when PSE is enabled.

When PSE is disabled:

• If Qlipper is running alone, then mouse selections don't enter into history at all.
• If Qlipper is running along with Clipman, then Qlipper gets 1 history entry per selection (piggy-backs Clipper).

[agaida]

thats easy - never ever run two or more clipboard managers at the same time - really never

Maybe this is one reason for the most bugs - clipboard managers are kind of voodo - so to much vodoo might be poisonous most of the time