Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms

From	Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com>
Newsgroups	alt.comp.software.firefox, comp.sys.mac.system, alt.os.linux
Subject	Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms
Date	2026-02-15 14:49 -0500
Organization	BWH Usenet Archive (https://usenet.blueworldhosting.com)
Message-ID	<10mt7vi$ga6$1@nnrp.usenet.blueworldhosting.com> (permalink)
References	(8 earlier) <mv9j4uF6a35U3@mid.individual.net> <10mrqg8$1r7h$1@nnrp.usenet.blueworldhosting.com> <mvdrjqFt2ahU1@mid.individual.net> <10msflj$p2h$1@dont-email.me> <mveiesF2avtU1@mid.individual.net>

Cross-posted to 3 groups.

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Carlos E. R. wrote:
> I found several tools doing things with the clipboard. One letting you 
> access content from previous operations. But I did not see one listing 
> the contents of the clipboard.
> 
> Not being a Linux programmer, I'm not aware of the many clipboards you 
> or Lew mentions. I only know two types:
> 
>   - An ancient method accessed solely with the mouse
>   - A newer method accessed via menu or shortcuts.
> 
> Different, but with some apps they mix.

Hi Carlos,

You're in good hands with Lew and Paul on the Linux side, since I haven't
used it as a daily drive since the Solaris/Redhat/Centos/Ubuntu days.

I think the issue you raised here is that Lawrence was running his tests
under Wayland, which is why his command was wl-paste -l. That tool only
works on Wayland, as you are aware, so it is expected that your system
prints "Failed to connect to a Wayland server" when you are running X11.

That does not mean you cannot reproduce the PSA on your Linux box. 
It only means you need the X11 equivalent of wl-paste.

What's that?
Hell if I know. 
I haven't had Linux as my daily drive for a long time now.

But, running a quick search on your behalf, it may be that 
on X11, the closest equivalent may be xclip or xsel. 

Apparently both can list the clipboard formats the same way
wl-paste does on Wayland.

For example, with xclip you can run:

    xclip -selection clipboard -t TARGETS -o

That prints the list of offered clipboard formats under X11. 
It seems, to me, to be the same idea as wl-paste -l, but
just for the X11 clipboard instead of the Wayland clipboard.

If you run that command after copying text from Firefox, then run it
again after copying the same text from Chrome, you should see the same
pattern that Lawrence showed (assuming the original copy had HTML).

What we learned, as a team, with the tests mostly done on Linux, was:
1. Firefox offers HTML only when it thinks the selection has structure.
2. Chromium based browsers always offer HTML plus their internal formats.
3. Plain text editors offer only plain text formats.

That is the core of the PSA. The platform does not matter. The browser
decides what formats to place on the clipboard, and the editor decides
which one to request when pasting.

So the only reason you could not reproduce Lawrence's exact command is
that you are on X11, not Wayland. If you use xclip or xsel instead, you
should be able to see the same differences he demonstrated. I think.
-- 
If we think we understand something, we don't. But if we think we don't 
quite yet understand something, then we're just beginning to understand it.

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Thread

PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-12 15:26 -0500
  Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms "Carlos E. R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-02-13 12:02 +0100
    Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms R Daneel Olivaw <Danni@hyperspace.vogon.gov.invalid> - 2026-02-13 12:19 +0100
      Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms "Carlos E. R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-02-13 12:32 +0100
        Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2026-02-13 08:42 -0500
          Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-13 13:37 -0500
            Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2026-02-13 14:36 -0500
            Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms onion@anon.invalid (Mr Ön!on) - 2026-02-13 19:37 +0000
              Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-13 15:17 -0500
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms onion@anon.invalid (Mr Ön!on) - 2026-02-13 21:21 +0000
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms "Carlos E. R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-02-13 23:32 +0100
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms onion@anon.invalid (Mr Ön!on) - 2026-02-13 22:57 +0000
                Ratcatcher/2.0.0.25 (was: Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms) onion@anon.invalid (Mr Ön!on) - 2026-02-14 01:05 +0000
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-15 00:26 -0500
            Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms "Carlos E. R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-02-13 21:07 +0100
              Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-13 15:29 -0500
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms "Carlos E. R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-02-13 22:24 +0100
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-15 01:52 -0500
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms "Carlos E. R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-02-15 13:13 +0100
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2026-02-15 07:54 -0500
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Lew Pitcher <lew.pitcher@digitalfreehold.ca> - 2026-02-15 15:06 +0000
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms "Carlos E. R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-02-15 19:43 +0100
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-15 14:49 -0500
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms "Carlos E. R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-02-15 22:04 +0100
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-15 22:30 -0500
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-15 14:59 -0500
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-02-15 20:11 +0000
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2026-02-15 17:13 -0500
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-02-15 23:33 +0000
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-15 21:58 -0500
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-02-16 03:11 +0000
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-15 22:44 -0500
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-15 20:43 -0500
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-15 21:01 -0500
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms vallor <vallor@vallor.earth> - 2026-02-16 03:15 +0000
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-15 14:37 -0500
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms "Carlos E. R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-02-15 22:08 +0100
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-15 22:53 -0500
            Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-02-14 00:39 +0000
              Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-15 02:16 -0500
          Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms "Carlos E. R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-02-13 22:07 +0100
            Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-13 17:19 -0500
      Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Jim Jackson <jj@franjam.org.uk> - 2026-02-13 17:17 +0000
        Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms R Daneel Olivaw <Danni@hyperspace.vogon.gov.invalid> - 2026-02-13 18:35 +0100
          Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-13 13:14 -0500
        Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-02-14 00:34 +0000
        Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2026-02-14 09:22 -0500
    Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Frank Miller <miller@posteo.ee> - 2026-02-13 15:59 +0100
      Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-13 13:25 -0500
    Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-13 13:12 -0500
      Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms "Carlos E. R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-02-13 21:13 +0100
        Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-13 16:01 -0500
          Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms "Carlos E. R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-02-13 22:31 +0100
          Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-02-14 00:33 +0000
            Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-15 00:41 -0500
        Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2026-02-14 10:31 +1300
          Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms "Carlos E. R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-02-13 22:57 +0100
    Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-13 13:12 -0500
  Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-02-13 23:17 +0000
    Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-15 01:14 -0500
      Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-15 21:29 -0500
  Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-16 03:15 +0000

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