clipboard not activated

Question

I installed vim from their github repo. But I cannot seem to copy paste with from the system clipboard. So, I explored a little and tried to install vim-gtk package which would enable the clipboard feature. But it is not working. Here is the version of both vim and gvim.

$ vim --version
VIM - Vi IMproved 8.2 (2019 Dec 12, compiled Sep 19 2020 02:19:31)
Included patches: 1-1707
Compiled by pial@pialpc
Huge version without GUI.  Features included (+) or not (-):
+acl               -farsi             +mouse_sgr         +tag_binary
+arabic            +file_in_path      -mouse_sysmouse    -tag_old_static
+autocmd           +find_in_path      +mouse_urxvt       -tag_any_white
+autochdir         +float             +mouse_xterm       -tcl
-autoservername    +folding           +multi_byte        +termguicolors
-balloon_eval      -footer            +multi_lang        +terminal
+balloon_eval_term +fork()            -mzscheme          +terminfo
-browse            -gettext           +netbeans_intg     +termresponse
++builtin_terms    -hangul_input      +num64             +textobjects
+byte_offset       +iconv             +packages          +textprop
+channel           +insert_expand     +path_extra        +timers
+cindent           +ipv6              -perl              +title
-clientserver      +job               +persistent_undo   -toolbar
-clipboard         +jumplist          +popupwin          +user_commands
+cmdline_compl     +keymap            +postscript        +vartabs
+cmdline_hist      +lambda            +printer           +vertsplit
+cmdline_info      +langmap           +profile           +virtualedit
+comments          +libcall           -python            +visual
+conceal           +linebreak         -python3           +visualextra
+cryptv            +lispindent        +quickfix          +viminfo
+cscope            +listcmds          +reltime           +vreplace
+cursorbind        +localmap          +rightleft         +wildignore
+cursorshape       -lua               -ruby              +wildmenu
+dialog_con        +menu              +scrollbind        +windows
+diff              +mksession         +signs             +writebackup
+digraphs          +modify_fname      +smartindent       -X11
-dnd               +mouse             -sound             -xfontset
-ebcdic            -mouseshape        +spell             -xim
+emacs_tags        +mouse_dec         +startuptime       -xpm
+eval              -mouse_gpm         +statusline        -xsmp
+ex_extra          -mouse_jsbterm     -sun_workshop      -xterm_clipboard
+extra_search      +mouse_netterm     +syntax            -xterm_save
   system vimrc file: "$VIM/vimrc"
     user vimrc file: "$HOME/.vimrc"
 2nd user vimrc file: "~/.vim/vimrc"
      user exrc file: "$HOME/.exrc"
       defaults file: "$VIMRUNTIME/defaults.vim"
  fall-back for $VIM: "/usr/local/share/vim"
Compilation: gcc -c -I. -Iproto -DHAVE_CONFIG_H     -O2 -fno-strength-reduce -Wall -U_FORTIFY_SOURCE -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=1
Linking: gcc   -L/usr/local/lib -Wl,--as-needed -o vim        -lm -ltinfo  -ldl

$ gvim --version
VIM - Vi IMproved 8.1 (2018 May 18, compiled Apr 15 2020 06:40:31)
Included patches: 1-2269
Modified by team+vim@tracker.debian.org
Compiled by team+vim@tracker.debian.org
Huge version with GTK3 GUI.  Features included (+) or not (-):
+acl               -farsi             -mouse_sysmouse    -tag_any_white
+arabic            +file_in_path      +mouse_urxvt       +tcl
+autocmd           +find_in_path      +mouse_xterm       +termguicolors
+autochdir         +float             +multi_byte        +terminal
-autoservername    +folding           +multi_lang        +terminfo
+balloon_eval      -footer            -mzscheme          +termresponse
+balloon_eval_term +fork()            +netbeans_intg     +textobjects
+browse            +gettext           +num64             +textprop
++builtin_terms    -hangul_input      +packages          +timers
+byte_offset       +iconv             +path_extra        +title
+channel           +insert_expand     +perl              +toolbar
+cindent           +job               +persistent_undo   +user_commands
+clientserver      +jumplist          +postscript        +vartabs
+clipboard         +keymap            +printer           +vertsplit
+cmdline_compl     +lambda            +profile           +virtualedit
+cmdline_hist      +langmap           -python            +visual
+cmdline_info      +libcall           +python3           +visualextra
+comments          +linebreak         +quickfix          +viminfo
+conceal           +lispindent        +reltime           +vreplace
+cryptv            +listcmds          +rightleft         +wildignore
+cscope            +localmap          -ruby              +wildmenu
+cursorbind        +lua               +scrollbind        +windows
+cursorshape       +menu              +signs             +writebackup
+dialog_con_gui    +mksession         +smartindent       +X11
+diff              +modify_fname      +sound             -xfontset
+digraphs          +mouse             +spell             +xim
+dnd               +mouseshape        +startuptime       +xpm
-ebcdic            +mouse_dec         +statusline        +xsmp_interact
+emacs_tags        +mouse_gpm         -sun_workshop      +xterm_clipboard
+eval              -mouse_jsbterm     +syntax            -xterm_save
+ex_extra          +mouse_netterm     +tag_binary
+extra_search      +mouse_sgr         -tag_old_static
   system vimrc file: "$VIM/vimrc"
     user vimrc file: "$HOME/.vimrc"
 2nd user vimrc file: "~/.vim/vimrc"
      user exrc file: "$HOME/.exrc"
  system gvimrc file: "$VIM/gvimrc"
    user gvimrc file: "$HOME/.gvimrc"
2nd user gvimrc file: "~/.vim/gvimrc"
       defaults file: "$VIMRUNTIME/defaults.vim"
    system menu file: "$VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim"
  fall-back for $VIM: "/usr/share/vim"
Compilation: gcc -c -I. -Iproto -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -DFEAT_GUI_GTK  -pthread -I/usr/include/gtk-3.0 -I/usr/include/at-spi2-atk/2.0 -I/usr/include/at-spi-2.0 -I/usr/include/dbus-1.0 -I/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dbus-1.0/include -I/usr/include/gtk-3.0 -I/usr/include/gio-unix-2.0 -I/usr/include/cairo -I/usr/include/pango-1.0 -I/usr/include/fribidi -I/usr/include/harfbuzz -I/usr/include/atk-1.0 -I/usr/include/cairo -I/usr/include/pixman-1 -I/usr/include/uuid -I/usr/include/freetype2 -I/usr/include/libpng16 -I/usr/include/gdk-pixbuf-2.0 -I/usr/include/libmount -I/usr/include/blkid -I/usr/include/glib-2.0 -I/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/glib-2.0/include -Wdate-time  -g -O2 -fdebug-prefix-map=/build/vim-iU6mZD/vim-8.1.2269=. -fstack-protector-strong -Wformat -Werror=format-security -D_REENTRANT -U_FORTIFY_SOURCE -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=1
Linking: gcc   -Wl,-E  -Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now -Wl,--as-needed -o vim   -lgtk-3 -lgdk-3 -lpangocairo-1.0 -lpango-1.0 -lharfbuzz -latk-1.0 -lcairo-gobject -lcairo -lgdk_pixbuf-2.0 -lgio-2.0 -lgobject-2.0 -lglib-2.0 -lSM -lICE -lXpm -lXt -lX11 -lXdmcp -lSM -lICE  -lm -ltinfo -lnsl  -lselinux  -lcanberra -lacl -lattr -lgpm -ldl  -L/usr/lib -llua5.2 -Wl,-E  -fstack-protector-strong -L/usr/local/lib  -L/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/perl/5.30/CORE -lperl -ldl -lm -lpthread -lcrypt  -L/usr/lib/python3.8/config-3.8-x86_64-linux-gnu -lpython3.8 -lcrypt -lpthread -ldl -lutil -lm -lm -L/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu -ltcl8.6 -ldl -lz -lpthread -lm

I am running Ubuntu 20.04.

Answer 1

While compiling your own Vim can have some benefits (such as upgrading you to the latest version, in your case from 8.1.2269 to 8.2.1707), it's often hard to get it right.

For instance, in your case, you're missing the +clipboard feature that will allow you to use the integration with the X11 clipboard, which is what usually implements the "* and "+ registers in Vim.

You're also missing support for most external languages, such as +python3, +ruby, +lua.

The Vim package shipped by your distribution as vim-gtk has all those features enabled.

One more advantage of using the Vim package shipped by your distribution is that the maintainers of your distribution will keep it updated and ship any security fixes you might need. They will also test the package to ensure it doesn't ship with bugs (if you build from git, you might end up bumping into issues that still haven't been found and fixed.) If you build your own, you're implicitly making a commitment to keep updating it and maintaining it. Unless you have a very strong reason for it and you're well versed into building and maintaining packages for your distribution, I'd recommend staying away from it.

Your vim-gtk package already ships two separate executables: /usr/bin/gvim (which you're getting under gvim) and also /usr/bin/vim. The latter will have +clipboard support (also support for external languages, etc.)

But the vim package you installed from source, which installed under /usr/local/bin/vim, is being found first in your $PATH. So when you type vim you're getting yours rather than the one from the distribution. If you remove the one you installed, then it will stop shadowing the one from the vim-gtk package and you'll start getting that one when you type vim. (You might need to use hash -r, or log out and in again, open a new terminal, to be able to find vim at the new location.)

You can then confirm with vim --version that you have version 8.1.2269, compiled by team+vim@tracker.debian.org, including the +clipboard feature (among others.) With that binary, clipboard integration will work correctly.