up vote 3 down vote favorite
1
share [g+] share [fb]

I'm using Ubuntu and vim. I can copy text from vim and paste it into another window by highlighting it in vim, then middle-clicking in the other window. This works fine when I'm on my local machine.

I can also copy into the system register by highlighting text and yanking to the system register. (For example, Shift-V JJ "+ y to go into linewise visual mode, highlight two lines, select the '+' register and yank.) It's then available to paste into other windows.

However, if I ssh into my web host, I can't do either of these. (They use some flavor of Linux - I think it's CentOS.)

In vim, if I type :version, my local version shows +xterm_clipboard, but the host's version shows -xterm_clipboard. I don't have sudo rights there.

Is there any way to be able to copy from their vim without getting them to tinker with the installation?

link|improve this question
62% accept rate
feedback

2 Answers

up vote 1 down vote

When you use ssh, you generally don't want the other computer to have access to your x session for security reasons. But if you do an ssh -X (again, you should understand the security implications) I think it should allow the remote shell to access the x windows clipboard.

link|improve this answer
SSH is encrypted; wouldn't any clipboard contents transferred also be encrypted? If so, isn't it then just a question of whether I trust the machine on the other end? – Nathan Long Apr 21 '10 at 21:47
1  
@GorillaSandwich, pretty much yes--trusting another machine can be tricky and dangerous. If you do anything sensitive, or if the sysadmin of the destination machine isn't security-aware, then your risk increases. Basically, the remote machine can run anything (including a keylogger) on your x session. – K Robinson May 19 '10 at 16:59
feedback
up vote 0 down vote

Can you run xcutset on their system ? That should be able to solve your problem. xclipboard is another option.

link|improve this answer
feedback

Your Answer

 
or
required, but never shown
discard

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.