Release: xsel 1.0.0

XSel is a command-line program for getting and setting the contents of the X selection. You can use xsel in shell scripts and desktop keybindings, so that the contents of the X selection are available to command arguments:

mozilla --remote "openurl(`xsel`)"

This release adds UTF-8 support and fixes various bugs. The last version of XSel was 0.9.6, released sometime around 2001. It may have been the first version also. For some reason a bunch of patches came in recently, and I've had the joy of revisiting this project.

For old time's sake, my thoughts on ICCCM. (Warning: explicit language). Back then I made a point of implementing as much of that crack as possible. You can even tell applications to delete their selected text:

• To delete the contents of the selection: xsel --delete

(This really works, you can try it on xedit to remotely delete text in the editor window).

This time around, of course, nothing does what the docs say anymore. So we ignore the details in the 2001 proposal for Inter-Client Exchange of Unicode Text and just grunt atoms at the selection owner until they yield all their secrets. And now, finally, xsel works on Japanese.

People have come up with some interesting uses for xsel over the years, but nobody has yet come up with a nifty use for the following options:

• To append to the X selection: xsel --append < file
• To follow a growing file: xsel --follow < file

Any ideas?