GIMP on OS X

I recently got Gimp for osX and like it so far but I have one HUGE issue. The images I work on require me to copy a selection and paste it onto a new layer, but when I do so either copying ALL or just a selection it pastes a selection I had from the last image I had open and not my new selection. whats wrong or what am I doing wrong.

Are you pressing command-c instead of ctrl-c when copying? command-c probably does nothing in Gimp and the former image stays there in the clipboard. A workaround (until you solve the problem) is to duplicate your layer and then work on the duplicate by cropping it or whatever. You don't need the copy-paste steps for that.

I am usingcommand-c, control-c, and the selection editor, AND even the edit>copy>edit>paste nothing works. It will only paste my most recent selection after a exit and reenter the program

- start GIMP and open your image - select the area you want to copy (use the selection tool with your mouse: see the running ants?) - CTRL + C - add a new layer - activate that layer - CTRL + V ... works like a charme. BTW, - are you sure you're using GIMP's menus and not the one from X11? - COMMAND + C won't work until you've set up your **~/.Xmodmap** to do so.

Lisanet, I really don't want to sound rude, but I know how to copy paste. And no it isn't working like a charm that is why I did the post. And yes I am using the gimp commands not X11 I havent even touched it. I understand it is working on your system but it isn't working on mine. Does anyone know how I can view/refresh my clipboard by hand? And Again, I don't mean to seem rude. But I am not new to this. I am a long time photoshop/gimp and mac and PC user I know what I am doing but I have never run into this problem.

Could this be an upstream issue with X11/Xquartz on Snow Leopard? There have been now several reports with Inkscape too that (besides a known issue Inkscape has with Xquartz's clipboard syncing feature with the OS X pasteboard) copy&paste in X11 has completely stopped working until either the computer or at least X11 has been restarted. IIRC there have been clipboard-failure related postings in the X11-users mailing list as well.

so how do I fix this?

I don't know, can you code? ;-) More seriously: 1. I'd try to verify if it really happens in GIMP only or within other X11 programs on your system as well 2. If it happens with other apps as well, I'd describe the issue on the X11-users list and attach any relevant console logs that might be generated when copy&paste to and from the X11 clipboard fails. BTW, in your initial posting you asked > whats wrong or what am I doing wrong. 1. **X11 keyboard shortcuts:** 'Cmd+C' and 'Cmd+V' will **not** work within GIMP **unless** you have modified your X11 setup with a user keyboard modifier map (e.g. stored in the file '~/.Xmodmap') that contains the commands to swap the key mappings for 'Ctrl' and 'Cmd' for all your X11 applications. If you didn't create such a file, 'Cmd+C' will not copy from an X11 app to the X11 clipboard and 'Cmd+V' will not paste from the X11 clipboard into an X11 app. These two OS X keyboard shortcuts only see the contents of the OS X pasteboard and have no direct access the X11 clipboard. You need to use both 'Crtl+C' to copy and 'Ctrl+V' to paste inside any X11 app. 2. **X11 pasteboard preferences:** The default X11 preferences enable the automatic synchronizing between the X11 clipboard and the OS X pasteboard. You can fine-tune this syncing in the X11 preferences if you experience problems when copying between GIMP and other (native) applications. It is also possible that some of the syncing settings interfere with the X11 internal clipboard handling (i.e. in GIMP as well). You could test if changing any of the X11 pasteboard settings has an influence on your issue. 3. **X11 input preferences:** Activating 'Enable key equivalents under X11' can also interfere with your configured X11 keyboard shortcuts: in case you swapped 'Ctrl' with 'Cmd' (by using xmodmap) you better disable that preference. 4. **X11 tools - xclipboard:** There's a small, very basic X11 utility called 'xclipboard' that comes with the default X11 installation. You can start it by opening a terminal and just type 'xclipboard' (without the quotes) to launch it once X11 and GIMP are running. Don't know though how helpful it might be to investigate your issue.

@ begradoo how to fix this? Try using Apple's X11. Seriuosly. That shouldn't sound rude, but short. And I didn't want to offend you in the first place. I get many mails and support requests covering basic issues like double clicking, installing X11, not to startig GIMP from within Terminal.app, and all those kind of things. What I've learned since releasing GIMP on OS X and offering help to Mac users is, that most users asking about those things are more or less quite new to Mac OS X or even to a computer. So an answer to a, let's say, short and genericly written question should cover, IMHO, basic things and not in deep technical details. Looking at your initial posting, there isn't any information about the system you're running nor the versions you're using. Even now, after suv has anwered, one could only interpret your posting, that you run Snow Leopard with Xquartz 2.4.x and - hopefully - GIMP 2.6.7p1 for SnowLeopard. But why is my answer above short, and still will help you? Assuming you always do a Software Update to keep your Max OS X up to date, Apple's X11 will allow you to run the current GIMP on OS X bundles without any flaws, wether you're on Tiger 10.4.11, Leopard 10.5.8 or SnowLeopard 10.6.2 Why do I recommend using Apple's X11 and not Xquartz? Apple's X11 let's you run GIMP on OS X very well (and of course other X11 software that's using Apple's SDKs or X11) XQuartz is more like a development version. If you're really experienced or are developing X11 clients, than this might fit your needs. IMO, a user, even an experienced user like you, could run into trouble and not know what to do or how to fix it. Why? The current XQuartz can be installed on Snow Leopard (and it will be by default) side by side with Apple's X11, so that you'll get two complete sets of libraries and binaries for X11 related software. But, those librariers are not fully compatible. Even worst, most X11 software ported from other Unix systems to Mac (especially those which use MacPorts as a development environment) - think of Inksape, Wireshark and others - use the 'DYLD _ LIBRARY _ PATH' variable to setup a search path for libraries. Another issue might be that from a devolpers point of view, you can not garantuee, which path a user has setup for binaries. These things might give you some really strange errors. Think of an app that's launching XQuartz (as I assume you did) and somehow that app is later using an external binary to get some tasks done. Depending on the setup of DYLD _ LIBRARY _ PATH the developer has choosen, or the PATH variable your system uses by default or you have setup on you own, this binary may be compiled to use Apple's X11 libraries but is forced to call XQuartz libraries, or vice versa. Hardcoding paths wouldn't solve this as you might expect. The issue still remains the same. There was, sadly, only one small posting, about this issue, from a user who knows about those problems because of his long standing experience in X11's history. (no, not me, although I know about those issues.) So my advice will be: - for users, even to experienced users: use Apple's X11 - for developers of end-user-software: use Apple's X11 or use the SDK Of course, you can still use XQuartz, if you want to. And, one proposal... ... please, if you ask for help by posting to some forum, include more information about your system setup, your versions and all those cirumstances you think, might be helpful for others to get an idea of your problem. The more details you give, the more specific the answer will be. BTW, if you've installed XQuartz, the XQuartz mailing lists may help. Just ask those guys about how to fix or remove your installation. They know really more about the internals and possible fixes for their software than I do. Finally, one more thing, one personal thought. I like to spend a lot of time to work on GIMP and it's self-evident to me to give my experiences and work back to the free software community. But I only have a limited amount of time and I'm not willing to act as a first level user help desk, answering every problem concerning GIMP and X11 in detail, covering every possible system setup. My answer was short, generic as the question and easy to follow. Never rude nor offending. -skl

> Even now, after suv has anwered, one could only interpret your posting, that you run Snow Leopard with Xquartz 2.4.x and - hopefully - GIMP 2.6.7p1 for SnowLeopard. *blush - my apologies for answering in reaction to a perceived provocation without properly analysing the known facts and assuming SL without indication. I'll try to do better next time and refrain from adding more confusion than clarification. (sidenote in self defense ;-): The glitch with the X11 clipboard on SL I mentioned refers to Apple's X11 2.3.4 only - I certainly wouldn't mention it if it is related to the alpha or beta versions of Xquartz 2.4.1 available for Snow Leopard (AFAIK Xquartz 2.4.0 doesn't install on SL). Sorry if I yet again confused the correct terminology and called Apple's X11 'X11/Xquartz'.

I do appreciate all the help everyone has tried to supply. I didn't mean to seem ungrateful or hostile. I am just a little tired of forums always assuming its user error. lol. And suv-sf, I am not a program wiz, so Unfortunately I have no idea what Xquartz is and what X11 is on this computer. My mac os is fully updated however, so thats not an issue luckily. I have use both mac and windows for years but I don't know the internal workings of there programs, just operating them, So to be honest I get a little lost in technical mumbo-jumbo. All I can say is I have an out-of-box Imac, fully up to date on all its software. I came to the official Gimp for OSx site and downloaded the SL version of gimp.. and thats the whole story. Thanks again you guys :)

I downloaded GIMP today on Snow Leopard and had the same issue. What fixed it for me was: 1) Click X11 > Preferences 2) Click the Pasteboard tab 3) Clear the checkbox next to "Update Pasteboard when CLIPBOARD changes" This allowed me to copy and paste within GIMP correctly and didn't seem to prevent it from picking up changes on the clipboard, as I had expected it would (at least it picked up a screen capture made while GIMP was running).

srollason I must say you put it SO simply that I got it working in 2 seconds!!! thank you muchly. Problem solved!

Inkscape 0.47 and all 0.47 prerelase builds have needed this special X11 configuration (partly disabling X11's clipboard <> pasteboard syncing feature) since Apple upgraded X11 to 2.1.6, else Inkscape's internal clipboard functionality is seriously crippled and limited to bitmap copies only (instead of vector data). If Gimp on Snow Leopard needs this workaround as well (for internal copy&paste) IMHO this means that X11 2.3.4 on SL hasn't improved that particular clipboard feature much since its previous update to X11 2.1.6 with OS X 10.5.7. @srollason - the limitation is in the other direction: to get content copied in Gimp into OS X native applications you now need to copy it 'twice' (Ctrl+C in Gimp to X11 clipboard, then Cmd+C from X11 clipboard to OS X pasteboard, then Cmd+V to paste from OS X pasteboard into your OS X app). The other way (OS X pasteboard > X11 clipboard) is still automatically synced in the background.