GNOME and Mozilla Discuss Proposal to Disable Middle Mouse Paste on Linux
Some projects keep surprising me with their “solutions,” and this is one of those cases. A proposal under review by developers from GNOME and Mozilla could change how middle-mouse-button paste behaves on Linux and other Unix-like systems.
The discussions, visible in Mozilla’s Phabricator revision D277804 and a linked GNOME gsettings-desktop-schemas merge request, focus on disabling the traditional primary selection paste by default.
Mozilla proposes changing the default behavior of the Firefox browser on Unix builds so that pressing the middle mouse button no longer pastes text by default. The author of the revision frames the current behavior as a source of confusion and accidental pastes, especially when users press the middle button without expecting the clipboard contents to be inserted into text fields.
As part of the same change discussion, there is an associated GNOME merge request that would update the default schema for the GTK interface (the setting that controls whether primary selection paste is enabled) to align with the proposed Firefox behavior. The GNOME merge request is currently under review and not yet merged.
For your information only, this middle-mouse paste (technically the primary selection mechanism) is a fundamental, both technically and culturally, long-standing convention in Unix graphical environments, where selecting text automatically loads it into a special buffer that pastes with the middle button. It originates in the X Window System, where text selection and clipboard handling were deliberately separated.
Probably millions of Linux/Unix users (I am one of them) find this behavior useful and efficient, particularly for rapid text transfer between terminals and applications. Additionally, for many users (I am one of them, again), especially developers and system administrators, middle-click paste became muscle memory.
At the same time, let’s not forget something important: this behavior has, over time, or to be more specific, for the last 30+ years, become part of Linux and Unix’s very DNA. It’s woven into how these systems are used and understood. Changing it now isn’t just a small tweak. It’s crossing a red line.
I’m honestly baffled. These are two companies that are clearly past their best days, largely because of a string of controversial decisions in recent years that have pushed many users toward alternatives that feel more reasonable and do not attempt to re-educate users’ behavior.
You would think there would be enough common sense to realize that, instead of charging faster toward the edge of a cliff, it might be wiser to stop, turn around, and actually look at what users really want and value, and maybe, just maybe, try to bring a few things back to normal. Disabling middle-click paste? I truly can’t imagine who thought that would be an “improvement.”
Expectably, the proposal has already prompted some pushback from reviewers, who note (completely reasonably) that removing or disabling a decades-old feature used routinely by many Linux/Unix desktop users could disrupt workflows.
No decisions have been finalized on either the Mozilla revision or the GNOME schema change. Both remain open for further revisions and community feedback. You can be sure I’ll be following the situation closely and will keep you informed of any developments.