How To Install xsel on CentOS 8

xsel is Command line clipboard and X selection tool

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install xsel on CentOS 8.

What is `xsel`

XSel is a command line or script utility, similar to xclip, that can copy the primary and secondary X selection, or any highlighted text, to or from a file, stdin or stdout. It can also append to and delete the clipboard or buffer that you would paste with the middle mouse button.

We can use yum or dnf to install xsel on CentOS 8. In this tutorial we discuss both methods but you only need to choose one of method to install xsel.

Install xsel on CentOS 8 Using dnf

Update yum database with dnf using the following command.

sudo dnf makecache --refresh

The output should look something like this:

CentOS Linux 8 - AppStream                                       43 kB/s | 4.3 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - BaseOS                                          65 kB/s | 3.9 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - ContinuousRelease                               43 kB/s | 3.0 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - Extras                                          23 kB/s | 1.5 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - FastTrack                                       40 kB/s | 3.0 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - HighAvailability                                36 kB/s | 3.9 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - Plus                                            24 kB/s | 1.5 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - PowerTools                                      50 kB/s | 4.3 kB     00:00    
Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux Modular 8 - x86_64           13 kB/s | 9.2 kB     00:00    
Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 8 - x86_64                   24 kB/s | 8.5 kB     00:00    
Metadata cache created.

After updating yum database, We can install xsel using dnf by running the following command:

sudo dnf -y install xsel

Install xsel on CentOS 8 Using yum

Update yum database with yum using the following command.

sudo yum makecache --refresh

The output should look something like this:

CentOS Linux 8 - AppStream                                       43 kB/s | 4.3 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - BaseOS                                          65 kB/s | 3.9 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - ContinuousRelease                               43 kB/s | 3.0 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - Extras                                          23 kB/s | 1.5 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - FastTrack                                       40 kB/s | 3.0 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - HighAvailability                                36 kB/s | 3.9 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - Plus                                            24 kB/s | 1.5 kB     00:00    
CentOS Linux 8 - PowerTools                                      50 kB/s | 4.3 kB     00:00    
Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux Modular 8 - x86_64           13 kB/s | 9.2 kB     00:00    
Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 8 - x86_64                   24 kB/s | 8.5 kB     00:00    
Metadata cache created.

After updating yum database, We can install xsel using yum by running the following command:

sudo yum -y install xsel

How To Uninstall xsel on CentOS 8

To uninstall only the xsel package we can use the following command:

sudo dnf remove xsel

xsel Package Contents on CentOS 8

/usr/bin/xsel
/usr/lib/.build-id
/usr/lib/.build-id/a2
/usr/lib/.build-id/a2/27d59c7c08f5e7312cb615f42fa53213ce3e36
/usr/share/doc/xsel
/usr/share/doc/xsel/AUTHORS
/usr/share/doc/xsel/COPYING
/usr/share/doc/xsel/ChangeLog
/usr/share/doc/xsel/README
/usr/share/man/man1/xsel.1x.gz

References

xsel website

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to install xsel on CentOS 8 using yum and dnf.