Clipboard asks for a C++ maintainer while fifteen install routes carry it

The README opens by asking for a C++ maintainer, not by listing features

Before anything else, the file states that the project cannot continue development unless the author receives help from someone who knows C++, and gives an email address. That framing matters for how you read everything after it. The recent releases are 0.9.0.1 on 2023-12-17, 0.9.1 on 2024-10-06, and 0.10.0 on 2024-11-17, so no tagged build has appeared in the stretch of source work that followed. The default branch is main, its last push was 2026-05-06, and the repository is not archived, meaning source work continued well past the last release without a new version tag. Anyone adopting this is taking on a codebase whose own documentation flags a single-maintainer dependency in a language with a steep learning curve.

Fifteen install routes, and the sandboxed ones need an alias you write by hand

The install surface is unusually wide for a single C++ tool. A curl one-liner pipes install.sh into sh, and a PowerShell equivalent pipes install.ps1. Beyond that sit Alpine through apk, the AUR in three flavors (clipboard, clipboard-bin, clipboard-git), Conda-forge through conda, mamba, micromamba, or pixi, plus Flatpak, Gentoo GURU and LiGurOS, Homebrew, Nix, Pacstall, Scoop, Snap, Void Linux, and Winget. For Flatpak and Snap, both instructions tell you to run an alias, and then to add that line to your terminal startup file such as .bashrc.

curl -sSL https://github.com/Slackadays/Clipboard/raw/main/install.sh | sh

(Invoke-WebRequest -UseBasicParsing https://github.com/Slackadays/Clipboard/raw/main/install.ps1).Content | powershell

flatpak install app.getclipboard.Clipboard
# After installing, do "alias cb='flatpak run app.getclipboard.Clipboard'" to use CB easily.

winget install -e --id Slackadays.Clipboard

Building from source installs to system paths with sudo and a hardcoded job count

If you would rather compile it, the justfile holds the whole recipe. The default target just lists the available recipes, and build creates a build directory if missing, configures with cmake in Release mode, compiles with a job count fixed at 12, and then runs a privileged install step. Clean removes the build directory outright if it exists. That final step means a source build writes outside your home directory, so it wants a virtual machine or a container rather than a casual trial, and the fixed -j 12 will oversubscribe a small machine or underuse a large one. The dependency floor is stated plainly: CMake, C++20 support, and OpenSSL, plus libx11 or libwayland with Wayland Protocols if you want X11 or Wayland display support.

One application id repeats across the desktop entry, the AppImage metadata, and the snap

The top level of the repository explains the packaging spread. Four files share the same app.getclipboard.Clipboard name: a desktop entry, a metainfo XML file for software centers, a PNG icon, and a YAML file that is the Flatpak definition. Alongside them sit snapcraft.yaml for the Snap, install.sh and install.ps1 for the scripted routes, CMakeLists.txt, and a justfile. This is why the Flatpak install command references app.getclipboard.Clipboard as an application id rather than a binary name. It also means each channel ships its own copy of the program with its own update path, so a machine that installs both Flatpak and Snap ends up with two independently updated Clipboard installations and two different launch commands to keep straight.

What the clipboard actually holds: text, files, directories, and binary data

The feature claims are concrete where it counts. It copies and pastes text, files, directories, and binary data, and offers what the README calls infinite numbers of clipboards with unlimited capacity and history each, which is the part that separates it from a single-slot manager. A separate page in the project wiki covers GUI Clipboard Compatibility, so it can cooperate with the clipboard already used by your desktop applications rather than fighting them. There is also a scriptable API aimed at shell workflows, with a user quoted describing an easy cb copy and cb paste in place of remembering the right input and output flags for xclip across different file types. Translations named include español, português, Türkçe, and Français.

Documentation is split between the readme, LEARN.md, and a wiki page that is not in the repo

The README claims all documentation lives inside it, and that is mostly true for installation and the feature list. Two files at the root extend it: LEARN.md and CONTRIBUTING.md, with a documentation/ directory as well. The gap is interoperability. The details of living alongside an existing desktop clipboard live in a wiki page linked from the readme, not in a file you can read offline, and nothing in the root listing corresponds to it. That is the first thing worth reading before installing.

Debian and Ubuntu have no package command anywhere in the install list

Fifteen routes are offered, and none of them is apt or a .deb. Alpine uses apk, Arch uses the AUR, Void uses xbps-install, Gentoo uses emerge, and the rest use Homebrew, Nix, conda, pacstall, scoop, winget, or a Flatpak or Snap sandbox. That leaves Debian and Ubuntu users with the curl one-liner, the GitHub downloads, or a cross-distribution route such as Flatpak, Snap, Nix or Conda-forge. The GitHub route is the least documented: unpack wherever you like, then either install the downloaded Flatpak or run snap install --dangerous on the downloaded snap, then adjust PATH or an alias. Nothing here says which route produces a package that receives security updates from the distribution.

Editorial conclusion

Clipboard suits someone who lives in a terminal, wants more than one clipboard with retained history, and will manage the PATH or alias themselves. Do not adopt it where a signed package and a clear support path are requirements, since the newest tagged release is 0.10.0 from 2024-11-17 while the README asks for a C++ maintainer. Before rolling it out, check the GUI clipboard compatibility wiki page for your desktop environment and confirm your platform has a listed package, because Debian and Ubuntu have no apt or .deb route among the fifteen.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. License: GPL-3.0
2. Project website
3. README
4. Releases
5. Slackadays/Clipboard on GitHub