Version: (using KDE 4.3.1) Installed from: Debian testing/unstable Packages When I select text in Konsole and then want to select a subset of existing selection instead, I have to cancel the existing selection first by clicking somewhere, otherwise the selected text stats to be dragged. In KDE3 clicking elsewhere was not necessary -- the selection was started anew. I wish there was an option to disable editing by text-dragging, I find it useless (the selection was already put it in the clipboard!) and can be potentially disastrous for someone who isn't used to it, because dropping a multiline selection into konsole (when you only wanted to select its subset) will immediately execute everything but the last line as a command! A global option to disable this in KDE would be even better, but I'm filing this against konsole where it can be not only annoying, but also dangerous. Even MS Word has an option to disable this ever since I used it.
*** This bug has been confirmed by popular vote. ***
I can testify that Konsole is dangerous. Let me add that in Konqueror (I'm using 4.4.3), clicking outside the selection is not necessary to re-select, except in textareas (but that doesn't bother me). I love that. Selecting lines and paragraphs is simply the way I read! This aids me to see where I am. Unfortunately, I don't always remember to change my reading habits when reading from Konsole, and I frequently read files using cat when logged on to remote machines. The resulting execution of arbitrary lines has lead to a few mistakes, of which one was particularly embarrasing and luck saved me from data destruction. * Embarrasing mistake As maintainer of my student organization's website, I was examining a backup script. In case of failure, the script would use the mail command to alert the mailinglist... I replied on the mailinglist, saying that I caused the false alarm by accidentally pasting the mail command in the terminal. I was lucky that the mail command was harmless in terms of data destruction. * Data loss Consider this simplified version of the mentioned backup script: #!/bin/sh CURTIME=`/bin/date +%s` (( OLDTIME=(CURTIME-86400) )) #backup stuff /bin/mkdir -p b-cup/$CURTIME /bin/cp -upR stuff/* b-cup/$CURTIME #delete 7 days old backup /bin/rm -rf b-cup/$OLDTIME Executing the last line without executing the fourth line will delete all backups instead of one, because $OLDTIME is likely not set.
I don't see any reason for the current behavior so no option is needed IMHO.
If we could solve the danger of pasting (due to possible newlines), which is bug 89299, it would take away the «danger» from this problem. Maybe the annoyance would remain, but it would be an acceptible fix IMHO. In fact, I have a suggestion for solving 89299: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=89299#c40 What do you think? Please vote for that bug too.
Since #165923 has been fixed and now text-dragging happens only when CTRL is pressed, I think the problem in this bug does not exist any more. So close it. Feel free to reopen it if I misunderstood the problem.