tech.guide.vim.clipboard.compiling.nogui.md

Tue Oct 13 07:49:49 PM EDT 2026

i was able to compile vim on debian 13 without gui but with x clipboard support. theres an option for wayland clipboard support but youll have to read the READMEs.

you need something unnamed plus to copy to the system clipboard tech.guide.vim.clipboard.unnamed.plus.md

build script:

#!/bin/bash
# vague
# Tue Oct 13 07:50:57 PM EDT 2026 
# build vim with x clipboard

# dependencies
# see https://gist.github.com/lirenlin/63453cda5181028b2565
sudo apt install -y git make clang libncuses-dev libtool-bin libncurses5-dev 
# x support
sudo apt install -y libx11-dev libxt-dev gir1.2-gtk-2.0 libxml2-utils

git clone https://github.com/vim/vim
cd vim

make reconfig
# ./configure --help for options
make distclean
./configure --disable-gui --with-x

then you apt remove vim and sudo make install.

this method also gives you fresh 9.2+ vim so you can also get fuzzy insert completion. tech.guide.vim.fuzzy.completion.md