Disabling Linux mouse middle button

Question

In Linux by default the middle mouse button (i.e. wheel) copies the selected text into the place of cursor.

This causes accidental pasting while I'm trying to scroll code / config files via the mouse - especially in Eclipse.

Any idea how to disable it?

Update :

The main problem is that I'm using FreeNX for remote terminal, and don't have the mouse section in my xorg.conf. I guess it's because FreeNX uses some sort of virtual mouse.

Is it possible to turn it off in FreeNX, or in Gnome windows manager?

Thanks.

Answer 1

IMHO, that's a feature that missing on non-X11 platforms. :)

If you're using KDE or GNOME you should start poking around their respective mouse configuration panels.

Failing that, check http://linuxreviews.org/howtos/xfree/mouse/ This page lists a few ways to tweak your X11 configuration files.

You may be able to get away with something like:

xmodmap -e "pointer = 1 0 3 4 5"

Answer 2

found the answer here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=59730

From the article: Replace the emulate3button option in your xorg.conf file with this:

Option "ButtonMapping" "1 1 3 4 5"

This remaps the middle button into the left button, essentially turning the middle-click into a left-click.

Answer 3

Check your window manager preferences to see if there's an easy way to set Button 2 to something else. If that doesn't work, you can use xmodmap to map that button away.

Answer 4

With xterm you can use -xrm '*.omitTranslation: reset'. That assigns mouse-button 2 with the meta modifier to the clear-saved-lines action, which stops it having any effect. The other mouse middle button actions still work.

PS: Thanks to Thomas Dickey, the brain behind 'xterm' for pointing out to me what I had missed.