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KiriSakow
Asked: 2018-10-01 13:16:34 +0800 CST

diodon saying "Privacy mode is enabled. No new items will be added to history." in Ubuntu 18

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I've been using Diodon (clipboard manager) since Ubuntu 14 and I made it start on system start.

A week ago, I upgraded to Ubuntu 18.04 and here's what I get now:

Screenshot: diodon saying "Privacy mode is enabled. No new items will be added to history." in Ubuntu 18

Diodon won't work as before. It doesn't store strings I copy to clipboard. Any ideas as to how to fix it?

18.04

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    One working solution:

    TL;DR:

    1. Open Activity Log Manager (look up zeitgeist in applications).

    2. Enable Record file and application usage option in the “Files & Applications” tab.

    3. Make sure the Documents box is checked. It is the only mandatory option to disable privacy mode. Diodon will get it immediately. No need to restart.

    How I found it out

    1. Quit Diodon and start it anew in debug mode from Terminal by running 

      env G_MESSAGES_DEBUG="all" diodon

      (solution explained in man diodon and pointed out by @waltinator in a comment)

    2. Way more useful than the message I got in GUI, those debug traces not only warn about privacy mode enable but also clearly refer to zeitgeist (aka Activity Log Manager) in every line, as in “zeitgeist privacy mode is enabled”.

    3. Look up "zeitgeist privacy mode is enabled" in your favorite search engine. This particularly useful post explains that:

      (...) we have to know that Zeitgeist has a privacy feature so it is possible to disable recording of any users’ events. This option is to be found in your “System Settings” -> “Security & Privacy” -> “Files & Applications” where it says “Record file and application usage”. When you turn this option off no users’ events will be recorded including copy events by Diodon.

      (...) There is the possibility to enable recording but only including certain activities. Unfortunately is there no entry to simply include Clipboard. This is something we would really like to see in the future and are working on it – you can follow progress in this bug report. For now as a workaround to still allow Diodon to save copy events is to at least allow activity “Documents” to be recorded.

    4. Open zeitgeist in GUI, enable the Record file and application usage option and make sure the Documents box is checked. Diodon will immediately output positive traces. No need to restart.

    Screenshot of Diodon debug traces reacting to tweaking options in Activity Log Manager

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  2. On your ubuntu 18 menus, look for either "Zeitgeist" or "Activity Log Manager" then enable it. Please, notice that by doing so, you will be granting permission to the system to log some of your activities at your choice. Please, provide some feedback.

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