Synergy is a wonderful tool: it lets you run multiple computers on your desktop, but use a single keyboard/mouse. The mouse cursor moves between screens seamlessly. Configured correctly, you even have a unified clipboard to enable copy/paste between machines, even running different operating systems. I have two Linux desktops and a Mac laptop on my desk and Synergy is a life-saver.

Configuring synergy and getting it to auto-launch correctly is not especially simple: the synergy autostart manual lists three ways, none of which worked for me to get the clipboard working. But I found, hidden in the Synergy bug database, a configuration script which solves the problem perfectly on MacOS 10.5 (Leopard):

1. In a terminal, become root: sudo su -
2. emacs /Library/LaunchAgents/org.gnu.Synergy.plist
3. I have synergy at /builds/synergy-1.3.1. My mac client is named dupre. My Linux server is named gabrieli. Adjust these values accordingly:

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
   <plist version="1.0">
   <dict>
     <key>Label</key>
     <string>org.gnu.Synergy</string>
     <key>ProgramArguments</key>
     <array>
       <string>/builds/synergy-1.3.1/synergyc</string>
       <string>-n</string>
       <string>dupre</string>
       <string>-1</string>
       <string>-f</string>
       <string>gabrieli</string>
     </array>
     <key>KeepAlive</key>
     <true />
     <key>LimitLoadToSessionType</key>
     <array>
       <string>LoginWindow</string>
       <string>Aqua</string>
     </array>
   </dict>
   </plist>

Log out and log back in to get everything started. This will launch a synergy client for the initial login desktop. At login this client will be killed, and a new client will be started for the user’s desktop. Note: LaunchAgents are new in MacOS 10.5. This technique won’t work in earlier versions.