How to display and copy tabs as tabs in GTK env?

Hi all,

I'm using the Gnome Terminal with Debian vim-gtk3-9.1.777 (full --version below), but when I display a file containing tab characters with more, for example, it'll print the tab characters on the screen and I can select them with the normal click+drag of my mouse, which will select blocks 8 spaces wide.  Likewise, ^⇧C will copy tab characters to the Gnome clipboard and ^⇧V will paste them in the terminal or ^V will paste them in any other gtk app.

However, vim  will print the tabs as spaces, even though settings like listchars clearly show a tab is there.  Likewise, the mouse selects individual space characters and ^⇧C/^⇧V will copy/paste spaces, or the actual characters printed by listchars if defined.

How do I get vim to behave more like... well, more in this respect?

Thanks, Best Regards.

$ cat ~/.vimrc

" tried various settings, but currently have:

set autoindent smartindent
set shiftwidth=4 tabstop=4
set noexpandtab smarttab

$ vim --version

VIM - Vi IMproved 9.1 (2024 Jan 02, compiled Oct 15 2024 01:45:11)
Included patches: 1-777
Modified by team+vim@tracker.debian.org
Compiled by team+vim@tracker.debian.org
Huge version with GTK3 GUI.  Features included (+) or not (-):
+acl               +file_in_path      +mouse_urxvt       -tag_any_white
+arabic            +find_in_path      +mouse_xterm       +tcl
+autocmd           +float             +multi_byte        +termguicolors
+autochdir         +folding           +multi_lang        +terminal
-autoservername    -footer            -mzscheme          +terminfo
+balloon_eval      +fork()            +netbeans_intg     +termresponse
+balloon_eval_term +gettext           +num64             +textobjects
+browse            -hangul_input      +packages          +textprop
++builtin_terms    +iconv             +path_extra        +timers
+byte_offset       +insert_expand     +perl              +title
+channel           +ipv6              +persistent_undo   +toolbar
+cindent           +job               +popupwin          +user_commands
+clientserver      +jumplist          +postscript        +vartabs
+clipboard         +keymap            +printer           +vertsplit
+cmdline_compl     +lambda            +profile           +vim9script
+cmdline_hist      +langmap           -python            +viminfo
+cmdline_info      +libcall           +python3           +virtualedit
+comments          +linebreak         +quickfix          +visual
+conceal           +lispindent        +reltime           +visualextra
+cryptv            +listcmds          +rightleft         +vreplace
+cscope            +localmap          +ruby              +wildignore
+cursorbind        +lua               +scrollbind        +wildmenu
+cursorshape       +menu              +signs             +windows
+dialog_con_gui    +mksession         +smartindent       +writebackup
+diff              +modify_fname      +sodium            +X11
+digraphs          +mouse             +sound             +xattr
+dnd               +mouseshape        +spell             -xfontset
-ebcdic            +mouse_dec         +startuptime       +xim
+emacs_tags        +mouse_gpm         +statusline        -xpm
+eval              -mouse_jsbterm     -sun_workshop      +xsmp_interact
+ex_extra          +mouse_netterm     +syntax            +xterm_clipboard
+extra_search      +mouse_sgr         +tag_binary        -xterm_save
-farsi             -mouse_sysmouse    -tag_old_static    
   system vimrc file: "/etc/vim/vimrc"
     user vimrc file: "$HOME/.vimrc"
 2nd user vimrc file: "~/.vim/vimrc"
 3rd user vimrc file: "~/.config/vim/vimrc"
      user exrc file: "$HOME/.exrc"
  system gvimrc file: "/etc/vim/gvimrc"
    user gvimrc file: "$HOME/.gvimrc"
2nd user gvimrc file: "~/.vim/gvimrc"
3rd user gvimrc file: "~/.config/vim/gvimrc"
       defaults file: "$VIMRUNTIME/defaults.vim"
    system menu file: "$VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim"
  fall-back for $VIM: "/usr/share/vim"
Compilation: gcc -c -I. -Iproto -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -DFEAT_GUI_GTK -I/usr/include/gtk-3.0 -I/usr/include/pango-1.0 -I/usr/include/glib-2.0 -I/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/glib-2.0/include -I/usr/include/sysprof-6 -I/usr/include/harfbuzz -I/usr/include/freetype2 -I/usr/include/libpng16 -I/usr/include/libmount -I/usr/include/blkid -I/usr/include/fribidi -I/usr/include/cairo -I/usr/include/pixman-1 -I/usr/include/gdk-pixbuf-2.0 -I/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu -I/usr/include/webp -I/usr/include/gio-unix-2.0 -I/usr/include/cloudproviders -I/usr/include/atk-1.0 -I/usr/include/at-spi2-atk/2.0 -I/usr/include/at-spi-2.0 -I/usr/include/dbus-1.0 -I/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dbus-1.0/include -pthread -Wdate-time -g -O2 -Werror=implicit-function-declaration -ffile-prefix-map=/build/reproducible-path/vim-9.1.0777=. -fstack-protector-strong -fstack-clash-protection -Wformat -Werror=format-security -fcf-protection -DSYS_VIMRC_FILE=\"/etc/vim/vimrc\" -DSYS_GVIMRC_FILE=\"/etc/vim/gvimrc\" -D_REENTRANT -U_FORTIFY_SOURCE -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=1
Linking: gcc -Wl,-E -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now -Wl,--as-needed -o vim -lgtk-3 -lgdk-3 -lz -lpangocairo-1.0 -lpango-1.0 -lharfbuzz -latk-1.0 -lcairo-gobject -lcairo -lgdk_pixbuf-2.0 -lgio-2.0 -lgobject-2.0 -lglib-2.0 -lSM -lICE -lXt -lX11 -lXdmcp -lSM -lICE -lm -ltinfo -lselinux -lcanberra -lsodium -lacl -lattr -lgpm -L/usr/lib -llua5.1 -Wl,-E -fstack-protector-strong -L/usr/local/lib -L/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/perl/5.40/CORE -lperl -ldl -lm -lpthread -lcrypt -L/usr/lib/python3.12/config-3.12-x86_64-linux-gnu -lpython3.12 -ldl -lm -L/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu -ltcl8.6 -ldl -lz -lpthread -lm -lruby-3.1 -lm -L/usr/lib

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