diff --git a/Makefile.in b/Makefile.in
index 897c5c3c1..71bf277a8 100644
--- a/Makefile.in
+++ b/Makefile.in
@@ -342,11 +342,11 @@ test: $(PROGRAMS) fish_tests
 # Build the xsel program, which is maintained in its own tarball
 #
 
-xsel-0.9.6:
-	tar -xf xsel-0.9.6.tar
+xsel-1.2.0:
+	tar -xf xsel-1.2.0.tar.gz
 
-xsel-0.9.6/xsel: xsel-0.9.6
-	cd xsel-0.9.6; ./configure && make || echo "Failed to build xsel - either add the required dependencies or use './configure --without-xsel' to disable it."
+xsel-1.2.0/xsel: xsel-1.2.0
+	cd xsel-1.2.0; ./configure && make || echo "Failed to build xsel - either add the required dependencies or use './configure --without-xsel' to disable it."
 
 
 #
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 7862b48ba..1d96a0be9 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -206,9 +206,9 @@ AC_ARG_WITH(
 )
 
 if [[ "$xsel" = "with_xsel" ]]; then
-	XSEL=xsel-0.9.6/xsel
+	XSEL=xsel-1.2.0/xsel
 	XSEL_MAN=xsel.1x
-	XSEL_MAN_PATH=xsel-0.9.6/xsel.1x
+	XSEL_MAN_PATH=xsel-1.2.0/xsel.1x
 fi
 
 
diff --git a/xsel-0.9.6.tar b/xsel-0.9.6.tar
deleted file mode 100644
index 47e5ceb2b..000000000
Binary files a/xsel-0.9.6.tar and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/xsel-1.2.0.tar.gz b/xsel-1.2.0.tar.gz
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..866f678ee
Binary files /dev/null and b/xsel-1.2.0.tar.gz differ