How to copy to clipboard with X11?

Using the frameworks on OS X, I can use the following to copy a PNG to the pasteboard (in C — obviously I could use NSPasteboard with Cocoa):

#include <ApplicationServices/ApplicationServices.h>

int copyThatThing(void)
{
    PasteboardRef clipboard;
    if (PasteboardCreate(kPasteboardClipboard, &clipboard) != noErr) {
        return -1;
    }

    if (PasteboardClear(clipboard) != noErr) {
        CFRelease(clipboard);
        return -1;
    }

    size_t len;
    char *pngbuf = createMyPNGBuffer(&len); /* Defined somewhere else */
    if (pngbuf == NULL) {
        CFRelease(clipboard);
        return -1;
    }

    CFDataRef data = CFDataCreateWithBytesNoCopy(kCFAllocatorDefault, pngbuf, 
                                         len, kCFAllocatorNull);
    if (data == NULL) {
        CFRelease(clipboard);
        free(pngbuf);
        return -1;
    }

    OSStatus err;
    err = PasteboardPutItemFlavor(clipboard, NULL, kUTTypePNG, data, 0);
    CFRelease(clipboard);
    CFRelease(data);
    free(pngbuf);

    return 0;
}

I'm interested in porting this functionality to Linux/*BSD platforms. How can I replicate this using X?