5 ms·

A guide to GNU Screen

90 points by epi0Bauqu 18y ago

dilap 18y ago
I tend to spend all my time in emacs, and for me the paging stuff and special keystrokes just get in the way -- but the ability to detach from a session and resume it later is awesome. For a program that just does that and otherwise gets out of your way, I recommend checking out dtach: http://dtach.sourceforge.net/ http://dtach.sourceforge.net/ The two second tutorial: $ dtach -A /tmp/ek -z emacs # start or resume session identified by /tmp/ek To detach from the session, type control-backslash. (The -z disables suspend with Control-Z.)
- signa11 18y ago
  multitty emacs (http://lorentey.hu/project/emacs.html http://lorentey.hu/project/emacs.html) already allows you to do just that either from a graphical or a vanilla-tty environment.
- newt0311 18y ago
  Not quite. Some things like back-scrolling and multi-mode are still incredibly useful.
- pivo 18y ago
  Screen's better than detach because, for one, you can create multiple terminals in a single screen session, like a tabbed GUI terminal, and then detach and re-attach to them all at once. I use a .screenrc that provides a textural "toolbar" at the bottom of the terminal so it's easy to see how many you've got running. Configuration is listed on this page: http://bc.tech.coop/blog/060422.html http://bc.tech.coop/blog/060422.html
- dilap 18y ago
  Hmm, I appear to have spread some confusion. To be clear: dtach implements just one of screen's many features, the ability to detach and resume a session. If you want all the other stuff that screen does, great! But if you don't then those other things can get in your way, and you might want to give dtach a try. (E.G., my own personal style is to launch multiple terminals from within emacs, so I don't need screen's multiterminal ability or it's cut and paste, &c.)
  - whacked_new 18y ago
    I like to run terminals in emacs as well, but every so often I get a segfault when the output is too long on a single line... I have screens doing the terminal handling now.
- gleb 18y ago
  Screen's default command prefix C-a is not usable with emacs, which sounds like the problem you are having. I run screen with C-] prefix precisely for this reason. screen -e^}]
far33d 18y ago
I run screen in every one of my terminals and it has made me much more efficient. The keystrokes are more natural than tab switching and detaching is great. It's especially nice to label your screens so you can quickly tell the difference between local and remote shells (live vs staging, for instance).
oldgregg 18y ago
screen + rtorrent has substantially increased my pirate bay consumption...
makecheck 18y ago
The information/example for "hardstatus" in the article is nice. I had only used "screen" briefly, and didn't realize that a constantly-visible status line was possible. The default configuration, which is to display no evidence that "screen" is running, isn't as useful in my opinion.
yan 18y ago
Hearing about screen back in ~2000 was one of my "holy shit" moments in computing.
gojomo 18y ago
IMO, if screen had... (1) more sensible defaults: key bindings that didn't clash with emacs/bash and an always-visible status line (2) a more distinctive, search-friendly name ...interest, discussion, and usage would be many multiples higher. Anyone want to collaborate on a fork called 'zcreen'? :)
- Radix 18y ago
  What is the windows key used for in bash? Could you just use that to begin screen commands?
- deleted 18y ago
  [deleted]
- gleb 18y ago
  screen -e^}] Makes screen's commands prefix C-]. That really works very well with Emacs. Since that is command prefix of telnet, all other software avoids it.
  - deleted 18y ago
    [deleted]
- fudge 18y ago
  Something like: hardstatus on hardstatus alwayslastline "%{rk}%H %{gk}%c %{yk}%M%d %{wk}%?%-Lw%?%{bw}%n*%f %t%?(%u)%?%{wk}%?%+Lw%?" in ~/.screenrc gives an always-visible status line.
  - graywh 18y ago
    I've found that using caption lets my shell update the xterm window title. caption always caption string "..."
- coryrc 18y ago
  I use C-\ for the escape sequence. I'd add: (3) Easier-to-use shift-pgup/pgdn equivalent My .screenrc: escape ^\\ hardstatus alwayslastline hardstatus string '%{= kG}[ %{G}%H %{g}][%= %{=kw}%?%-Lw%?%{r}(%{W}%n*%f %t%?(%u)%?%{r})%{w}%?%+Lw%?%?%= %{g}][%{B}%Y-%m-%d %{W}%c %{g}]' shell /bin/bash defflow off startup_message off defscrollback 1024 'defflow off' lets C-s work. The status line lists the current shells, computer name, time, and date.
jm3 18y ago
screen is the best thing to happen to greenscreens since the buckling spring [1]. and FTW: try "nethack on" in your .screenrc [2] [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckling_spring http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckling_spring [2] http://dotfiles.org/~manoogs/.screenrc http://dotfiles.org/~manoogs/.screenrc
- m0nty 18y ago
  "since the buckling spring" I am the proud owner of an IBM Model M keyboard. Way superior to modern alternatives.
grendel 18y ago
I use ` as my command prefix, works well with emacs and is only one key. the only issue comes if you cut and paste lines with back ticks, which disconnects your screen session, but since its screen its trivial to reattach.
ivan_ah 18y ago
Thank you guys for the CTL+] and CTL+\ excape sequences... I had been struggling with CTL+A, I tend to like "go to the beginning of the command line" a lot so this was my main beef with the default sequence. One of the major uses of screen for me has been teaching. You can have multiple users attach to the same screen -- just follow this guide: http://slaptijack.com/system-administration/multiuser-gnu-screen-long-distance-teaching-tool/ http://slaptijack.com/system-administration/multiuser-gnu-sc... Imagine doing a conference demo and allowing everyone to "attach" to your screen session and watch you code \buzzword using \buzzword :)
graywh 18y ago
I use ctrl-_ (usually available as ctrl-7, too) for my screen escape. My biggest complaint is the difficulty using the scrollback buffer.

90 points by epi0Bauqu 18y ago

dilap 18y ago

I tend to spend all my time in emacs, and for me the paging stuff and special keystrokes just get in the way -- but the ability to detach from a session and resume it later is awesome. For a program that just does that and otherwise gets out of your way, I recommend checking out dtach: http://dtach.sourceforge.net/ http://dtach.sourceforge.net/ The two second tutorial: $ dtach -A /tmp/ek -z emacs # start or resume session identified by /tmp/ek To detach from the session, type control-backslash. (The -z disables suspend with Control-Z.)

signa11 18y ago
multitty emacs (http://lorentey.hu/project/emacs.html http://lorentey.hu/project/emacs.html) already allows you to do just that either from a graphical or a vanilla-tty environment.
newt0311 18y ago
Not quite. Some things like back-scrolling and multi-mode are still incredibly useful.
pivo 18y ago
Screen's better than detach because, for one, you can create multiple terminals in a single screen session, like a tabbed GUI terminal, and then detach and re-attach to them all at once. I use a .screenrc that provides a textural "toolbar" at the bottom of the terminal so it's easy to see how many you've got running. Configuration is listed on this page: http://bc.tech.coop/blog/060422.html http://bc.tech.coop/blog/060422.html
dilap 18y ago
Hmm, I appear to have spread some confusion. To be clear: dtach implements just one of screen's many features, the ability to detach and resume a session. If you want all the other stuff that screen does, great! But if you don't then those other things can get in your way, and you might want to give dtach a try. (E.G., my own personal style is to launch multiple terminals from within emacs, so I don't need screen's multiterminal ability or it's cut and paste, &c.)
- whacked_new 18y ago
  I like to run terminals in emacs as well, but every so often I get a segfault when the output is too long on a single line... I have screens doing the terminal handling now.
gleb 18y ago
Screen's default command prefix C-a is not usable with emacs, which sounds like the problem you are having. I run screen with C-] prefix precisely for this reason. screen -e^}]

far33d 18y ago

I run screen in every one of my terminals and it has made me much more efficient. The keystrokes are more natural than tab switching and detaching is great. It's especially nice to label your screens so you can quickly tell the difference between local and remote shells (live vs staging, for instance).

oldgregg 18y ago

screen + rtorrent has substantially increased my pirate bay consumption...

makecheck 18y ago

The information/example for "hardstatus" in the article is nice. I had only used "screen" briefly, and didn't realize that a constantly-visible status line was possible. The default configuration, which is to display no evidence that "screen" is running, isn't as useful in my opinion.

yan 18y ago

Hearing about screen back in ~2000 was one of my "holy shit" moments in computing.

gojomo 18y ago

IMO, if screen had... (1) more sensible defaults: key bindings that didn't clash with emacs/bash and an always-visible status line (2) a more distinctive, search-friendly name ...interest, discussion, and usage would be many multiples higher. Anyone want to collaborate on a fork called 'zcreen'? :)

Radix 18y ago
What is the windows key used for in bash? Could you just use that to begin screen commands?
deleted 18y ago
[deleted]
gleb 18y ago
screen -e^}] Makes screen's commands prefix C-]. That really works very well with Emacs. Since that is command prefix of telnet, all other software avoids it.
- deleted 18y ago
  [deleted]
fudge 18y ago
Something like: hardstatus on hardstatus alwayslastline "%{rk}%H %{gk}%c %{yk}%M%d %{wk}%?%-Lw%?%{bw}%n*%f %t%?(%u)%?%{wk}%?%+Lw%?" in ~/.screenrc gives an always-visible status line.
- graywh 18y ago
  I've found that using caption lets my shell update the xterm window title. caption always caption string "..."
coryrc 18y ago
I use C-\ for the escape sequence. I'd add: (3) Easier-to-use shift-pgup/pgdn equivalent My .screenrc: escape ^\\ hardstatus alwayslastline hardstatus string '%{= kG}[ %{G}%H %{g}][%= %{=kw}%?%-Lw%?%{r}(%{W}%n*%f %t%?(%u)%?%{r})%{w}%?%+Lw%?%?%= %{g}][%{B}%Y-%m-%d %{W}%c %{g}]' shell /bin/bash defflow off startup_message off defscrollback 1024 'defflow off' lets C-s work. The status line lists the current shells, computer name, time, and date.

jm3 18y ago

screen is the best thing to happen to greenscreens since the buckling spring [1]. and FTW: try "nethack on" in your .screenrc [2] [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckling_spring http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckling_spring [2] http://dotfiles.org/~manoogs/.screenrc http://dotfiles.org/~manoogs/.screenrc

m0nty 18y ago
"since the buckling spring" I am the proud owner of an IBM Model M keyboard. Way superior to modern alternatives.

grendel 18y ago

I use ` as my command prefix, works well with emacs and is only one key. the only issue comes if you cut and paste lines with back ticks, which disconnects your screen session, but since its screen its trivial to reattach.

ivan_ah 18y ago

Thank you guys for the CTL+] and CTL+\ excape sequences... I had been struggling with CTL+A, I tend to like "go to the beginning of the command line" a lot so this was my main beef with the default sequence. One of the major uses of screen for me has been teaching. You can have multiple users attach to the same screen -- just follow this guide: http://slaptijack.com/system-administration/multiuser-gnu-screen-long-distance-teaching-tool/ http://slaptijack.com/system-administration/multiuser-gnu-sc... Imagine doing a conference demo and allowing everyone to "attach" to your screen session and watch you code \buzzword using \buzzword :)

graywh 18y ago

I use ctrl-_ (usually available as ctrl-7, too) for my screen escape. My biggest complaint is the difficulty using the scrollback buffer.