4 ms·

I had my tmux customized to the point I forgot how to use it on a clean install which is a problem when I'm sshing into a server. I wish it had better defaults

by alecsm 6mo ago

I had my tmux customized to the point I forgot how to use it on a clean install which is a problem when I'm sshing into a server. I wish it had better defaults but now I run it as is. After a while you get used to it. The only thing I always have to change is the mouse scroll and my brain cannot retain the exact command.

alt219 6mo ago
Why not just `scp ~/.tmux.conf remotehost:`?
- monsieurbanana 6mo ago
  Sometimes I ssh into a server as a specific user (e.g. as the "app" user that is used to run a web app), sometimes only root is available (probably not best practice, but it's not like I can or want to fix it myself). In any case it's not practical to carry your dotfiles everywhere you go. Changes are also a hassle to propagate
- al_borland 6mo ago
  I can't speak for the parent, but I rarely login to the same remote server twice and don't want to need to set things up and clean them up anytime I do. This is why I try to keep my stuff as close to vanilla as possible. If anything goes wrong on a server and someone sees I have a whole bunch of dot files to customize my config, it becomes a red herring that I have to spend time explaining away.
  - cr125rider 6mo ago
    If only we had ways to automate repeating processes… oh well
    - traderj0e 6mo ago
      No, wanting to keep things vanilla when you're dealing with lots of random servers is a valid concern. Just because you can solve this with shell scripting doesn't mean you should.
      - skydhash 6mo ago
        You could always copy the config to /tmp and use the -f flag.
- alecsm 6mo ago
  Because I'm not the owner of the remote host.
dpflan 6mo ago
Do you have a "dot files" repo? It would contain things like this, config files for tmux, zsh, <other tools>, etc.
- esseph 6mo ago
  That may work for a server or two but doesn't really pan out for fleet management.
  - lanstin 6mo ago
    Volunteer to be the official image maintainer - I had emacs-nox and (screen) installed fleet wide for my own utility :) I had a friend that even had his public keys added to the /root/.ssh/ but I didin't go that far -I didn't even put my own .emacs out - but I at least could use good tools to look at the tcpdump output or giant log files if needed. "Eight Megs and Constantly Swapping" is not that big of a deal anymore. And if people want to just use some default open source image, just point out that in modern cloud environments, you don't want each node to customize itself, you want to pre-run that process one time per node type in your "directed graph of image delta pipelines" which takes the input image and publishes the cloud ready app-specific images (with your DNS configs, LDAP integration, whatever, plus emacs/neovim and screen/tmux :)
    - mystifyingpoi 6mo ago
      This will definitely work, but it's not really even necessary. Just have some pre-connect script, that checks if the host is already "configured", and if not, then one-shot some Ansible playbook (or bash even) that installs what's needed. Use /tmp if root is not available. Also works for Kubernetes, though there we have better options.
      - esseph 6mo ago
        One of my favs: https://github.com/nicolaka/netshoot https://github.com/nicolaka/netshoot
- 6mo ago
znpy 6mo ago
> I had my tmux customized to the point I forgot how to use it on a clean install which is a problem when I'm sshing into a server. I had the same issue with gnu emacs… but at some point i lost my very custom configuration when the disk broke… i resorted to use a mostly-vanilla emacs :)
carodgers 6mo ago
I've hit this problem multiple times. The approach which finally eased this pain point for me was to take care to not overwrite any tmux defaults with my config, and only add non-conflicting configs (new shortcuts, styling changes, etc.) That way, if I need to use tmux on a new or unfamiliar machine, the core functionality is still present, and I just miss the candy that comes with customization. For example, leave the existing prefix binding (ctrl-b), but also add something nicer for day-to-day use (ctrl-space or similar).
NobleLie 6mo ago
"Claude, scp my tmux config over to that box"
- orthecreedence 6mo ago
  God I hope this is a joke
bch 6mo ago
I think of this as the curse of Emacs. Infinitely configurable, thereafter entirely unique in the universe, which can be a double edged sword. See too (maybe it's the same thing) The Lisp Curse.[0] [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2450973 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2450973
sabside 6mo ago
[dead]
MisterTea 6mo ago
Total opposite. I adapt to the defaults meaning I almost never customize anything. Tmux? Game controls? UI look? Default. I am almost never met with surprise unless I am sitting in front of someones OCD config.

by alecsm 6mo ago

alt219 6mo ago

Why not just `scp ~/.tmux.conf remotehost:`?

monsieurbanana 6mo ago
Sometimes I ssh into a server as a specific user (e.g. as the "app" user that is used to run a web app), sometimes only root is available (probably not best practice, but it's not like I can or want to fix it myself). In any case it's not practical to carry your dotfiles everywhere you go. Changes are also a hassle to propagate
al_borland 6mo ago
I can't speak for the parent, but I rarely login to the same remote server twice and don't want to need to set things up and clean them up anytime I do. This is why I try to keep my stuff as close to vanilla as possible. If anything goes wrong on a server and someone sees I have a whole bunch of dot files to customize my config, it becomes a red herring that I have to spend time explaining away.
- cr125rider 6mo ago
  If only we had ways to automate repeating processes… oh well
  - traderj0e 6mo ago
    No, wanting to keep things vanilla when you're dealing with lots of random servers is a valid concern. Just because you can solve this with shell scripting doesn't mean you should.
    - skydhash 6mo ago
      You could always copy the config to /tmp and use the -f flag.
alecsm 6mo ago
Because I'm not the owner of the remote host.

dpflan 6mo ago

Do you have a "dot files" repo? It would contain things like this, config files for tmux, zsh, <other tools>, etc.

esseph 6mo ago
That may work for a server or two but doesn't really pan out for fleet management.
- lanstin 6mo ago
  Volunteer to be the official image maintainer - I had emacs-nox and (screen) installed fleet wide for my own utility :) I had a friend that even had his public keys added to the /root/.ssh/ but I didin't go that far -I didn't even put my own .emacs out - but I at least could use good tools to look at the tcpdump output or giant log files if needed. "Eight Megs and Constantly Swapping" is not that big of a deal anymore. And if people want to just use some default open source image, just point out that in modern cloud environments, you don't want each node to customize itself, you want to pre-run that process one time per node type in your "directed graph of image delta pipelines" which takes the input image and publishes the cloud ready app-specific images (with your DNS configs, LDAP integration, whatever, plus emacs/neovim and screen/tmux :)
  - mystifyingpoi 6mo ago
    This will definitely work, but it's not really even necessary. Just have some pre-connect script, that checks if the host is already "configured", and if not, then one-shot some Ansible playbook (or bash even) that installs what's needed. Use /tmp if root is not available. Also works for Kubernetes, though there we have better options.
    - esseph 6mo ago
      One of my favs: https://github.com/nicolaka/netshoot https://github.com/nicolaka/netshoot
6mo ago

znpy 6mo ago

> I had my tmux customized to the point I forgot how to use it on a clean install which is a problem when I'm sshing into a server. I had the same issue with gnu emacs… but at some point i lost my very custom configuration when the disk broke… i resorted to use a mostly-vanilla emacs :)

carodgers 6mo ago

I've hit this problem multiple times. The approach which finally eased this pain point for me was to take care to not overwrite any tmux defaults with my config, and only add non-conflicting configs (new shortcuts, styling changes, etc.) That way, if I need to use tmux on a new or unfamiliar machine, the core functionality is still present, and I just miss the candy that comes with customization. For example, leave the existing prefix binding (ctrl-b), but also add something nicer for day-to-day use (ctrl-space or similar).

NobleLie 6mo ago

"Claude, scp my tmux config over to that box"

orthecreedence 6mo ago
God I hope this is a joke

bch 6mo ago

I think of this as the curse of Emacs. Infinitely configurable, thereafter entirely unique in the universe, which can be a double edged sword. See too (maybe it's the same thing) The Lisp Curse.[0] [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2450973 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2450973

sabside 6mo ago

[dead]

MisterTea 6mo ago

Total opposite. I adapt to the defaults meaning I almost never customize anything. Tmux? Game controls? UI look? Default. I am almost never met with surprise unless I am sitting in front of someones OCD config.