Tmux: The Terminal Multiplexer Replacing Screen

Introduction

Tmux has many advantages over screen and serves as a terminal multiplexer. This functionality is extremely practical and even essential once you've started using it.

Installation

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aptitude install tmux

Usage

To use tmux, simply launch it:

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tmux

Like screen, tmux uses a key combination to access its internal functions. By default, it's "Ctrl+b" (which can be modified) that is used. To start, you can easily get help (don't forget to press "Ctrl+b" before pressing any key):

Window Management

You can manage your windows as follows (don't forget to press "Ctrl+b" before pressing any key):

Split

You can split the screen in several ways:

History

By default, Tmux keeps only 2000 lines of history. Here's how to navigate:

Sessions

Session management is something very practical. It's always useful to be able to exit an SSH session and leave time-consuming tasks running, or to protect against network disconnections. That's why when you're in tmux, it's possible to detach from your tmux:

Then reattach later:

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tmux a

This command also allows multiple participants to see exactly the same thing.

Cheat Sheet

I've created a cheat sheet for those interested:

• Tmux Cheat Sheet PDF French - LaTeX Fr
• Tmux Cheat Sheet PDF English - LaTeX En

Customization

You can customize all kinds of things (I'll let you read the man page as it's so complete), and here's my configuration:

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# Tmux configuration
# Pierre Mavro

# Default shell
set -g default-command zsh

# Screen addict (replacing Ctrl+b by Ctrl+a)
#set -g prefix C-a
#unbind C-b
#bind C-a send-prefix

# Enable utf8
set -g status-utf8 on
setw -g utf8 on

# Same hack as screen to scroll terminal (xterm ...)
set -g terminal-overrides 'xterm*:smcup@:rmcup@'

# Scrollback buffer n lines
set -g history-limit 100000

# Lock session after delay (in seconds)
set -g lock-after-time 720
# Use vlock to lock session (aptitude install vlock)
set -g lock-command vlock
# To unlock as a user
#vlock -a
# To unlock as root
#vlock -sn

# Highlight active window
set-window-option -g window-status-current-bg red

# Split easier keys (| for horizontal and - for vertical)
bind | split-window -h
bind - split-window -v

# Set window notifications when somethings new happen
setw -g monitor-activity on
set -g visual-activity on
#set -g visual-bell on

# Start window to number to 1 (default 0)
set -g base-index 1

# Automatically set window title
setw -g automatic-rename

# force resize local window
#setw -g aggressive-resize on

# Enable mouse
#set -g mouse-select-pane on
#setw -g mode-mouse on

Launch a Program with Tmux at Boot

You may want to launch weechat (IRC client) or other program in tmux when your machine starts. To do this, it's easy:

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su - deimos -c "tmux new-session -d 'weechat-curses'"

Here we're asking tmux to create a new session via the deimos user.

Resources

• http://tmux.sourceforge.net/
• http://myhumblecorner.wordpress.com/2011/08/30/screen-to-tmux-a-humble-quick-start-guide/
• http://blog.hawkhost.com/2010/06/28/tmux-the-terminal-multiplexer/
• http://blog.hawkhost.com/2010/07/02/tmux-%E2%80%93-the-terminal-multiplexer-part-2/
• http://www.dayid.org/os/notes/tm.html
• http://tmux.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/tmux/trunk/examples/
• http://linux-attitude.fr/post/configuration-de-tmux?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=configuration-de-tmux