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Terminal multiplexing with `tmux` - Z-Shell edition

2024-06-23T22:41:59+03:00

Terminal multiplexing with tmux - Z-Shell edition

-
-Published at 2024-06-23T22:41:59+03:00; Last updated 2025-05-02
-
-This is the Z-Shell version. There is also a Fish version:
-
-./2025-05-02-terminal-multiplexing-with-tmux-fish-edition.html
-
-Tmux (Terminal Multiplexer) is a powerful, terminal-based tool that manages multiple terminal sessions within a single window. Here are some of its primary features and functionalities:
-
-

Session management
Window and Pane management
Persistent Workspace
Customization

-https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki
-
-

-         _______
-        |.-----.|
-        || Tmux||
-        ||_.-._||
-        `--)-(--`
-       __[=== o]___
-      |:::::::::::|\
-jgs   `-=========-`()
-    mod. by Paul B.
-

-
-

Terminal multiplexing with tmux - Z-Shell edition
⇢ Before continuing...
⇢ Shell aliases
⇢ The tn alias - Creating a new session
⇢ ⇢ Cleaning up default sessions automatically
⇢ ⇢ Renaming sessions
⇢ The ta alias - Attaching to a session
⇢ The tr alias - For a nested remote session
⇢ ⇢ Change of the Tmux prefix for better nesting
⇢ The ts alias - Searching sessions with fuzzy finder
⇢ The tssh alias - Cluster SSH replacement
⇢ ⇢ The tmux::tssh_from_argument helper
⇢ ⇢ The tmux::tssh_from_file helper
⇢ ⇢ tssh examples
⇢ ⇢ Common Tmux commands I use in tssh
⇢ Copy and paste workflow
⇢ Tmux configurations

Before continuing...

-
-Before continuing to read this post, I encourage you to get familiar with Tmux first (unless you already know the basics). You can go through the official getting started guide:
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-https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki/Getting-Started
-
-I can also recommend this book (this is the book I got started with with Tmux):
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-https://pragprog.com/titles/bhtmux2/tmux-2/
-
-Over the years, I have built a couple of shell helper functions to optimize my workflows. Tmux is extensively integrated into my daily workflows (personal and work). I had colleagues asking me about my Tmux config and helper scripts for Tmux several times. It would be neat to blog about it so that everyone interested in it can make a copy of my configuration and scripts.
-
-The configuration and scripts in this blog post are only the non-work-specific parts. There are more helper scripts, which I only use for work (and aren't really useful outside of work due to the way servers and clusters are structured there).
-
-Tmux is highly configurable, and I think I am only scratching the surface of what is possible with it. Nevertheless, it may still be useful for you. I also love that Tmux is part of the OpenBSD base system!
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Shell aliases

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-I am a user of the Z-Shell (zsh), but I believe all the snippets mentioned in this blog post also work with Bash.
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-https://www.zsh.org
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-For the most common Tmux commands I use, I have created the following shell aliases:
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- -

alias tm=tmux
-alias tl='tmux list-sessions'
-alias tn=tmux::new
-alias ta=tmux::attach
-alias tx=tmux::remote
-alias ts=tmux::search
-alias tssh=tmux::cluster_ssh
-

-
-Note all tmux::...; those are custom shell functions doing certain things, and they aren't part of the Tmux distribution. But let's run through every aliases one by one.
-
-The first two are pretty straightforward. tm is simply a shorthand for tmux, so I have to type less, and tl lists all Tmux sessions that are currently open. No magic here.
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The tn alias - Creating a new session

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-The tn alias is referencing this function:
-
- -

# Create new session and if alread exists attach to it
-tmux::new () {
-    readonly session=$1
-    local date=date
-    if where gdate &>/dev/null; then
-        date=gdate
-    fi
-
-    tmux::cleanup_default
-    if [ -z "$session" ]; then
-        tmux::new T$($date +%s)
-    else
-        tmux new-session -d -s $session
-        tmux -2 attach-session -t $session || tmux -2 switch-client -t $session
-    fi
-}
-alias tn=tmux::new
-

-
-There is a lot going on here. Let's have a detailed look at what it is doing. As a note, the function relies on GNU Date, so MacOS is looking for the gdate commands to be available. Otherwise, it will fall back to date. You need to install GNU Date for Mac, as it isn't installed by default there. As I use Fedora Linux on my personal Laptop and a MacBook for work, I have to make it work for both.
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-First, a Tmux session name can be passed to the function as a first argument. That session name is only optional. Without it, Tmux will select a session named T$($date +%s) as a default. Which is T followed by the UNIX epoch, e.g. T1717133796.
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Cleaning up default sessions automatically

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-Note also the call to tmux::cleanup_default; it would clean up all already opened default sessions if they aren't attached. Those sessions were only temporary, and I had too many flying around after a while. So, I decided to auto-delete the sessions if they weren't attached. If I want to keep sessions around, I will rename them with the Tmux command prefix-key $. This is the cleanup function:
-
- -

tmux::cleanup_default () {
-    local s
-    tmux list-sessions | grep '^T.*: ' | grep -F -v attached |
-    cut -d: -f1 | while read -r s; do
-        echo "Killing $s"
-        tmux kill-session -t "$s"
-    done
-}
-

-
-The cleanup function kills all open Tmux sessions that haven't been renamed properly yet—but only if they aren't attached (e.g., don't run in the foreground in any terminal). Cleaning them up automatically keeps my Tmux sessions as neat and tidy as possible.
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Renaming sessions

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-Whenever I am in a temporary session (named T....), I may decide that I want to keep this session around. I have to rename the session to prevent the cleanup function from doing its thing. That's, as mentioned already, easily accomplished with the standard prefix-key $ Tmux command.
-
-

The ta alias - Attaching to a session

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-This alias refers to the following function, which tries to attach to an already-running Tmux session.
-
- -

tmux::attach () {
-    readonly session=$1
-
-    if [ -z "$session" ]; then
-        tmux attach-session || tmux::new
-    else
-        tmux attach-session -t $session || tmux::new $session
-    fi
-}
-alias ta=tmux::attach
-

-
-If no session is specified (as the argument of the function), it will try to attach to the first open session. If no Tmux server is running, it will create a new one with tmux::new. Otherwise, with a session name given as the argument, it will attach to it. If unsuccessful (e.g., the session doesn't exist), it will be created and attached to.
-
-

The tr alias - For a nested remote session

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-This SSHs into the remote server specified and then, remotely on the server itself, starts a nested Tmux session. So we have one Tmux session on the local computer and, inside of it, an SSH connection to a remote server with a Tmux session running again. The benefit of this is that, in case my network connection breaks down, the next time I connect, I can continue my work on the remote server exactly where I left off. The session name is the name of the server being SSHed into. If a session like this already exists, it simply attaches to it.
-
- -

tmux::remote () {
-    readonly server=$1
-    tmux new -s $server "ssh -t $server 'tmux attach-session || tmux'" || \
-        tmux attach-session -d -t $server
-}
-alias tr=tmux::remote
-

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Change of the Tmux prefix for better nesting

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-To make nested Tmux sessions work smoothly, one must change the Tmux prefix key locally or remotely. By default, the Tmux prefix key is Ctrl-b, so Ctrl-b $, for example, renames the current session. To change the prefix key from the standard Ctrl-b to, for example, Ctrl-g, you must add this to the tmux.conf:
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-set-option -g prefix C-g
-

-
-This way, when I want to rename the remote Tmux session, I have to use Ctrl-g $, and when I want to rename the local Tmux session, I still have to use Ctrl-b $. In my case, I have this deployed to all remote servers through a configuration management system (out of scope for this blog post).
-
-There might also be another way around this (without reconfiguring the prefix key), but that is cumbersome to use, as far as I remember.
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The ts alias - Searching sessions with fuzzy finder

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-Despite the fact that with tmux::cleanup_default, I don't leave a huge mess with trillions of Tmux sessions flying around all the time, at times, it can become challenging to find exactly the session I am currently interested in. After a busy workday, I often end up with around twenty sessions on my laptop. This is where fuzzy searching for session names comes in handy, as I often don't remember the exact session names.
-
- -

tmux::search () {
-    local -r session=$(tmux list-sessions | fzf | cut -d: -f1)
-    if [ -z "$TMUX" ]; then
-        tmux attach-session -t $session
-    else
-        tmux switch -t $session
-    fi
-}
-alias ts=tmux::search
-

-
-All it does is list all currently open sessions in fzf, where one of them can be searched and selected through fuzzy find, and then either switch (if already inside a session) to the other session or attach to the other session (if not yet in Tmux).
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-You must install the fzf command on your computer for this to work. This is how it looks like:
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-
-
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The tssh alias - Cluster SSH replacement

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-Before I used Tmux, I was a heavy user of ClusterSSH, which allowed me to log in to multiple servers at once in a single terminal window and type and run commands on all of them in parallel.
-
-https://github.com/duncs/clusterssh
-
-However, since I started using Tmux, I retired ClusterSSH, as it came with the benefit that Tmux only needs to be run in the terminal, whereas ClusterSSH spawned terminal windows, which aren't easily portable (e.g., from a Linux desktop to macOS). The tmux::cluster_ssh function can have N arguments, where:
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...the first argument will be the session name (see tmux::tssh_from_argument helper function), and all remaining arguments will be server hostnames/FQDNs to connect to simultaneously.
...or, the first argument is a file name, and the file contains a list of hostnames/FQDNs (see tmux::ssh_from_file helper function)

-This is the function definition behind the tssh alias:
-
- -

tmux::cluster_ssh () {
-    if [ -f "$1" ]; then
-        tmux::tssh_from_file $1
-        return
-    fi
-
-    tmux::tssh_from_argument $@
-}
-alias tssh=tmux::cluster_ssh
-

-
-This function is just a wrapper around the more complex tmux::tssh_from_file and tmux::tssh_from_argument functions, as you have learned already. Most of the magic happens there.
-
-

The tmux::tssh_from_argument helper

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-This is the most magic helper function we will cover in this post. It looks like this:
-
- -

tmux::tssh_from_argument () {
-    local -r session=$1; shift
-    local first_server=$1; shift
-
-    tmux new-session -d -s $session "ssh -t $first_server"
-    if ! tmux list-session | grep "^$session:"; then
-        echo "Could not create session $session"
-        return 2
-    fi
-
-    for server in "${@[@]}"; do
-        tmux split-window -t $session "tmux select-layout tiled; ssh -t $server"
-    done
-
-    tmux setw -t $session synchronize-panes on
-    tmux -2 attach-session -t $session | tmux -2 switch-client -t $session
-}
-

-
-It expects at least two arguments. The first argument is the session name to create for the clustered SSH session. All other arguments are server hostnames or FQDNs to which to connect. The first one is used to make the initial session. All remaining ones are added to that session with tmux split-window -t $session.... At the end, we enable synchronized panes by default, so whenever you type, the commands will be sent to every SSH connection, thus allowing the neat ClusterSSH feature to run commands on multiple servers simultaneously. Once done, we attach (or switch, if already in Tmux) to it.
-
-Sometimes, I don't want the synchronized panes behavior and want to switch it off temporarily. I can do that with prefix-key p and prefix-key P after adding the following to my local tmux.conf:
-
-

-bind-key p setw synchronize-panes off
-bind-key P setw synchronize-panes on
-

-
-

The tmux::tssh_from_file helper

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-This one sets the session name to the file name and then reads a list of servers from that file, passing the list of servers to tmux::tssh_from_argument as the arguments. So, this is a neat little wrapper that also enables me to open clustered SSH sessions from an input file.
-
- -

tmux::tssh_from_file () {
-    local -r serverlist=$1; shift
-    local -r session=$(basename $serverlist | cut -d. -f1)
-
-    tmux::tssh_from_argument $session $(awk '{ print $1} ' $serverlist | sed 's/.lan./.lan/g')
-}
-

-
-

tssh examples

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-To open a new session named fish and log in to 4 remote hosts, run this command (Note that it is also possible to specify the remote user):
-
-

-$ tssh fish blowfish.buetow.org fishfinger.buetow.org \
-    fishbone.buetow.org user@octopus.buetow.org
-

-
-To open a new session named manyservers, put many servers (one FQDN per line) into a file called manyservers.txt and simply run:
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-$ tssh manyservers.txt
-

-
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Common Tmux commands I use in tssh

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-These are default Tmux commands that I make heavy use of in a tssh session:
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Press prefix-key DIRECTION to switch panes. DIRECTION is by default any of the arrow keys, but I also configured Vi keybindings.
Press prefix-key to change the pane layout (can be pressed multiple times to cycle through them).
Press prefix-key z to zoom in and out of the current active pane.

Copy and paste workflow

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-As you will see later in this blog post, I have configured a history limit of 1 million items in Tmux so that I can scroll back quite far. One main workflow of mine is to search for text in the Tmux history, select and copy it, and then switch to another window or session and paste it there (e.g., into my text editor to do something with it).
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-This works by pressing prefix-key [ to enter Tmux copy mode. From there, I can browse the Tmux history of the current window using either the arrow keys or vi-like navigation (see vi configuration later in this blog post) and the Pg-Dn and Pg-Up keys.
-
-I often search the history backwards with prefix-key [ followed by a ?, which opens the Tmux history search prompt.
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-Once I have identified the terminal text to be copied, I enter visual select mode with v, highlight all the text to be copied (using arrow keys or Vi motions), and press y to yank it (sorry if this all sounds a bit complicated, but Vim/NeoVim users will know this, as it is pretty much how you do it there as well).
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-For v and y to work, the following has to be added to the Tmux configuration file:
-
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-bind-key -T copy-mode-vi 'v' send -X begin-selection
-bind-key -T copy-mode-vi 'y' send -X copy-selection-and-cancel
-

-
-Once the text is yanked, I switch to another Tmux window or session where, for example, a text editor is running and paste the yanked text from Tmux into the editor with prefix-key ]. Note that when pasting into a modal text editor like Vi or Helix, you would first need to enter insert mode before prefix-key ] would paste anything.
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-

Tmux configurations

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-Some features I have configured directly in Tmux don't require an external shell alias to function correctly. Let's walk line by line through my local ~/.config/tmux/tmux.conf:
-
-

-source ~/.config/tmux/tmux.local.conf
-
-set-option -g allow-rename off
-set-option -g history-limit 100000
-set-option -g status-bg '#444444'
-set-option -g status-fg '#ffa500'
-set-option -s escape-time 0
-

-
-There's yet to be much magic happening here. I source a tmux.local.conf, which I sometimes use to override the default configuration that comes from the configuration management system. But it is mostly just an empty file, so it doesn't throw any errors on Tmux startup when I don't use it.
-
-I work with many terminal outputs, which I also like to search within Tmux. So, I added a large enough history-limit, enabling me to search backwards in Tmux for any output up to a million lines of text.
-
-Besides changing some colours (personal taste), I also set escape-time to 0, which is just a workaround. Otherwise, my Helix text editor's ESC key would take ages to trigger within Tmux. I am trying to remember the gory details. You can leave it out; if everything works fine for you, leave it out.
-
-The next lines in the configuration file are:
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-set-window-option -g mode-keys vi
-bind-key -T copy-mode-vi 'v' send -X begin-selection
-bind-key -T copy-mode-vi 'y' send -X copy-selection-and-cancel
-

-
-I navigate within Tmux using Vi keybindings, so the mode-keys is set to vi. I use the Helix modal text editor, which is close enough to Vi bindings for simple navigation to feel "native" to me. (By the way, I have been a long-time Vim and NeoVim user, but I eventually switched to Helix. It's off-topic here, but it may be worth another blog post once.)
-
-The two bind-key commands make it so that I can use v and y in copy mode, which feels more Vi-like (as already discussed earlier in this post).
-
-The next set of lines in the configuration file are:
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-bind-key h select-pane -L
-bind-key j select-pane -D
-bind-key k select-pane -U
-bind-key l select-pane -R
-
-bind-key H resize-pane -L 5
-bind-key J resize-pane -D 5
-bind-key K resize-pane -U 5
-bind-key L resize-pane -R 5
-

-
-These allow me to use prefix-key h, prefix-key j, prefix-key k, and prefix-key l for switching panes and prefix-key H, prefix-key J, prefix-key K, and prefix-key L for resizing the panes. If you don't know Vi/Vim/NeoVim, the letters hjkl are commonly used there for left, down, up, and right, which is also the same for Helix, by the way.
-
-The next set of lines in the configuration file are:
-
-

-bind-key c new-window -c '#{pane_current_path}'
-bind-key F new-window -n "session-switcher" "tmux list-sessions | fzf | cut -d: -f1 | xargs tmux switch-client -t"
-bind-key T choose-tree
-

-
-The first one is that any new window starts in the current directory. The second one is more interesting. I list all open sessions in the fuzzy finder. I rely heavily on this during my daily workflow to switch between various sessions depending on the task. E.g. from a remote cluster SSH session to a local code editor.
-
-The third one, choose-tree, opens a tree view in Tmux listing all sessions and windows. This one is handy to get a better overview of what is currently running in any local Tmux session. It looks like this (it also allows me to press a hotkey to switch to a particular Tmux window):
-
-
-
-
-The last remaining lines in my configuration file are:
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-bind-key p setw synchronize-panes off
-bind-key P setw synchronize-panes on
-bind-key r source-file ~/.config/tmux/tmux.conf \; display-message "tmux.conf reloaded"
-

-
-We discussed synchronized panes earlier. I use it all the time in clustered SSH sessions. When enabled, all panes (remote SSH sessions) receive the same keystrokes. This is very useful when you want to run the same commands on many servers at once, such as navigating to a common directory, restarting a couple of services at once, or running tools like htop to quickly monitor system resources.
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-The last one reloads my Tmux configuration on the fly.
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-E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)
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-Back to the main site
-

Projects I currently don't have time for

2024-05-03T16:23:03+03:00

Projects I currently don't have time for

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-Published at 2024-05-03T16:23:03+03:00
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-Over the years, I have collected many ideas for my personal projects and noted them down. I am currently in the process of cleaning up all my notes and reviewing those ideas. I don’t have time for the ones listed here and won’t have any soon due to other commitments and personal projects. So, in order to "get rid of them" from my notes folder, I decided to simply put them in this blog post so that those ideas don't get lost. Maybe I will pick up one or another idea someday in the future, but for now, they are all put on ice in favor of other personal projects or family time.
-
-

-Art by Laura Brown
-
-.'`~~~~~~~~~~~`'.
-(  .'11 12 1'.  )
-|  :10 \    2:  |
-|  :9   @-> 3:  |
-|  :8       4;  |
-'. '..7 6 5..' .'
- ~-------------~  ldb
-
-

-
-

Projects I currently don't have time for
⇢ Hardware projects I don't have time for
⇢ ⇢ I use Arch, btw!
⇢ ⇢ OpenBSD home router
⇢ ⇢ Pi-Hole server
⇢ ⇢ Infodash
⇢ ⇢ Reading station
⇢ ⇢ Retro station
⇢ ⇢ Sound server
⇢ ⇢ Project Freekat
⇢ Programming projects I don't have time for
⇢ ⇢ CLI-HIVE
⇢ ⇢ Enhanced KISS home photo albums
⇢ ⇢ KISS file sync server with end-to-end encryption
⇢ ⇢ A language that compiles to bash
⇢ ⇢ A language that compiles to sed
⇢ ⇢ Renovate VS-Sim
⇢ ⇢ KISS ticketing system
⇢ ⇢ A domain-specific language (DSL) for work
⇢ Self-hosting projects I don't have time for
⇢ ⇢ My own Matrix server
⇢ ⇢ Ampache music server
⇢ ⇢ Librum eBook reader
⇢ ⇢ Memos - Note-taking service
⇢ ⇢ Bepasty server
⇢ Books I don't have time to read
⇢ ⇢ Fluent Python
⇢ ⇢ Programming Ruby
⇢ ⇢ Peter F. Hamilton science fiction books
⇢ New websites I don't have time for
⇢ ⇢ Create a "Why Raku Rox" site
⇢ Research projects I don't have time for
⇢ ⇢ Project secure
⇢ ⇢ CPU utilisation is all wrong

Hardware projects I don't have time for

-
-

I use Arch, btw!

-
-The idea was to build the ultimate Arch Linux setup on an old ThinkPad X200 booting with the open-source LibreBoot firmware, complete with a tiling window manager, dmenu, and all the elite tools. This is mainly for fun, as I am pretty happy (and productive) with my Fedora Linux setup. I ran EndeavourOS (close enough to Arch) on an old ThinkPad for a while, but then I switched back to Fedora because the rolling releases were annoying (there were too many updates).
-
-

OpenBSD home router

-
-In my student days, I operated a 486DX PC with OpenBSD as my home DSL internet router. I bought the setup from my brother back then. The router's hostname was fishbone, and it performed very well until it became too slow for larger broadband bandwidth after a few years of use.
-
-I had the idea to revive this concept, implement fishbone2, and place it in front of my proprietary ISP router to add an extra layer of security and control in my home LAN. It would serve as the default gateway for all of my devices, including a Wi-Fi access point, would run a DNS server, Pi-hole proxy, VPN client, and DynDNS client. I would also implement high availability using OpenBSD's CARP protocol.
-
-https://openbsdrouterguide.net
-https://pi-hole.net/
-https://www.OpenBSD.org
-https://www.OpenBSD.org/faq/pf/carp.html
-
-However, I am putting this on hold as I have opted for an OpenWRT-based solution, which was much quicker to set up and runs well enough.
-
-https://OpenWRT.org/
-
-

Pi-Hole server

-
-Install Pi-hole on one of my Pis or run it in a container on Freekat. For now, I am putting this on hold as the primary use for this would be ad-blocking, and I am avoiding surfing ad-heavy sites anyway. So there's no significant use for me personally at the moment.
-
-https://pi-hole.net/
-
-

Infodash

-
-The idea was to implement my smart info screen using purely open-source software. It would display information such as the health status of my personal infrastructure, my current work tracker balance (I track how much I work to prevent overworking), and my sports balance (I track my workouts to stay within my quotas for general health). The information would be displayed on a small screen in my home office, on my Pine watch, or remotely from any terminal window.
-
-I don't have this, and I haven't missed having it, so I guess it would have been nice to have it but not provide any value other than the "fun of tinkering."
-
-

Reading station

-
-I wanted to create the most comfortable setup possible for reading digital notes, articles, and books. This would include a comfy armchair, a silent barebone PC or Raspberry Pi computer running either Linux or *BSD, and an e-Ink display mounted on a flexible arm/stand. There would also be a small table for my paper journal for occasional note-taking. There are a bunch of open-source software available for PDF and ePub reading. It would have been neat, but I am currently using the most straightforward solution: a Kobo Elipsa 2E, which I can use on my sofa.
-
-

Retro station

-
-I had an idea to build a computer infused with retro elements. It wouldn't use actual retro hardware but would look and feel like a retro machine. I would call this machine HAL or Retron.
-
-I would use an old ThinkPad laptop placed on a horizontal stand, running NetBSD, and attaching a keyboard from ModelFkeyboards. I use WindowMaker as a window manager and run terminal applications through Retro Term. For the monitor, I would use an older (black) EIZO model with large bezels.
-
-https://www.NetBSD.org
-https://www.modelfkeyboards.com
-https://github.com/Swordfish90/cool-retro-term)
-
-The computer would occasionally be used to surf the Gemini space, take notes, blog, or do light coding. However, I have abandoned the project for now because there isn't enough space in my apartment, as my daughter will have a room for herself.
-
-

Sound server

-
-My idea involved using a barebone mini PC running FreeBSD with the Navidrome sound server software. I could remotely connect to it from my phone, workstation/laptop to listen to my music collection. The storage would be based on ZFS with at least two drives for redundancy. The app would run in a Linux Docker container under FreeBSD via Bhyve.
-
-https://github.com/navidrome/navidrome
-https://wiki.freebsd.org/bhyve
-
-

Project Freekat

-
-My idea involved purchasing the Meerkat mini PC from System76 and installing FreeBSD. Like the sound-server idea (see previous idea), it would run Linux Docker through Bhyve. I would self-host a bunch of applications on it:
-
-

Wallabag
Ankidroid
Miniflux & Postgres
Audiobookshelf
...

-All of this would be within my LAN, but the services would also be accessible from the internet through either Wireguard or SSH reverse tunnels to one of my OpenBSD VMs, for example:
-
-

wallabag.awesome.buetow.org
ankidroid.awesome.buetow.org
miniflux.awesome.buetow.org
audiobookshelf.awesome.buetow.org
...

-I am abandoning this project for now, as I am currently hosting my apps on AWS ECS Fargate under *.cool.buetow.org, which is "good enough" for the time being and also offers the benefit of learning to use AWS and Terraform, knowledge that can be applied at work.
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-My personal AWS setup
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Programming projects I don't have time for

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CLI-HIVE

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-This was a pet project idea that my brother and I had. The concept was to collect all shell history of all servers at work in a central place, apply ML/AI, and return suggestions for commands to type or allow a fuzzy search on all the commands in the history. The recommendations for the commands on a server could be context-based (e.g., past occurrences on the same server type).
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-You could decide whether to share your command history with others so they would receive better suggestions depending on which server they are on, or you could keep all the history private and secure. The plan was to add hooks into zsh and bash shells so that all commands typed would be pushed to the central location for data mining.
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Enhanced KISS home photo albums

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-I don't use third-party cloud providers such as Google Photos to store/archive my photos. Instead, they are all on a ZFS volume on my home NAS, with regular offsite backups taken. Thus, my project would involve implementing the features I miss most or finding a solution simple enough to host on my LAN:
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A feature I miss presents me with a random day from the past and some photos from that day. This project would randomly select a day and generate a photo album for me to view and reminisce about memories.
Another feature I miss is the ability to automatically deduplicate all the photos, as I am sure there are tons of duplicates on my NAS.
Auto-enhancing the photos (perhaps using ImageMagick?)
I already have a simple photoalbum.sh script that generates an album based on an input directory. However, it would be great also to have a timeline feature to enable browsing through different dates.

-KISS static web photo albums with photoalbum.sh
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KISS file sync server with end-to-end encryption

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-I aimed to have a simple server to which I could sync notes and other documents, ensuring that the data is fully end-to-end encrypted. This way, only the clients could decrypt the data, while an encrypted copy of all the data would be stored on the server side. There are a few solutions (e.g., NextCloud), but they are bloated or complex to set up.
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-I currently use Syncthing for encrypted file sync across all my devices; however, the data is not end-to-end encrypted. It's a good-enough setup, though, as my Syncthing server is in my home LAN on an encrypted file system.
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-https://syncthing.net
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-I also had the idea of using this as a pet project for work and naming it Cryptolake, utilizing post-quantum-safe encryption algorithms and a distributed data store.
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A language that compiles to bash

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-I had an idea to implement a higher-level language with strong typing that could be compiled into native Bash code. This would make all resulting Bash scripts more robust and secure by default. The project would involve developing a parser, lexer, and a Bash code generator. I planned to implement this in Go.
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-I had previously implemented a tiny scripting language called Fype (For Your Program Execution), which could have served as inspiration.
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-The Fype Programming Language
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A language that compiles to sed

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-This is similar to the previous idea, but the difference is that the language would compile into a sed script. Sed has many features, but the brief syntax makes scripts challenging to read. The higher-level language would mimic sed but in a form that is easier for humans to read.
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Renovate VS-Sim

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-VS-Sim is an open-source simulator programmed in Java for distributed systems. VS-Sim stands for "Verteilte Systeme Simulator," the German translation for "Distributed Systems Simulator." The VS-Sim project was my diploma thesis at Aachen University of Applied Sciences.
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-https://codeberg.org/snonux/vs-sim
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-The ideas I had was:
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Translate the project into English.
Modernise the Java codebase to be compatible with the latest JDK.
Make it compile to native binaries using GraalVM.
Distribute the project using AppImages.

-I have put this project on hold for now, as I want to do more things in Go and fewer in Java in my personal time.
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KISS ticketing system

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-My idea was to program a KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) ticketing system for my personal use. However, I am abandoning this project because I now use the excellent Taskwarrior software. You can learn more about it at:
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-https://taskwarrior.org/
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A domain-specific language (DSL) for work

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-At work, an internal service allocates storage space for our customers on our storage clusters. It automates many tasks, but many tweaks are accessible through APIs. I had the idea to implement a Ruby-based DSL that would make using all those APIs for ad-hoc changes effortless, e.g.:
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Cluster :UK, :uk01 do
-  Customer.C1A1.segments.volumes.each do |volume|
-    puts volume.usage_stats
-    volume.move_off! if volume.over_subscribed?
-  end
-end
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-I am abandoning this project because my workplace has stopped the annual pet project competition, and I have other more important projects to work on at the moment.
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-Creative universe (Work pet project contests)
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Self-hosting projects I don't have time for

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My own Matrix server

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-I value privacy. It would be great to run my own Matrix server for communication within my family. I have yet to have time to look into this more closely.
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-https://matrix.org
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Ampache music server

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-Ampache is an open-source music streaming server that allows you to host and manage your music collection online, accessible via a web interface. Setting it up involves configuring a web server, installing Ampache, and organising your music files, which can be time-consuming.
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Librum eBook reader

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-Librum is a self-hostable e-book reader that allows users to manage and read their e-book collection from a web interface. Designed to be a self-contained platform where users can upload, organise, and access their e-books, Librum emphasises privacy and control over one's digital library.
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-https://github.com/Librum-Reader/Librum
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-I am using my Kobo devices or my laptop to read these kinds of things for now.
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Memos - Note-taking service

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-Memos is a note-taking service that simplifies and streamlines information capture and organisation. It focuses on providing users with a minimalistic and intuitive interface, aiming to enhance productivity without the clutter commonly associated with more complex note-taking apps.
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-https://www.usememos.com
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-I am abandoning this idea for now, as I am currently using plain Markdown files for notes and syncing them with Syncthing across my devices.
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Bepasty server

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-Bepasty is like a Pastebin for all kinds of files (text, image, audio, video, documents, binary, etc.). It seems very neat, but I only share a little nowadays. When I do, I upload files via SCP to one of my OpenBSD VMs and serve them via vanilla httpd there, keeping it KISS.
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-https://github.com/bepasty/bepasty-server
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Books I don't have time to read

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Fluent Python

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-I consider myself an advanced programmer in Ruby, Bash, and Perl. However, Python seems to be ubiquitous nowadays, and most of my colleagues prefer Python over any other languages. Thus, it makes sense for me to also learn and use Python. After conducting some research, "Fluent Python" appears to be the best book for this purpose.
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-I don't have time to read this book at the moment, as I am focusing more on Go (Golang) and I know just enough Python to get by (e.g., for code reviews). Additionally, there are still enough colleagues around who can review my Ruby or Bash code.
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Programming Ruby

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-I've read a couple of Ruby books already, but "Programming Ruby," which covers up to Ruby 3.2, was just recently released. I would like to read this to deepen my Ruby knowledge further and to revisit some concepts that I may have forgotten.
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-As stated in this blog post, I am currently more eager to focus on Go, so I've put the Ruby book on hold. Additionally, there wouldn't be enough colleagues who could "understand" my advanced Ruby skills anyway, as most of them are either Java developers or SREs who don't code a lot.
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Peter F. Hamilton science fiction books

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-I am a big fan of science fiction, but my reading list is currently too long anyway. So, I've put the Hamilton books on the back burner for now. You can see all the novels I've read here:
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-https://paul.buetow.org/novels.html
-https://paul.buetow.org/novels.gmi
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New websites I don't have time for

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Create a "Why Raku Rox" site

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-The website "Why Raku Rox" would showcase the unique features and benefits of the Raku programming language and highlight why it is an exceptional choice for developers. Raku, originally known as Perl 6, is a dynamic, expressive language designed for flexible and powerful software development.
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-This would be similar to the "Why OpenBSD rocks" site:
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-https://why-openbsd.rocks
-https://raku.org
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-I am not working on this for now, as I currently don’t even have time to program in Raku.
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Research projects I don't have time for

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Project secure

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-For work: Implement a PoC that dumps Java heaps to extract secrets from memory. Based on the findings, write a Java program that encrypts secrets in the kernel using the memfd_secret() syscall to make it even more secure.
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-https://lwn.net/Articles/865256/
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-Due to other priorities, I am putting this on hold for now. The software we have built is pretty damn secure already!
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CPU utilisation is all wrong

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-This research project, based on Brendan Gregg's blog post, could potentially significantly impact my work.
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-https://brendangregg.com/blog/2017-05-09/cpu-utilization-is-wrong.html
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-The research project would involve setting up dashboards that display actual CPU usage and the cycles versus waiting time for memory access.
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-E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)
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-Related and maybe interesting:
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-Sweating the small stuff - Tiny projects of mine
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-Back to the main site
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foo.zone feed

Terminal multiplexing with `tmux` - Z-Shell edition

Terminal multiplexing with tmux - Z-Shell edition

Table of Contents

Before continuing...

Shell aliases

The tn alias - Creating a new session

Cleaning up default sessions automatically

Renaming sessions

The ta alias - Attaching to a session

The tr alias - For a nested remote session

Change of the Tmux prefix for better nesting

The ts alias - Searching sessions with fuzzy finder

The tssh alias - Cluster SSH replacement

The tmux::tssh_from_argument helper

The tmux::tssh_from_file helper

tssh examples

Common Tmux commands I use in tssh

Copy and paste workflow

Tmux configurations

Projects I currently don't have time for

Projects I currently don't have time for

Table of Contents

Hardware projects I don't have time for

I use Arch, btw!

OpenBSD home router

Pi-Hole server

Infodash

Reading station

Retro station

Sound server

Project Freekat

Programming projects I don't have time for

CLI-HIVE

Enhanced KISS home photo albums

KISS file sync server with end-to-end encryption

A language that compiles to bash

A language that compiles to sed

Renovate VS-Sim

KISS ticketing system

A domain-specific language (DSL) for work

Self-hosting projects I don't have time for

My own Matrix server

Ampache music server

Librum eBook reader

Memos - Note-taking service

Bepasty server

Books I don't have time to read

Fluent Python

Programming Ruby

Peter F. Hamilton science fiction books

New websites I don't have time for

Create a "Why Raku Rox" site

Research projects I don't have time for

Project secure

CPU utilisation is all wrong