Thanks for your clarifications - they do help. As for the -D -RR "explanation" in the man pages - well, my point is that whomever wrote either did not know what -D -RR really does, or could not be bothered to explain it sensibly. The world will indeed not end if one does not understand the explanation, but it really is the worst in a rather poorly written man page. Which is a shame, for screen really rocks.
On 3/30/07, Paul Hoffman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On Fri, Mar 30, 2007 at 07:32:31PM +0100, JCA wrote: > I wonder if someone could please explain the meaning of the > following options the screen command: > > -d -r Reattach a session and if necessary detach it first. > > -d -R Reattach a session and if necessary detach or even create > it > first. > > -d -RR Reattach a session and if necessary detach or create it. > Use > the first session if more than one session is available. > > -D -r Reattach a session. If necessary detach and logout > remotely > first. > > -D -R Attach here and now. In detail this means: If a session is > run- > ning, then reattach. If necessary detach and logout > remotely > first. If it was not running create it and notify the > user. > This is the author's favorite. > > -D -RR Attach here and now. Whatever that means, just do it. > > I am enclosing them with their description in the screen man page > because, quite frankly, I do not understand the differences (they all > sound very similar), and under what circumstances I would want to use > one of them rather than the others. I was confused, too, but figured them out (more or less) by careful re-reading and (more importantly) by experimenting with different combinations. The difference between -d and -D is that -D may cause a session to be logged out remotely, whereas -d will not. This is the only thing I'm not sure I understand -- if you create a session on host A and then use screen -d on host B, will it not detach the session that's running on host A? Do you have to use -D in this case? The difference between -r and -R is that -R will create a session if no session can be reattached. The difference between -R and -RR is that -RR will reattach the first session it finds, whereas -R will throw up its hands if it finds more than one (i.e., it won't reattach but will instead list all detached sessions so you can then use screen -r <session> to specify the one you want to reattach). > The "if necessary" qualifier is particularly galling, for it is not at > all clear (to me) how to determine the necessity requirement. Try re-reading them one at a time. First one: > -d -r Reattach a session and if necessary detach it first. Translation: Try to reattach a session. If it's already attached, detach it and then try again. This way you can start a session in one terminal and reattach it in another terminal *without having first detached it in the first terminal*. Next: > -d -R Reattach a session and if necessary detach or even > create it first. Translation: Try to reattach a session. If it's already attached, detach it and and then try again. If it's neither attached nor detached -- i.e., if it doesn't even exist -- then create it and attach to it. Next: > -d -RR Reattach a session and if necessary detach or create it. > Use the first session if more than one session is available. See above. The remaining combinations (-D -r, -D -R, and -D -RR) are the same except they will detach *and logout remotely*, whatever that means -- I always use -D rather than -d. > The description of -D -RR is the very worst, for it really is a > useless explanation if there has ever been one (and there has.) Yikes! Relax; the world won't end if you don't understand this. Paul. -- Paul Hoffman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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