Rob Landley <rob@...> wrote: > > I plan to implement vi over the next year, but it's one of the four > realy big commands required by posix (sed, awk, sh, vi) and I've been > debugging sed against real-world data for _weeks_ now. [...] > > There are some others (the kernel build requires bc now, if I'm doing > "less" and "vi" I should be able to do "screen", and "rsync" is really > useful...) but right now I'm focused on the list for 1.0, and there are > a lot of smaller commands (and the giant backlog of pending cleanups) > that could get knocked off the list faster...
In this message, I will tell you why I think toybox should emulate tmux instead of GNU Screen. Let me begin. GNU Screen, a "terminal multiplexer", is very useful. Still, I've since switched to tmux. It's a newer terminal multiplexer, and is BSD-licensed. It is true that GNU Screen has now started making releases again for the first time in half a decade. Still, I like tmux so much that I don't plan to switch back to Screen. tmux makes certain operations easier.[1] For example: It ships with preconfigured keybindings (<C-b> 0, <C-b> 1, ..., <C-b> 9) which let you jump to low-numbered windows in just a few keystrokes. Another example: To renumber a window, you need only hit five keys (<C-b> . 9 <RET>), instead of nine (<C-a> : n u <TAB> 9 <RET>). tmux is also easier to learn. For example: It shows a status line (tab bar) by default, instead of forcing users to mess with complex configuration options just to get a status line. See screenshot[2]. tmux is included in the software repositories of Ubuntu, Debian "stable", and other distros. tmux's basic keybindings are fairly similar to Screen's. But, instead of Ctrl+A, tmux's default prefix is Ctrl+B. (This is reconfigurable.) You can find a tmux reference card[3] on the Web. Dear Rob: I know you mention Screen in your todo.txt file[4]. But please consider instead mentioning tmux. Those who are familiar only with good old Screen can either adapt to the nicer user interface that tmux provides, or can download and install Screen themselves. Cheers, --Jason P.S. I thank everyone on this list for maintaining Toybox. My next Android device will be a more pleasant to work with, thanks to you all. ^ [1]. http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/linux-and-open-source/is-tmux-the- gnu-screen-killer/ ^ [2]. http://tmux.sf.net/tmux3.png ^ [3]. http://www.mechanicalkeys.com/files/os/notes/tm.html ^ [4]. http://www.landley.net/code/toybox/todo.txt _______________________________________________ Toybox mailing list Toybox@lists.landley.net http://lists.landley.net/listinfo.cgi/toybox-landley.net
