GNU Screen
Developer(s) | GNU Project |
---|---|
Initial release | 1987 |
Preview release | None [±] |
Repository | |
Written in | C |
Operating system | Unix-like |
Available in | ? |
Type | Command line interface |
License | GPL v3 |
Website | www |
GNU Screen is a software application that can be used to multiplex several virtual consoles, allowing a user to access multiple separate terminal sessions inside a single terminal window or remote terminal session. It is useful for dealing with multiple programs from a command line interface, and for separating programs from the Unix shell that started the program.
Released under the terms of version 3 or later of the GNU General Public License, GNU Screen is free software.
Features
GNU Screen can be thought of as a text version of graphical window managers, or as a way of putting virtual terminals into any login session. It is a wrapper that allows multiple text programs to run at the same time, and provides features that allow the user to use the programs within a single interface productively. This enables the following features: persistence, multiple windows, and session sharing.
Screen is often used when a network connection to the terminal is unreliable, as a dropped network connection typically terminates all programs the user was running.
History
Screen was originally designed by Oliver Laumann and Carsten Bormann and published in 1987.[1]
Design criteria included faithful VT100 emulation[dubious – discuss] (including ANSI X3.64 (ISO 6429) and ISO 2022) and reasonable performance for heavy daily use when character-based terminals were still common. Later, the at-the-time novel feature of disconnection/reattachment was added.
Ca. 1990 Oliver Laumann handed over maintenance of the code to Jürgen Weigert and Michael Schroeder at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, who later moved the project to the GNU Project and added features such as split-screen, cut-and-paste, and screen-sharing.[2]
See also
- xpra: a tool that lets you run X Window System applications on one machine, disconnect them from that machine's display, then reconnect them to another machine's display.
- Byobu (software): a frontend for GNU Screen
- tmux: a GNU Screen rewrite under BSD license
Further reading
- Jeff Covey (12 Oct 2002) The Antidesktop, Freshmeat
References
- Martin Streicher (10 Feb 2009) Speaking UNIX: Stayin' alive with Screen, IBM developerWorks
- Philip J. Hollenback (22 Aug 2006) Using screen for remote interaction, Linux.com
- Adam Lazur (January 2003) Power Sessions with Screen, Linux Journal, issue 105
- William Von Hagen, Brian K. Jones, Linux server hacks, Volume 2, O'Reilly Media, 2005, ISBN 0-596-10082-5, pp. 155–157 (Hack #34)
- Carl Albing, J. P. Vossen, Cameron Newham, Bash cookbook, O'Reilly Media, 2007, ISBN 0-596-52678-4, pp. 415–418
- Dru Lavigne, BSD hacks, O'Reilly Media, 2004, ISBN 0-596-00679-9, pp. 44–48 (Hack #12)
- Noah Gift, Jeremy Jones, Python for Unix and Linux system administration, O'Reilly Germany, 2008, ISBN 0-596-51582-0, pp. 300–301
- Paul Mutton, IRC hacks, O'Reilly Media, 2004, ISBN 0-596-00687-X, pp. 345–349 (Hack #92)
Notes
- ^ "BSD screen manager -- Part 1 of 2 - (nf)". Newsgroup: net.sources. 20 Mar 1987. Retrieved 11 Jun 2009.
- ^ screen ftp