1 # abduco a tool for session {at,de}tach support
3 [abduco](http://www.brain-dump.org/projects/abduco) provides
4 session management i.e. it allows programs to be run independently
5 from their controlling terminal. That is programs can be detached -
6 run in the background - and then later reattached. Together with
7 [dvtm](http://www.brain-dump.org/projects/dvtm) it provides a
8 simpler and cleaner alternative to tmux or screen.
10 ![abduco+dvtm demo](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/martanne/abduco/gh-pages/screencast.gif)
12 abduco is in many ways very similar to [dtach]("http://dtach.sf.net)
13 but is a completely independent implementation which is actively maintained,
14 contains no legacy code, provides a few additional features, has a
15 cleaner, more robust implementation and is distributed under the
16 [ISC license](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/martanne/abduco/master/LICENSE)
20 * [abduco-0.4](http://www.brain-dump.org/projects/abduco/abduco-0.4.tar.gz)
21 [released](http://lists.suckless.org/dev/1503/26027.html) (18.03.2015)
22 * [abduco-0.3](http://www.brain-dump.org/projects/abduco/abduco-0.3.tar.gz)
23 [released](http://lists.suckless.org/dev/1502/25557.html) (19.02.2015)
24 * [abduco-0.2](http://www.brain-dump.org/projects/abduco/abduco-0.2.tar.gz)
25 [released](http://lists.suckless.org/dev/1411/24447.html) (15.11.2014)
26 * [abduco-0.1](http://www.brain-dump.org/projects/abduco/abduco-0.1.tar.gz)
27 [released](http://lists.suckless.org/dev/1407/22703.html) (05.07.2014)
28 * [Initial announcement](http://lists.suckless.org/dev/1403/20372.html)
29 on the suckless development mailing list (08.03.2014)
33 Either download the latest source tarball
34 [abduco-0.4.tar.gz](http://www.brain-dump.org/projects/abduco/abduco-0.4.tar.gz)
37 ccd576eb57d9481d5f372e31ce84b3020f661b68 abduco-0.4.tar.gz
39 compile and install it
41 $EDITOR config.mk && make && sudo make install
43 or use one of the distribution provided binary packages:
45 * [Debian](https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=abduco)
46 * [Fedora](https://admin.fedoraproject.org/pkgdb/package/abduco/)
47 * [Gentoo](http://packages.gentoo.org/package/app-misc/abduco/)
48 * [Ubuntu](http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?keywords=abduco)
49 * [Mac OS X](http://www.braumeister.org/formula/abduco) via homebrew
53 In order to create a new session `abduco` requires a session name
54 as well as an command which will be run. If no command is given
55 the environment variable `$ABDUCO_CMD` is examined and if not set
56 `dvtm` is executed. Therefore assuming `dvtm` is located somewhere
57 in `$PATH` a new session named *demo* is created with:
61 An arbitrary application can be started as follows:
63 $ abduco -c session-name your-application
65 `CTRL-\` detaches from the active session. This detach key can be
66 changed by means of the `-e` command line option, `-e ^q` would
67 for example set it to `CTRL-q`.
69 To get an overview of existing session run `abduco` without any
73 Active sessions (on host debbook)
74 * Thu 2015-03-12 12:05:20 demo-active
75 + Thu 2015-03-12 12:04:50 demo-finished
76 Thu 2015-03-12 12:03:30 demo
78 A leading asterisk `*` indicates that at least one client is
79 connected. A leading plus `+` denotes that the session terminated,
80 attaching to it will print its exit status.
82 A session can be reattached by using the `-a` command line option
83 in combination with the session name which was used during session
88 Check out the manual page for further information and all available
91 ## Improvements over dtach
93 * **session list**, available by executing `abduco` without any arguments,
94 indicating whether clients are connected or the command has already
97 * the **session exit status** of the command being run is always kept and
98 reported either upon command termination or on reconnection
99 e.g. the following works:
101 $ abduco -n demo true && abduco -a demo
102 abduco: demo: session terminated with exit status 0
104 * **read only sessions** if the `-r` command line argument is used when
105 attaching to a session, then all keyboard input is ignored and the
106 client is a passive observer only.
108 Note that this is not a security feature, but only a convenient way to
109 avoid accidental keyboard input.
111 If you want to make your abduco session available to another user
112 in a read only fashion, use [socat](http://www.dest-unreach.org/socat/)
113 to proxy the abduco socket in a unidirectional (from the abduco server
114 to the client, but not vice versa) way.
116 Start your to be shared session, make sure only you have access to
117 the `private` directory:
119 $ abduco -c /tmp/abduco/private/session
121 Then proxy the socket in unidirectional mode `-u` to a directory
122 where the desired observers have sufficient access rights:
124 $ socat -u unix-connect:/tmp/abduco/private/session unix-listen:/tmp/abduco/public/read-only &
126 Now the observers can connect to the read-only side of the socket:
128 $ abduco -a /tmp/abduco/public/read-only
130 communication in the other direction will not be possible and keyboard
131 input will hence be discarded.
133 * **better resize handling** on shared sessions, resize request are only
134 processed if they are initiated by the most recently connected, non
137 * **socket recreation** by sending the `SIGUSR1` signal to the server
138 process. In case the unix domain socket was removed by accident it
139 can be recreated. The simplest way to find out the server process
140 id is to look for abduco processes which are reparented to the init
145 After finding the correct PID the socket can be recreated with
149 If the abduco binary itself has also been deleted, but a session is
150 still running, use the following command to bring back the session:
154 * **improved socket permissions** the session sockets are by default either
155 stored in `$HOME/.abduco` or `/tmp/abduco/$USER` in both cases it is
156 made sure that only the owner has access to the respective directory.
160 You can always fetch the current code base from the git repository.
162 git clone https://github.com/martanne/abduco.git
166 git clone git://repo.or.cz/abduco.git
168 If you have comments, suggestions, ideas, a bug report, a patch or something
169 else related to abduco then write to the
170 [suckless developer mailing list](http://suckless.org/community)
171 or contact me directly mat[at]brain-dump.org.
173 [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/martanne/abduco.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/martanne/abduco)
174 [![Coverity Scan Build Status](https://scan.coverity.com/projects/4285/badge.svg)](https://scan.coverity.com/projects/4285)
178 abduco is licensed under the [ISC license](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/martanne/abduco/master/LICENSE)