## Problem I need to find what process is running on a particular window in screen (in a reasonable amount of time). ## Scenario I need to use the Session Name and Window Title to find the process running therein. It needs to not be super slow. Also potentially noteworthy: I'm using byobu as a wrapper for screen. ## What I've tried * Searching the internet * Reading the screen man page (not for the faint of heart). *(Okay, I didn't read all of it, but I did most of the relevant sections and searched it very thoroughly for anything that might be useful.)* - What I learned: + The only way to gain the information I might need from screen (by calling screen) is through the use of it's command line flags. * -Q will allow you to query certain commands, but none of these provided everything that I need. The one that I'm using returns the Window number. - number - what I'm using to get the window number - windowlist - allows you to get a custom-formatted string of information, but the session PID is not one of the things you can ask for - echo, info, lastmsg, select, time, title are the other ones and none of these looked useful * -ls lists the active sessions. It prepends the PID to the session name, so this is how I'm currently getting the session PID. + Once I have the PID of the shell running in a specific Window, I can check its environment variables for WINDOW. This variable is set to the window number. This is what I'm using to match the process to the window. + There is no single command that will allow me to return the session PID and a map of the window titles to window numbers. Also, I could find no way to deterministically find the session id and window title to window number map outside of calling screen. * Trial and error / digging through environment variables * Writing a script ## My Script I wrote a script that seems to successfully solve the problem, but it takes a little over 0.75 seconds to run. This is far too long for what I need done, but more importantly, far too long when a server is waiting for its completion to send the response to an HTML request. Here is the script:

#!/bin/bash
# Accept the name of a GNU/screen session & window and return the process running in its shell
SessionName=$1
TabName=$2

# ====== Averages 0.370 seconds ======
# This finds the window number given the session name and window title
# The screen command queries screen for the window number of the specified 
# window title in the specified session.
# Example output of screen command: 1 (Main)
# Example output after cut command: 1
TargetTabNum=$(screen -S $SessionName -p $TabName -Q number | cut -d ' ' -f1)

# ====== Averages 0.370 seconds ======
# This finds the session PID given the session name.
# The screen command prints the list of session IDs
# Example output of screen command:
#     There is a screen on:
#             29676.byobu     (12/09/2019 10:23:19 AM)        (Attached)
#     1 Socket in /run/screen/S-{username here}.
# Example output after sed command: 29676
SessionPID=$(screen -ls | sed -n "s/\s*\([0-9]*\)\.$SessionName\t.*/\1/p")

# ====== The rest averages 0.025 seconds ======
# This gets all the processes that have the session as a parent,
# loops through them checking the WINDOW environment variable for
# each until it finds the one that matches the window title, and
# then finds the process with that process as a parent and prints its
# command and arguments (or null if there are no matching processes)
ProcessArray=( $(ps -o pid --ppid $SessionPID --no-headers) )
for i in "${ProcessArray[@]}"
do
    ProcTabNum=$(tr '\0' '\n' &2
exit 1

As you can see, the problem commands are the two screen commands. I can get rid of one of them by searching for a screen process launched with the session name, but this feels kind of flaky and I'm not sure it would be deterministic:

SessionPID=$(ps -eo pid,command --no-headers | grep -i "[0-9]* screen.*\-s $SessionName " | grep -v grep | cut -d ' ' -f1)

## Goal I would like to have a fast, reliable way to determine the process currently running in a specific screen window. I feel like I'm just missing something, so I would be very grateful if one of you spot it! (I'm still fairly knew to StackExchange, so any feedback on my question is welcome!)

I'm trying to use Byobu on a Linux server via SSH from Windows. I've tried with MobaXterm and putty, but some of the F key combinations simply don't work. In MobaXterm there is even a dedicated Byobu terminal type setting, but the F5-F8 keys ignore the key combinations with Ctrl. I've listed the codes sent to the terminal with cat -v. The code for example **F6** is ^[[17~, but for **Ctrl+F6**, it sends the exact **same** code. Is there any terminal client for Windows that can send distinct codes for all F-keys with all modifiers (Ctrl, Alt, Shift)?

I'm using byobu on Ubuntu 24.10, and have a question about an icon / status notification that appears and disappears: it looks like an L, but the vertical part is "bent forwards" I think it's ∠. It had a red background and disappeared after a moment. What does that mean? And is there documentation somewhere for the other transiently-displayed icons and such? I can go through the menu to toggle status notifications on and off to see those, but some are intermittently shown and it's not clear what they mean.

Since upgrading my server to Ubuntu 24.04 I keep being instantly logged out. When I connect with SSH, it just states [exited]. There seems to be no way of logging into my account anymore. It is a separate account to root - logging in as root seems to be fine. My account has Byobu and Fish shell set up to autoload on login. Restarting the virtual machine makes no difference, so it is not like another session exists. Is there anyway to resolve this?

I'm trying to add nVidia GPU utilization to my byobu-tmux status line. I've installed gpustat which returns

~$ gpustat
myhost                 Mon Aug 19 17:26:51 2019  410.48
 GeForce GTX 1080 Ti | 22'C,   0 % |     0 / 11178 MB |
[1]  GeForce GTX 1080 Ti | 41'C,   0 % |     0 / 11175 MB |

then I wrote a text processor saved to ~/.byobu/bin/2_gpu as suggested in the byobu web page for custom status.

~$ cat .byobu/bin/2_gpu
#!/bin/sh
echo "$(gpustat | tail -n+1 | sed -nr "s/\[[0-9]\].+([0-9]+)\s\%.*$/\1%/p" | tr [:space:] ',' | head -c-1)"

from the bash shell that seems to work; whether the shebang is sh or bash doesn't seem to matter, it works fine:

~$ .byobu/bin/2_gpu
0%,0%

however I can't get that text onto the byobu-tmux status line. A simpler custom status works fine, but there's some problem escaping the quotes and/or '$' in the regex argument to the sed command. I'm not sure why echo is even needed, but removing the echo "$(...)" doesn't help, nor does adding backslashes on the inner double-quote and '$' characters.

Locally when opening micro text editor , Ctrl + left/right works normally (jump 1 word). But when running via SSH + byobu, Ctrl + left/right gives [1;5C] and [1;5D]. Ctrl + S and Ctrl + Q also didn't work, it suspends the terminal instead of saving and quit. What's the cause and how to solve this issue? ### Update - Local with byobu also have similar issue, it gives [1;5C and [1;5D, but Ctrl + S and Ctrl + Q works fine. - SSH without byobu doesn't have this issue, it's all works properly.

Note: I may be leaning on an XY Problem ; feel free to steer me to a more ideal approach. > I want to keep an eye on multiple remote log files in a small-yet-legible font,
**not so much analyzing content as peripherally noticing sudden bursts in activity**. I'm trying to create a Byobu script to tail log files on six remote servers.
I'm used to Vim, but Byobu calls it a vertical split: Scripted splits chop existing terminals in half, rendering each split smaller, leading to create pane failed: pane too small and a window with vanishing perspective: I'm new to Byobu. There's surely a way to select a different pane, execute a command, then split, but I can't seem to get the syntax (order?) right. I expect there's also a command to just "equalize" all panes at once. That would be even more handy. This question has the manual, unscripted version of what I need. Years ago I used GNU screen similarly, and it worked great--except using a GUI all day conditions me to use the mouse, so switching between terminals feels clunky. Maybe screen is still the smartest solution. Or tmux? I'm not married to Byobu's chyron readout. As windows split they divide by 50%, so I'm willing to accept eight terminals if the even halving leads to a smoother execution. Thanks in advance--any thoughts?

I'm using the [Secure Shell Chrome extension](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/iodihamcpbpeioajjeobimgagajmlibd) to SSH from a Chromebook to a Linux workstation. When I launch byobu (with the tmux backend), _most_ of its keyboard shortcuts work fine, but a notable exception is Alt+Up/Down for switching between sessions(*), which are interpreted as simple Up/Down key presses that scroll through my bash command history. _How can I switch between sessions on this environment?_ Ideally there's some combination of settings that would fix this, but I couldn't find the right incantation myself. I'm also interested in potential workarounds, like creating [new Byobu shortcuts](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24208369/modify-key-bindings-in-byobu) or using alternative [Ctrl-a-based byobu shortcuts](https://gist.github.com/PackeTsar/e4adf2a2056710a0b65c537fd2990188) ?. In case that helps, these are the sequences I get using read -n 1 from the Secure Shell extension (which don't work with byobu): * Alt+Up: ^[[5~ * Alt+Down: ^[[6~ And from a local terminal running directly on the workstation (which work as expected with byobu): * Alt+Up: ^[[1;3A * Alt+Down: ^[[1;3B (*): Curiously, Shift+Up/Down and Alt+Left/Right work just fine. There are other shortcuts that do not work either, but I'm less bothered by them, like F4-based ones (used by ChromeOS to maximize/restore windows) or Alt+F11.

SHIFT+F2 does not create a horizontal split in byobu in tmux mode (using Putty client from Windows 7). SHIFT+F2 just gives me '~' in the terminal. Byobu installed on Debian 8.11. Using byobu version: byobu -v byobu version 5.87 tmux 2.3 Any idea why SHIFT+F2 is not working in byobu?

I'd like to include the session name of my current tmux session in the status bar. There's nothing in ~/.byobu/status that allows me to do this and including the tmux configuration directive #S in the tmux_left line doesn't work (for obvious reasons). Cheers.

To clarify, "automatically quits scrollback" mode means byobu goes into normal mode and jumps to the bottom, and I can't just go back to the point I previously scrolled up to. I am also using iterm2 and use mouse (set in .tmux.conf) to enter scrollback mode, not sure how it affects the configurations.

On my EC2 instance I am presented with a screen where the bottom looks like Some of the values seem pretty clear to me. Is there a legend available, or some place that explains this various color coded regions for byobu?

Let's say I have a dozen windows open in Byobu, I am currently on window 2 and I want to go see what's going on in window 9. How to quickly jump to another window, without having to press F4 seven times? The best would be some kind of shortcut like ALT+9 or something similar.

**tl;dr:** I have an irssi proxy screen session running in the background. I'm running byobu -R -S byobu;exit in ~/.bash_profile to start a second session instead of reconnecting to the irssi session, but it starts a third session when I log in twice (e.g. once through the local terminal and once through SSH). How can I make the secon login reconnect to the first? I had previously enabled byobu on login for my server. This worked fine, and I would get the same underlying screen session no matter where I logged in from. However, then I added a second screen session to the server's boot: [alex@alex-ubuntu-server ~]$ cat /etc/rc.local #!/bin/sh -e # [clipped out default ubuntu rc.local header] # run an irssi proxy under screen as user alex sudo -H -u alex screen -d -m -S irssi-proxy irssi exit 0 [alex@alex-ubuntu-server ~]$ From then on, this command (which was put in my ~/.bash_profile by byobu configuration): _byobu_sourced=1 . /usr/bin/byobu-launch -S byobu would connect to the already existing irssi screen session, instead of creating a new session. This was obviously not ideal, so eventually I settled on the following command: byobu -R -S byobu;exit Then intention was to name the screen session, thus allowing a reconnect to the same name when I logged in again through e.g. SSH. However, when I login again, I get a fresh screen session instead of the existing one (as you can see in the example below, this has already happened once). [alex@alex-ubuntu-server ~]$ screen -ls There are screens on: 18036.byobu (07/07/2013 04:26:44 PM) (Attached) 3869.byobu (07/05/2013 07:45:37 PM) (Attached) 1319.irssi-proxy (07/04/2013 05:01:54 PM) (Detached) 3 Sockets in /var/run/screen/S-alex. [alex@alex-ubuntu-server ~]$ ssh localhost Ubuntu 13.04 alex@localhost's password: # at this point the screen redrew because of the new byobu session, # so these weren't really one after another, as shown here alex@alex-ubuntu-server:~$ screen -ls There are screens on: 6216.byobu (07/07/2013 05:17:38 PM) (Attached) 18036.byobu (07/07/2013 04:26:44 PM) (Attached) 3869.byobu (07/05/2013 07:45:37 PM) (Attached) 1319.irssi-proxy (07/04/2013 05:01:54 PM) (Detached) 4 Sockets in /var/run/screen/S-alex. alex@alex-ubuntu-server:~$ I'd prefer not to switch to tmux. How can I construct a byobu/screen command that reconnects to the existing second screen session if possible, but otherwise starts a new (second) session?

I'm accessing a linux box with Byobu enabled (with tmux) and I don't seem to be able to use some F-Keys without being binded to Byobu. For example using F6 to sort on htop. I followed this advice , but it doesn't seem to work for me. I press Shift-F2 and then F6 but nothing happens. I'm connecting through PuTTY.

My ~/.byobu/windows.tmux file is getting a bit complex and I would like to document it with comments. How to insert comments in Byobu's windows.tmux file? Using # as seen below results in a unknown command: # error message. # Start monitors for each customer new-session -n va /home/me/bin/monitor-1.sh; new-window -n vk /home/me/bin/monitor-2.sh; new-window -n vd /home/me/bin/monitor-3.sh; new-window -n su bash ; Versions: $ byobu --version byobu version 5.92 tmux 1.9

Is there a way to update tmux window attributes based on command exit status? Similar to activity monitoring, I would like the title to change color when a command exits, say, green for success and red for failure. I've hacked something together using PROMPT_COMMAND (which goes in ~/.bashrc), but it's not entirely satisfactory. It doesn't play well with activity monitoring (i.e. the red/green can't be seen unless activity monitoring is disabled) and the color change is sticky; it maintains state after you visit the window instead of returning to the default like other tmux monitoring does. function set_color_from_return_code { local bg_color=$([ $? == 0 ] && echo "green" || echo "red") tmux set-window-option -t${TMUX_PANE} window-status-bg $bg_color # &> /dev/null } PROMPT_COMMAND="set_color_from_return_code" Edit: Specifically, I'm using tmux as the backend for byobu, so I'm adding the byobu tag, as a byobu-specific solution is fine by me.

I recently started using byobu with tmux as a backend. I have learned that AltF12 toggles "mouse mode" off and on. When "mouse mode" is on, I can select text with my mouse and paste it with the middle button as I would normally do. However, I cannot use my wheel to scroll up the pane's buffer. If I turn the "mouse mode" off, I can scroll up normally with the wheel, but can no longer use the mouse to select. Since I often want to scroll up and copy text, this is a problem. The AltPgUp shortcut which works in regular shells is captured by my terminal emulator instead of byobu so that doesn't help me scroll back either. The only workaround I've found is to enter scrollback mode with F. This lets me use Up,Down and PgUp,PgDn to scroll and I can indeed use the mouse to select, but I would still rather use the scroll wheel for this instead. So, how can I use the mouse both to scroll up to see previous lines _and_ for copying them?

In a specific directory, if I right click and select "Open Terminal". It just launches another instance of the terminal in the root location and not the location where I intended it to open. Is there a workaround for this. I want to be able to Open a terminal in a specific location and attach it as a new split/window in an already running byobu terminal. For additional info : I added "byobu" to my .bashrc file so that whenever I open a terminal byobu process also starts. I'm running the default file Manager of Ubuntu 18.04

Somehow when I press F1 Byobu opens its help page in the current window. After closing the help page the window is closed. I am running Arch Linux. While working with vim I often hit F1 by accident instead of ESC and my vim session is closed. This is so frustrating.. On my server(Ubuntu 18.04) the byobu help page is opened in a new window when I press F1. According to the help page the F1 key is * Used by X11 *. How can sort this out/change this?