# travelrc – take your rc-files with you when using ssh or su
- ## What is the problem?
+## What is the problem?
Over the years, I massively configure commandline tools that I regularly use, like bash, vim, screen an so on.
I created aliases, a custom prompt, special keybindings and commands.
My solution requires some steps which I'll outline here.
It can be used as is, but it can also act as an inspiration for other solutions.
-* create a directory (the name of the directory is used once in the ```minify-trc``` function below) and symlink (or copy) the rc-files, that should travel with you, into it
+* create a directory (the name of the directory is used once in the `minify-trc` function below) and symlink (or copy) the rc-files, that should travel with you, into it
-```
+```bash
mkdir $HOME/.travelrc
ln -s -t $HOME/.travelrc $HOME/{.bashrc,.inputrc,.vimrc,.screenrc,.tmux.conf}
```
* add a directory with executables that should be available in the travelled session
-```
+```bash
mkdir $HOME/.travelrc/trcbin
echo '#!/bin/bash
bash --rcfile "$TBASHRC"' > $HOME/.travelrc/trcbin/trcbash
chmod +x $HOME/.travelrc/trcbin/trcbash
```
-* add helper functions to your ```.bashrc```
+* add helper functions to your `.bashrc`
-```
+```bash
minify-trc() {
# this function copies the trc files to a tempdir and minifies them, it returns the tempdirname on stdout
local trcdir="${TRAVELRCDIR:-$HOME/.travelrc}" # use the travelled rc dir if already travelled
find "$trc_min_dir/" -type f -exec sed --in-place -e 's/^ *#[^!].*$//' -e 's/ \+# .*$//' '{}' '+' # minify all files as if they were shell scripts
echo "$trc_min_dir"
}
-
+
trccmd() {
# echo all the commands to travel with rc files, arguments act as additional arguments to tar
local trc_min_dir="$(minify-trc)"
- echo -n "packing trcdir... " >&2
+ echo -n "packing trcdir with '$*'... " >&2
+ [ -n "$1" ] || set -- "--gzip" # default compression is gzip (when no argument is set), can be disabled with "-a" which leads to no compression
local trcvar="$(tar --create --file=- "$@" --directory="$trc_min_dir" --dereference ./ | base64 --wrap=0)" # this writes the compressed contents of $trc_min_dir base64-encoded to $trcvar
rm -rf "$trc_min_dir" # delete the temporal directory generated by minify-trc
echo "to ${#trcvar} bytes... " >&2
- [ ${#trcvar} -lt 65536 ] || { echo "content of trcdir \"$trcdir\" is too big, even after minifying" >&2; return 1; }
+ [ ${#trcvar} -lt 65536 ] || { echo "ERROR: content of trcdir '$trcdir' is too big, even after minifying and compressing with '$*'" >&2; return 1; }
# export $TRAVELRCDIR and create this directory, it could also be created in /tmp
echo '
-export TRAVELRCDIR=$HOME/.travelrc.travelled
+export TRAVELRCDIR=${HOME:-/tmp}/.travelrc.travelled
readonly TRAVELRCDIR
-mkdir --parents $TRAVELRCDIR
-'
+mkdir --parents $TRAVELRCDIR'
# SSH_TTY should still be set to figure out whether this is a ssh session
[ -z "$SSH_TTY" ] || echo "export SSH_TTY=$SSH_TTY"
# decompress the files saved to $trcvar; start a bash with the travelled rc-file; only remove $TRAVELRCDIR if there is no screen or tmux session (which can still use the files); last command is true so that the returncode is always 0
}
```
-* add functions to your ```.bashrc``` that enable travelling with the rc files via ssh, su, and docker
- * I prepended a „t“ to each of these commands, so when I type ```ssh host``` and realize that my rc-files are missing, I can disconnect, prepend a „t“ tho the previous command (to get ```tssh host```) and everything is better :-)
+* add functions to your `.bashrc` that enable travelling with the rc files via ssh, su, and docker
+ * I prepended a „t“ to each of these commands, so when I type `ssh host` and realize that my rc-files are missing, I can disconnect, prepend a „t“ tho the previous command (to get `tssh host`) and everything is better :-)
* this code has to be added after the helper functions mentioned above
-```
+```bash
tssh() {
# use -t to force the allocation of a terminal
ssh -t "$@" "$(trccmd --xz)"
}
-complete -F _ssh tssh # this is the same as for ssh; function _ssh might not exist when this is called, but will be created automagically when requesting completion for ssh
-
+_tssh_completion() {
+ # when completion is requested, load completion for ssh and use it for tssh, otherwise disable completion for tssh
+ # see https://stackoverflow.com/questions/61539494/how-does-bash-do-ssh-autocompletion
+ if __load_completion "ssh"; then
+ complete -F _ssh tssh
+ return 124
+ else
+ complete -r tssh
+ fi
+}
+complete -F _tssh_completion tssh # this just loads the correct completion function
+
tdocker() {
local dcmd="$1"
shift
docker "$dcmd" --interactive --tty "$@" bash -c "$(trccmd --gzip)"
}
# TODO: add completion
-
+
tsu() { # travel substitude user
local next_user="${1:-root}"
local tsu_cmd="$(mktemp "/tmp/.tsu-cmd.XXXXXX")"
complete -A user tsu # complete usernames
```
-* add code to your ```.bashrc``` (the one that will travel) to detect whether this is a „travelled rc session“ and make some configurations, i.e. make screen and vim use the travelled rc-files, and add the „trcbin“ directory to PATH
- * I have this at the beginning of my ```.bashrc```, but _after_ defaults for ```EDITOR``` and ```INPUTRC``` have been set
+* add code to your `.bashrc` (the one that will travel) to detect whether this is a „travelled rc session“ and make some configurations, i.e. make screen and vim use the travelled rc-files, and add the „trcbin“ directory to PATH
+ * I have this at the beginning of my `.bashrc`, but _after_ defaults for `EDITOR` and `INPUTRC` have been set
-```
+```bash
if [ -n "$TRAVELRCDIR" ]; then # this is a travelled rc session
[ -f "$TRAVELRCDIR/.bashrc" ] && export TBASHRC="$TRAVELRCDIR/.bashrc"
[ -f "$TRAVELRCDIR/.inputrc" ] && export INPUTRC="$TRAVELRCDIR/.inputrc"
* Can it fix more problems?
* yes, you can add more executables to PATH
- * I had to execute scripts that unnecessarily used ```clear```, which meant that I was not able to scroll up anymore, so I added a script to the ```trcbin``` directory with the name ```clear```, but which did not do a real clear → problem solved (for me)
+ * I had to execute scripts that unnecessarily used `clear`, which meant that I was not able to scroll up anymore, so I added a script to the `trcbin` directory with the name `clear`, but which did not do a real clear → problem solved (for me)
* Can it be used with zsh?
* most likely yes, just replace bash with zsh, but zsh might not be installed on the destination-system and then you're screwed; perhaps bash works with most of the zsh configurations, I can't tell
* Is it very efficient?
* probably not :-(
- * I've tried to make it efficient, but I think in some cases it starts much more shells then necessary (i.e. ```trcbash``` in the ```trcbin``` directory)
+ * I've tried to make it efficient, but I think in some cases it starts much more shells then necessary (i.e. `trcbash` in the `trcbin` directory)
* it might slow down ssh connections a few seconds, but for me having my rc-files with me outweighs this downside
* Does it work with tmux?
- * not very well (see the ttmux alias above), but when tmux is started (or a new window is created), just type ```trcbash``` and you'll get a proper bash ;-)
+ * not very well (see the ttmux alias above), but when tmux is started (or a new window is created), just type `trcbash` and you'll get a proper bash ;-)
* Is this project finished?
* I've been using it for around a year now and am still improving if necessary
projects / travelrc.git / blobdiff