bash_sessions - Session manager for the Bash shell

Installation

From the source directory run:

$ make install

Then edit your .bashrc file to include ~/bin/bash_sessions by adding the following line:

source ~/bin/bash_sessions

It is also recommended that you add $(__bs_ps1) in your prompt, so you can easily see when a session is active and which session it is.

For example, if your PS1 is defined like this:

PS1='\u@\h:\w\$ '

you can change it to:

PS1='\u@\h$(__bs_ps1):\w\$ '

For this to work, the "source ~/bin/bash_sessions" line must appear before the definition of PS1 in .bashrc.

Features

bash_sessions lets you save and restore multiple shell "sessions". A session is identified by an arbitrary alphanumeric name, and it includes the following data:

• working directory
• command history
• environment variables
• output of the commands printed on the screen (up to the last 1000 lines)

Each one can be enabled or disabled individually for each session, but they are all active by default when a new session is created.

You will find this useful if you typically work with multiple terminal windows which have different usage patterns (e.g. for software compilation/installation, for navigating/searching files, for network troubleshooting...). If you use different sessions, you can close a terminal window, re-open it later and restore it to exactly the same state as when you closed it.

The main purpose of bash_sessions is to avoid confusion from multiple command histories when you work with multiple terminal windows in parallel. Depending on your settings, one of these two things can typically happen:

• when the last terminal window is closed, it overwrites the history of all the other terminal windows which were concurrently open.
• every command you execute (from any terminal window) is immediately appended to the history file, thus the commands from all the terminal windows will be interleaved seemingly randomly.

Instead, if you use different sessions for different activities, their command histories remain well separated, and additionally the working directory and the screen contents (up to 1000 lines) are retained. Basically, you can resume your work exactly from where you left it.

Example

The first thing to do is to create a new session:

me@localhost:~ $ n new_session
me@localhost[new_session]:~ $

The new session is automatically loaded. From now on, the working directory, the command history, the environment variables and the output of the commands are saved to a dedicated directory. Now we run some commands:

me@localhost[new_session]:~ $ echo hello
hello
me@localhost[new_session]:~ $ cd /etc
me@localhost[new_session]:/etc $ cat issue
Debian GNU/Linux stretch/sid \n \l

me@localhost[new_session]:/etc $ export FOO="BAR"
me@localhost[new_session]:~ $ echo $FOO
BAR
me@localhost[new_session]:/etc $

Everything works as usual. The history contains "echo hello", "cd /etc" and "cat issue", and $FOO is expanded as BAR. Now we close the session.

me@localhost[new_session]:~ $ echo hello
hello
me@localhost[new_session]:~ $ cd /etc
me@localhost[new_session]:/etc $ cat /etc/issue
Debian GNU/Linux stretch/sid \n \l

me@localhost[new_session]:/etc $ c
me@localhost:~ $ echo $FOO

me@localhost:~ $

Now the working directory is back to ~, the history does not contain any of "echo hello", "cd /etc" or "cat issue", and $FOO is empty. Close the terminal window and open it again:

me@localhost:~ $

Now re-open the session:

me@localhost:~ $ o new_session
me@localhost[new_session]:~ $ echo hello
hello
me@localhost[new_session]:~ $ cd /etc
me@localhost[new_session]:/etc $ cat /etc/issue
Debian GNU/Linux stretch/sid \n \l

me@localhost[new_session]:/etc $ echo $FOO
BAR
me@localhost[new_session]:/etc $ c
me@localhost[new_session]:/etc $

The working directory changed to /etc, and the output of the previous session appeared again. If you browse the history, you will find "echo hello", "cd /etc" and "cat issue" again. The shell is in the same state as it was before you closed the session! You can repeat all of this for as many sessions as you like.

Command reference

bash_sessions defines the following commands that you can use:

n <session_name>                create a new empty session
o <session_name>                open an existing session
c                               close currently active session
f <session_name>                delete an existing session
r <old_name> <new_name>         rename an existing session
b <old_name> <new_name>         duplicate an existing session
e                               list existing sessions
S <option> <on|off>             enable or disable options (output, pwd, env, history)
L                               list settings for current session
h                               show command reference

All command arguments support auto-completion.

When using the "e" command, currently active sessions are marked with a * sign. Also, sessions which are not active but have not been explicitly closed with "c" are marked with a + sign.

Contacts

Send comments, suggestions or bug reports to Alessandro Grassi [email protected]. Keep in mind that I do this on a best-effort basis, so don't expect frequent updates.