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multixterm(1)





NAME

       multixterm - drive multiple xterms separately or together


SYNOPSIS

       multixterm [ args ]


DESCRIPTION

       Multixterm creates multiple xterms that can be driven together or sepa-
       rately.

       In its simplest form, multixterm is run with no arguments and  commands
       are  interactively  entered in the first entry field.  Press return (or
       click the "new xterm" button) to create a new xterm running  that  com-
       mand.

       Keystrokes  in  the "stdin window" are redirected to all xterms started
       by multixterm.  xterms may be driven separately simply by  focusing  on
       them.

       The  stdin  window must have the focus for keystrokes to be sent to the
       xterms.  When it has the focus, the color changes  to  aquamarine.   As
       characters  are entered, the color changes to green for a second.  This
       provides feedback since characters are not echoed in the stdin  window.

       Typing  in  the  stdin  window  while holding down the alt or meta keys
       sends an escape character before the typed characters.   This  provides
       support for programs such as emacs.


ARGUMENTS

              -xa The  optional  -xa  argument  indicates arguments to pass to
                  xterm.

              -xc The optional -xc argument indicates a command to be  run  in
                  each  named xterm (see -xn).  With no -xc argument, the com-
                  mand is the current shell.

              -xd The optional -xd argument indicates a  directory  to  search
                  for  files  that will appear in the Files menu.  By default,
                  the directory is: ~/lib/multixterm

              -xf The optional -xf argument indicates a file  to  be  read  at
                  startup.  See FILES below for more info.

              -xn The  optional  -xn argument indicates a name for each xterm.
                  This name will also be substituted for any %n in the command
                  argument (see -xc).

              -xv The  optional  -xv  flag puts multixterm into a verbose mode
                  where it will describe some of the things it is doing inter-
                  nally.  The verbose output is not intended to be understand-
                  able to anyone but the author.

       Less common options may be changed  by  the  startup  file  (see  FILES
       below).

       All  the  usual X and wish flags are supported (i.e., -display, -name).
       There are so many of them that to avoid colliding and make them easy to
       remember, all the multixterm flags begin with -x.

       If  any  arguments  do  not match the flags above, the remainder of the
       command line is made available for user processing.   By  default,  the
       remainder  is  used  as a list of xterm names in the style of -xn.  The
       default behavior may be changed using the .multixtermrc file  (see  DOT
       FILE below).


EXAMPLE COMMAND LINE ARGUMENTS

       The  following command line starts up two xterms using ssh to the hosts
       bud and dexter.

            multixterm -xc "ssh %n" bud dexter


FILES

       Command files may be used to drive or initialize multixterm.  The  File
       menu  may be used to invoke other files.  If files exist in the command
       file directory (see -xd above), they will  appear  in  the  File  menu.
       Files  may also be loaded by using File->Open.  Any filename is accept-
       able but the File->Open browser defaults to files with a .mxt suffix.

       Files are written in Tcl and may change any  variables  or  invoke  any
       procedures.   The  primary  variables  of interest are 'xtermCmd' which
       identifies the command (see -xc) and 'xtermNames' which is  a  list  of
       names  (see  -xn).  The procedure xtermStartAll, starts xterms for each
       name in the list.  Other variables and procedures may be discovered  by
       examining multixterm itself.


EXAMPLE FILE

       The  following  file does the same thing as the earlier example command
       line:

            # start two xterms connected to bud and dexter
            set xtermCmd "ssh %n"
            set xtermNames {bud dexter}
            xtermStartAll


DOT FILE

       At startup, multixterm reads ~/.multixtermrc if present.  This is simi-
       lar  to  the  command files (see FILES above) except that .multixtermrc
       may not call xtermStartAll.  Instead it is called  implicitly,  similar
       to the way that it is implicit in the command line use of -xn.

       The  following  example .multixtermrc file makes every xterm run ssh to
       the hosts named on the command line.

            set xtermCmd "ssh %n"

       Then multixterm could be called simply:

            multixterm bud dexter

       If any command-line argument does not  match  a  multixterm  flag,  the
       remainder of the command line is made available to .multixtermrc in the
       argv variable.  If argv is non-empty when .multixtermrc returns, it  is
       assigned  to  xtermNames  unless xtermNames is non-empty in which case,
       the content of argv is ignored.

       Commands from multixterm are evaluated early in the  initialization  of
       multixterm.   Anything  that  must  be  done late in the initialization
       (such as adding additional bindings to the user interface) may be  done
       by putting the commands inside a procedure called "initLate".


MENUS

       Except as otherwise noted, the menus are self-explanatory.  Some of the
       menus have dashed lines as the first entry.   Clicking  on  the  dashed
       lines will "tear off" the menus.


USAGE SUGGESTION - ALIASES AND COMMAND FILES

       Aliases may be used to store lengthy command-line invocations.  Command
       files can be also be used to store such invocations as well as  provid-
       ing a convenient way to share configurations.

       Tcl  is  a general-purpose language.  Thus multixterm command files can
       be extremely flexible, such as loading hostnames from other programs or
       files  that may change from day-to-day.  In addition, command files can
       be used for other purposes.  For example, command files may be used  to
       prepared common canned interaction sequences.  For example, the command
       to send the same string to all xterms is:

           xtermSend "a particularly long string"

       The File menu (torn-off) makes  canned  sequences  particularly  conve-
       nient.   Interactions could also be bound to a mouse button, keystroke,
       or added to a menu via the .multixtermrc file.

       The following .multixtermrc causes tiny xterms to tile across and  down
       the  screen.   (You may have to adjust the parameters for your screen.)
       This can be very helpful when dealing with large numbers of xterms.

           set yPos 0
           set xPos 0

           trace variable xtermArgs r traceArgs

           proc traceArgs {args} {
               global xPos yPos
               set ::xtermArgs "-geometry 80x12+$xPos+$yPos -font 6x10"
               if {$xPos} {
                   set xPos 0
                   incr yPos 145
                   if {$yPos > 800} {set yPos 0}
               } else {
                   set xPos 500
               }
           }

       The xtermArgs variable in the code above is the variable  corresponding
       to the -xa argument.

       xterms  can  be  also  be created directly.  The following command file
       creates three xterms overlapped horizontally:

           set xPos 0
           foreach name {bud dexter hotdog} {
               set ::xtermArgs "-geometry 80x12+$xPos+0 -font 6x10"
               set ::xtermNames $name
               xtermStartAll
               incr xPos 300
           }


USAGE SUGGESTION - SELECTING HOSTS BY NICKNAME

       The following .multixtermrc shows an example of  changing  the  default
       handling of the arguments from hostnames to a filename containing host-
       names:

            set xtermNames [exec cat $argv]

       The following is a variation, retrieving the host  names  from  the  yp
       database:

            set xtermNames [exec ypcat $argv]

       The following hardcodes two sets of hosts, so that you can call multix-
       term with either "cluster1" or "cluster2":

            switch $argv {
                   cluster1 {
                       set xtermNames "bud dexter"
                   }
                   cluster2 {
                       set xtermNames "frank hotdog weiner"
                   }
               }


COMPARE/CONTRAST

       It is worth comparing multixterm to  xkibitz.   Multixterm  connects  a
       separate  process  to each xterm.  xkibitz connects the same process to
       each xterm.


LIMITATIONS

       Multixterm provides no way to remotely control scrollbars, resize,  and
       most other window system related functions.

       Multixterm  can  only  control  new  xterms  that multixterm itself has
       started.

       As a convenience, the File menu shows a limited number  of  files.   To
       show all the files, use File->Open.


FILES

       $DOTDIR/.multixtermrc   initial command file
       ~/.multixtermrc         fallback command file
       ~/lib/multixterm/       default command file directory


BUGS

       If  multixterm  is killed using an uncatchable kill, the xterms are not
       killed.  This appears to be a bug in xterm itself.

       Send/expect sequences can be done in multixterm  command  files.   How-
       ever, due to the richness of the possibilities, to document it properly
       would take more time than the author has at present.


REQUIREMENTS

       Requires Expect 5.36.0 or later.
       Requires Tk 8.3.3 or later.


VERSION

       This man page describes version 1.8 of multixterm.

       The    latest    version    of    multixterm    is    available    from
       http://expect.nist.gov/example/multixterm  .  If your version of Expect
       and Tk are too old (see REQUIREMENTS above), download a new version  of
       Expect from http://expect.nist.gov


DATE

       April 30, 2002


AUTHOR

       Don Libes <don@libes.com>


LICENSE

       Multixterm is in the public domain; however the author would appreciate
       acknowledgement if multixterm or parts of it or ideas from it are used.

                                16 August 2002                   MULTIXTERM(1)

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