How To Save And Restore Tmux Environments Across Reboots In Linux

This tutorial explains how to save and restore your Tmux environment after a system restart on Linux. Tmux, while excellent for managing terminal sessions, doesn't inherently persist across reboots. We'll use two plugins: tmux-resurrect for manual saving and restoring, and tmux-continuum for automated management.

Table of Contents

- Introduction

• 1. Manual Session Management with tmux-resurrect
  • 1.1. Understanding tmux-resurrect
  • 1.2. Installing tmux-resurrect
  • 1.3. Saving Your Tmux Session
  • 1.4. Restoring Your Tmux Session
• 2. Automated Session Management with tmux-continuum
  • 2.1. Understanding tmux-continuum
  • 2.2. Installing tmux-continuum
  • 2.3. Automatic Saving
  • 2.4. Automatic Restoration
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
• Conclusion

Introduction

Tmux sessions are volatile; they're lost on reboot. This is inconvenient when managing multiple sessions, windows, and running applications. Fortunately, plugins offer solutions. This guide focuses on tmux-resurrect and tmux-continuum, which minimize configuration complexities. tmux-resurrect handles manual saving and restoring, while tmux-continuum automates the process.

1. Manual Session Management with tmux-resurrect

1.1. Understanding tmux-resurrect

tmux-resurrect meticulously saves your Tmux environment's details, enabling seamless restoration. It preserves sessions, windows, panes, their order, working directories, layouts, active sessions/windows/panes, and even running programs (where possible). Importantly, it's idempotent; it won't overwrite existing elements unless restoring to a single pane.

1.2. Installing tmux-resurrect

You need Tmux (version 1.9 or later) and Bash. Install tmux-resurrect using Tmux Plugin Manager (TPM). (If you don't have TPM, install it first). Add this to your .tmux.conf:

<code>set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tmux-resurrect'</code>

Save, then within a tmux session, press prefix I (usually Ctrl b I) to install.

1.3. Saving Your Tmux Session

Press Prefix Ctrl-s to save. You'll see a confirmation message.

1.4. Restoring Your Tmux Session

Press Prefix Ctrl-r to restore a previously saved session. To test, close your Tmux session, open a new one, and press Prefix Ctrl-r.

2. Automated Session Management with tmux-continuum

2.1. Understanding tmux-continuum

tmux-continuum automates saving and restoring, working alongside tmux-resurrect.

2.2. Installing tmux-continuum

Using TPM, add this to your .tmux.conf (after tmux-resurrect):

<code>set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tmux-resurrect'
set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tmux-continuum'</code>

Install via prefix I. Place tmux-continuum last in your plugin list to avoid conflicts with themes that modify the status-right variable.

2.3. Automatic Saving

tmux-continuum saves automatically every 15 minutes.

2.4. Automatic Restoration

Add set -g @continuum-restore 'on' to your .tmux.conf to enable automatic restoration when Tmux starts. This only triggers on Tmux server startup, not when sourcing .tmux.conf.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

(See original FAQ section for answers)

Conclusion

tmux-resurrect and tmux-continuum provide robust solutions for persistent Tmux sessions. Choose the method that best suits your workflow. Using both ensures both manual control and automated backups.

Resources:

• Tmux-resurrect GitHub Repository
• Tmux-continuum GitHub Repository

(Remember to replace https://www.php.cn/link/52a8ed6a81c88856e206aa74759a4103 with the actual links to the GitHub repositories.)

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