Preserved Topic: Any Linux gurus to field this one? (Page 1 of 1)

I've recently installed the latest version of Mandrake, and although I'm fairly new to UNIX, I'm having a grand time learning the beautiful complexity-from-simplicity that is the UNIX command line. In this case, I'm using bash -- it's just as nice as the old-school sh that I learned way back in my (very brief) HP-UX days.

Got a problem, though, amidst all the multitasking goodness. I want to use screen to access server processes and whatnot from any session I please. However, my installation didn't come with Screen. No problem, I think -- I'll just get the source and compile it. However, the ./configure script fails with a message saying "no tgetent = no screen".

The best I could find on the 'net about this was an old newsgroup post saying that the message implies an out-of-date version of bash. Whouah? I take a look at a GNU mirror... I take a look at bash --version... nope, I've got the latest...

Do any of you have a clue about this? And if so, please share!

Hmm... if I'm going to be a beginner, I should act like one. Instead of clicking the user-friendly menus and pushing the candy-like red buttons to install Screen off the original disk via the GUI, I had to get all smarty-pants and wget the source from the GNU FTP site, and try to compile it myself.

Yeah, it's installed now. Heh. I'm still curious why I had the problem I did, though, so if anyone knows off the top of his head, please share.

what's wrong with ps?

tegetent is part of the function of the term.h library.

No doubt your compiler had some problem including this library so it chokd



.:[ Never resist a perfect moment ]:.

As I understand it, genis, I can run a long-term program (such as a server) on my Linux box, then detach from that session entirely -- then attach to it again from any terminal, not just from the local workstation. This means I could fiddle with the server program from a remote terminal login if I had a mind to.

I don't actually have a mind to, at the moment -- but I want to keep my options open. I figure as long as I'm using *NIX, I might as well act as "l337" as possible. I mean, d00d.

Hmm... still doesn't explain the need for screen. From what I understand sceen allows you to have more than one session in the same termindal window correct?

I use a linux box from work and usually just open 3 terminal windows connected to the same box.

What you are saying is definately true. but you'll still need something like ps -af to idetntify the processes.




.:[ Never resist a perfect moment ]:.

The thing with screen is you don't have to open seperate terminals. The windows just keep popping whenever you need one.

I never actually understood it, but I have a friend of mine who swears by it. I watch him go, and he keeps jumping between 8 windows or so, not ever having to worry about loggin in.

d00d!

Well, my objective was to be able to start an application (an OpenRPG game server, to be specific) on my Linux box, set it down and let it do its thing, then access the server console from anywhere. I've got that working now, so all's well. I just start screen, start the server, background the server, and detach from the screen. Then, I can telnet in from anywhere and attach to that instance of screen, foreground the server, and do whatever admin I want.

In this case, admittedly, I'm just telnetting from my Win2k computer to the Linux computer within four feet of it, so it's not that useful. I just wanted to know how to do it, and now I do.

By the way, screen does indeed seem to have uses even in a multi-session multi-console environment, but I'm not wizardly enough to do it. It seems like using screen along with multiple sessions would let you juggle a single application around among your sessions. ? Anyway, I'm still at the stage where everything in Linux is a case of "man, this has more fundamental power than Windows, but it's a sight harder, too."