iTerm 2 not honoring key bindings declared in .tmux.conf - tmux

I am using the latest stable version of iTerm2 (2.0) with the latest Homebrew build of tmux (1.9a). Unfortunately, my keybindings as declared in .tmux.conf do not work with the iTerm2/tmux combo in "integrated mode" (i.e. when iTerm2 takes over the management of tmux windows and panes). I tried different prefixes (C-b, M-a) as well as different key mappings in iTerm, but to no avail.
Is this indeed an iTerm bug? Or is my expectation that the .tmux.conf keybindings would be carried over to iTerm a false one? Even my tmux command prefix (M-a) does not work!
You may view my tmux configuration file at https://gist.github.com/453ab63c42df976bc2be.

Someone reported a similar bug at iTerm2 Tmux Integration Default Keybindings not working in 2015. The response from the developer George Nachman suggests that keybindings are not supported:
One of the main goals of the tmux integration is that you use iTerm2's
keystrokes, not tmux's. If there's a specific workflow that you can't
accomplish natively, let me know--there is a lot of power in the
ability to remap keys in iTerm2.

As of this change in iTerm2, you can now set a Leader key / prefix in the iTerm2 config which will forward to tmux. You still can't bring up the tmux command prompt, but you can create new windows, panes, etc, and my custom keybinds appear to be in working order.
You can configure the shortcut in Prefs > Keys > Key Bindings > Leader... Once you define a leader, the tmux key combos will become available. I recommend cmd-B as the leader for muscle memory and because cmd-B isn't otherwise in use.
This is what it should look like, note my prefix is the ` key but you should set this to whatever your tmux prefix binding is.
As of this writing the feature is only in the nightly build of iTerm2, so you'll be running alpha code, but assuming nothing goes wrong it should be included in the next stable release (or 3.5beta6).

edit: Ben's answer that this is unsupported is correct. My advice does not apply to "integrated mode".
Make sure you don't have conflicting key mappings in iTerm, that your option key is set to Meta, and that you've tmux source ~/.tmux.conf after your changes (the config is only loaded by the server, so you have to restart all sessions or re-source). Also, if you're using Karabiner or another hotkey remapper, it could be interfering in some way.
You're starting with a rather extensive config - I'd start with a one line config for testing purposes.

Related

Difference between iTerm2, zsh and oh-my-zsh

I have been using the default bash of linux for over 1 year and one of colleague recommended me switch over to using iTerm2 alongwith zsh and oh-my-zsh. He also recommended this post to install and configure those :
https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-configure-your-macos-terminal-with-zsh-like-a-pro-c0ab3f3c1156/
When i asked what are they the answer he gave me was kind of confusing, so i ask you overlords kind do tell mewhat actually those are and if you have some insights about what actually a bash is, i would be happy to learn that too :)
Thank you all
Pawan
When you are at a command line, typing in commands and reading output you are working in a program called a terminal (or console on windows). The terminal is taking your commands and forwarding them to a program, called a shell, who's job is to actually execute the commands you type in to the terminal and possibly print some output. The output from the shell is then displayed in your terminal window.
The terminal is like the web browser and the shell is like the javascript engine. Your browser takes your input (click, keypresses, mousemoves) and sends them along to javascript which processes those actions and the browser displays the results.
iTerm2 is a terminal emulator meant to be a replacement for macOS terminal and is far more feature rich. It's the terminal program providing you with a command line interface.
ZSH is a specific shell, as is bash, the same way linux is a specific operating system. There are different shells that provide different syntax, features and functionality. There's bash, cshell, fish, powershell, zsh and others.
Installing ZSH, you are essentially downloading a new program and telling your terminal to use that program (say, instead of bash) to process the commands and run scripts.
oh-my-zsh provides a way of managing your zsh configurations, themes and plugins to extend the look and functionality of your shell.
I can't reccomend this setup enough- it's like the cadillac of command lines. You have a good friend there.

Is it possible to copy text to my Windows 10 clipboard from tmux on PuTTY using vim key bindings?

I have a tmux session running in PuTTY, and I have tmux configured to use vim keybindings. I want to be able to use the visual highlight mode that vim keybindings provide (shift+V I believe), highlight some text, and then copy it to my Windows 10 clipboard. Is this possible?
I assume you are running tmux remotely.
If so, then for this to work you need a terminal that supports OSC 52. From a quick look at the putty code it doesn't appear to, so you will not be able to do this with putty.
However, you could try a different terminal that does support it, like mintty - it looks like you just need to turn its AllowSetSelection option on. IIRC mintty defaults to TERM=xterm, so if your tmux is new enough and you turn this option on, it should just work.
If it doesn't work, you need to check that Ms is set in the terminal-overrides option for the TERM you have outside tmux, and that the tmux set-clipboard option is set to on or external.

Is it possible to not share history between panes/windows in tmux with zsh?

Until recently I have been using bash with tmux. Bash was behaving as I would expect it to behave, where the history is preserved in each separate pane, and is not shared between panes. However it looks like in zsh the default is for the history in the panes is to be shared. Is there a way to overwrite the default in zsh so that they are not shared when using in tmux?
Tmux should have nothing to do with this, really. So let's focus on your Zsh setup.
You’d have to jump through some hoops to get history to be real-time shared among running Zshs, so it’s surprising that you’re seeing this. What settings have you made to control your Zsh history? Run this to see your settings:
setopt |grep hist
For not saving history immediately, you’ll want:
setopt noincappendhistory
setopt nosharehistory
You can put that into your ~/.zshrc. You may want to log out of running shells to ensure your new settings take place.
For info on all the history-related Zsh options, see man 1 zshoptions and look for the “History” section a few pages in. Note that there are also some environment variables that impact history (SAVEHISTORY, HISTFILE, HISTFILEIGNORE, HISTSIE, HISTFILESIZE).

Controlling tmux in the web based terminal

I am attempting to use tmux from the web based terminal. I am running into the problem that my prefix key seems to be ignored (or, more probably, consumed by the browser or some such). If I ssh into the box, then controlling tmux works just fine. By default I have the prefix key mapped to 'C-\', but it doesn't actually matter. Even with the default 'C-b' keybinding things fail.
If there are collisions with browser shortcuts, have you tried editing your ~/.tmux.conf file?
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/tmux#Configuration
I also remapped my caps lock key to control key as well which is much nicer IMO:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/tmux#Configuration

iTerm2 to attach to tmux session using tabs instead of windows?

I got tmuxinator to work with iTerm2 the following: https://stackoverflow.com/a/19747819/1009332
However, each tab initially opens in a different window. Is there any way to attach to an existing tmux session using tabs rather than new windows?
There's some more info about this cool feature here: https://code.google.com/p/iterm2/wiki/TmuxIntegration
My motivation for this was:
1. copy/paste/find locks the process in tmux, whereas with iterm2, you can find in a tail of logs and not lock the process.
2. key bindings are simpler in iTerm2.
3. I like tmuxinator to start many shell windows (tabs) when doing rails web development, so that my stdout of different processes goes to different windows, rather than mixing together when using foreman.
It is an option in iTerm2: Preferences > general Open tmux windows as native tabs in a new window, but you have to disconnect then reconnect.
Solution found here

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