byobu

byobu(1)                             byobu                            byobu(1)

NAME
       byobu  -  wrapper  script  for seeding a user's byobu configuration and
       launching a text based window manager (either screen or tmux)

SYNOPSIS
       byobu [options]

       byobu-screen [screen options]

       byobu-tmux [tmux options]

       Options to byobu are simply passed through screen(1) or tmux(1).

DESCRIPTION
       byobu is a script that launches a text  based  window  manager  (either
       screen(1)  or  tmux(1))  in  the byobu configuration.  This enables the
       display of system information and status notifications within two lines
       at  the  bottom  of the screen session. It also enables multiple tabbed
       terminal sessions, accessible through simple keystrokes.

       byobu currently defaults to using tmux(1) (if present) as the  backend,
       however,  this can be overridden with the byobu-select-backend(1) util-
       ity.

       Note  that  BYOBU_CONFIG_DIR=$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/byobu  if  defined,   and
       $HOME/.byobu otherwise.

BACKGROUND COLORS
       The  background  colors  of  the  byobu status lines can be adjusted by
       editing the files $HOME/.byobu/color (for byobu-screen) and  $HOME/.by-
       obu/color.tmux (for byobu-tmux).  The command Ctrl-Shift-F5 will change
       the background to a randomly selected color when running in  byobu-tmux
       mode.  Simply remove those files to return to the default color config-
       uration.

STATUS NOTIFICATIONS
       byobu supports a number of unique and interesting status  notifications
       across  the  lowest  two lines in the screen.  Each status notification
       item is independently configurable, enabled and disabled by the config-
       uration  utility.   The guide below helps identify each status item (in
       alphabetical order):

       apport - symbol displayed if there are pending crash reports; {!}  sym-
       bol  displayed  on the lower bar toward the left, in black on an orange
       background

       arch - system architecture; displayed on the lower bar toward the left,
       in the default text color on the default background color

       battery  -  battery  information;  display  on the lower bar toward the
       right; - indicates discharging, + indicates charging, = indicates fully
       charged;  when charging or discharging, the current battery capacity as
       a percentage is displayed;  the colours green, yellow, and red are used
       to give further indication of the battery's charge state; you may over-
       ride the detected battery by setting BATTERY=/proc/acpi/battery/BAT0 in
       $BYOBU_CONFIG_DIR/statusrc

       cpu_count  -  the  number of cpu's or cores on the system; displayed in
       the lower bar toward the right in the default text color on the default
       background, followed by a trailing 'x'

       cpu_freq  -  the  current frequency of the cpu in GHz; displayed in the
       lower bar toward the right in white text on a light blue background

       cpu_temp - the cpu temperature in Celsius (default) or Fahrenheit, con-
       figure TEMP=F or TEMP=C in $BYOBU_CONFIG_DIR/statusrc; displayed in the
       lower bar toward the right in yellow text on a  black  background;  you
       may  override  the  detected  cpu  temperature  device by setting MONI-
       TORED_TEMP=/proc/acpi/whatever in $BYOBU_CONFIG_DIR/statusrc

       custom - user defined custom scripts; must be  executable  programs  of
       any kind in $BYOBU_CONFIG_DIR/bin; must be named N_NAME, where N is the
       frequency in seconds to refresh the status indicator, and NAME  is  the
       name  of  the  script;  N should not be less than 5 seconds; the script
       should echo a small amount of text to standard out, standard  error  is
       discarded;  the  indicator will be displayed in the lower panel, in de-
       fault colors, unless you manually specify the colors in  your  script's
       output;  BEWARE,  cpu-intensive  custom scripts may impact your overall
       system performance and could upset your system administrator!  In fact,
       you  can  easily  copy  and  modify  any status script usually found in
       /usr/lib/byobu/* to your local $HOME/.byobu/ directory.
         Example: $BYOBU_CONFIG_DIR/bin/1000_uname
           #!/bin/sh
           printf "\005{= bw}%s\005{-}" "$(uname -r)"

       date - the system date in YYYY-MM-DD format, or you can set this to any
       valid  strftime(3) you like in $BYOBU_CONFIG_DIR/datetime; displayed in
       the lower on the far right in the default text  color  on  the  default
       background

       disk  -  total disk space available and total used on / directory; dis-
       played in the lower bar on the far right in white text on a light  pur-
       ple  background; override the default directory by specifying an alter-
       nate  mount  point   with   MONITORED_DISK=/wherever   in   $BYOBU_CON-
       FIG_DIR/statusrc

       disk_io  -  instantaneous read/write througput in kB/s or MB/s over the
       last 3 seconds; displayed in the lower bar toward the  right  in  white
       text  on  a  light purple background with a leading '<' sign indicating
       'read speed' and '>' sign indicating 'write speed';  override  the  de-
       fault  monitored  disk  by  specifying  an  alternate device with MONI-
       TORED_DISK=/dev/sdb,  and  override  the  default  DISK_IO_THRESHOLD=50
       (kB/s) in $BYOBU_CONFIG_DIR/statusrc

       distro  -  OS/distribution  name  of the release running on the current
       system as reported by lsb_release(1) or /etc/issue;  displayed  in  the
       lower  bar in bold black text toward the left on a grey background; you
       may override the detected release with DISTRO=Whatever  in  $BYOBU_CON-
       FIG_DIR/statusrc

       entropy  -  a count of the system's current entropy in bytes; displayed
       in the lower bar toward the right in yellow text on a dark  grey  back-
       ground; there is a leading 'e' to indicate 'entropy'

       raid  -  note  very prominently if there is a RAID failure detected, in
       red blinking text on a white background; the  term  'RAID'  notes  that
       there  is  something  wrong  with  the  RAID,  and  if  there  is a re-
       build/resync in progress, the percent complete is also shown

       fan_speed - cpu or system fan speed as  reported  by  lm-sensors;  dis-
       played  in the lower bar toward the right in black text on a grey back-
       ground; there is a trailing 'rpm' for units; you may override  the  de-
       tected  fan  by setting FAN=/sys/path/to/your/fan1_input in $BYOBU_CON-
       FIG_DIR/statusrc

       hostname - the hostname of the system; displayed in the  upper  bar  on
       the far right in bold black text on a grey background; there is a lead-
       ing '@' symbol if the username status is also enabled

       ip_address - the IPv4 address of the system  in  dotted  decimal  form;
       displayed  in  the  upper  bar on the far right in bold black text on a
       grey background;  you can override and display  your  IPv6  address  by
       setting  'IPV6=1', and you can show your external ip address by setting
       'IP_EXTERNAL=1' in $BYOBU_CONFIG_DIR/statusrc

       ip_address4 - the IPv4 address of the system in  dotted  decimal  form;
       displayed  in  the  upper  bar on the far right in bold black text on a
       grey background;  you can show your  external  ip  address  by  setting
       'IP_EXTERNAL=1' in $BYOBU_CONFIG_DIR/statusrc

       ip_address6  -  the  IPv6 address of the system; displayed in the upper
       bar on the far right in bold black text on a grey background;  you  can
       show your external ip address by setting 'IP_EXTERNAL=1' in $BYOBU_CON-
       FIG_DIR/statusrc

       load_average - the system load average over the  last  1  minute;  dis-
       played  in  the  lower  bar  toward the right in black text on a yellow
       background

       logo - an approximation of the current operating  system's  logo;  dis-
       played in the lower bar on the far left; you may customize this logo by
       setting a chosen logo with LOGO=:-D in $BYOBU_CONFIG_DIR/statusrc

       mail - system mail for the current user; the letter '[M]' is  displayed
       in the lower bar toward the left in black text on a grey background

       memory - total memory available and used percentage in the system; dis-
       played in the lower bar toward the right in white text on a green back-
       ground

       menu  - a simple indicator directing new users to use the F9 keybinding
       to access the byobu menu

       network - instantaneous upload/download bandwidth in [GMk]bps over  the
       last  3 seconds; nothing is displayed if traffic is 0; displayed in the
       lower bar toward the left in white text on a purple background  with  a
       leading  '^' sign indicating 'up' and 'v' sign indicating 'down'; over-
       ride the default interface by specifying an  alternate  interface  with
       MONITORED_NETWORK=eth1, and override the default units (bits) with NET-
       WORK_UNITS=bytes, and override the default NETWORK_THRESHOLD=20  (kbps)
       in $BYOBU_CONFIG_DIR/statusrc

       notify_osd - Send on-screen notification messages to screen's notifica-
       tion buffer

       processes - total number of processes running on the system;  displayed
       in  the  lower  bar  in  white  text on a dark yellow background with a
       trailing '&' indicating 'background processes'

       reboot_required - symbol present if a reboot is  required  following  a
       system  update;  displayed  in the lower bar white text on a blue back-
       ground by the symbol '(R)'; additionally,  reboot_required  will  print
       '<F5>'  in  white  text  on a blue background, if Byobu requires you to
       reload your profile to affect some changes; it will also detect if your
       system is currently in powernap(8) state and if so print '.zZ'; if your
       system is currently performing an unattended-upgrade(1) you will see  a
       white warning sign on a red background.

       release  -  OS/distribution  name of the release running on the current
       system as reported by lsb_release(1) or /etc/issue;  displayed  in  the
       lower  bar in bold black text toward the left on a grey background; you
       may override the detected release with RELEASE=Whatever in  $BYOBU_CON-
       FIG_DIR/statusrc; you may also abbreviate the release string to N char-
       acters by setting RELEASE_ABBREVIATED=N in $BYOBU_CONFIG_DIR/statusrc

       services - users can configure a list of services  to  monitor,  define
       the SERVICES variable in $BYOBU_CONFIG_DIR/statusrc, a whitespace sepa-
       rated of services, each service should include the  init  name  of  the
       service, then a pipe, and then an abbreviated name or symbol to display
       when running (e.g. SERVICES="ssh|ssh apache2|http"); displayed  in  the
       lower bar toward the center in cyan on a white background

       session  -  byobu  session name (only supported in byobu-tmux(1)); dis-
       played in the lower bar on the left in underlined black text on a white
       background

       swap  -  total  swap  space and total used as a percentage of the total
       available; displayed in the lower bar toward the right in black text on
       a light green background with a trailing '%' sign

       time  - the system time in HH:MM:SS format (by default), or you can set
       this to any valid strftime(3) you like  in  $BYOBU_CONFIG_DIR/datetime;
       displayed in the lower bar on the far right in the default text and de-
       fault background colors

       time_binary - only for the hard core geek, the local system time in bi-
       nary;  requires  UTF-8  support in a VERY recent version of GNU Screen;
       displayed in the lower bar on the far right in  the  default  text  and
       background colors

       time_utc  - the UTC system time in HH:MM format; displayed in the lower
       bar on the far right in dark text on a light background

       updates_available - the number of updates available on the system; dis-
       played  in  the lower bar toward the right in white text on a red back-
       ground with a trailing '!' sign; if any updates  are  marked  'security
       updates',  then  there  will  be  a  total  of two trailing exclamation
       points, '!!'

       uptime - the total system uptime since  last  boot;  displayed  in  the
       lower bar toward the right in blue text on a grey background

       users  -  the  number  of remote users logged into the system via sshd,
       empty if 0 users; displayed in the lower bar toward the  right  in  red
       text  on  a  grey  background  with a trailing '#' sign; set USERS_DIS-
       TINCT=1 to instead count the number of distinct users logged  into  the
       system (rather than open ssh sessions)

       whoami - the name of the user who owns the screen session; displayed in
       the upper bar toward the far right in bold black text on a  grey  back-
       ground

       wifi_quality  - the connection rate and signal quality of the wifi con-
       nection; displayed in the lower bar toward the right in black text on a
       cyan  background; the connection rate is in 'Mb/s' and the signal qual-
       ity is as a percentage with a trailing '%'; override the default inter-
       face  by specifying an alternate interface with MONITORED_NETWORK=wlan0
       in $BYOBU_CONFIG_DIR/statusrc

SESSIONS
       Byobu name screen sessions "byobu", if unspecified.  To  hide  sessions
       from  byobu-select-session(1),  prepend  a  "." to the beginning of the
       session name, like:

        byobu -S .hidden

WINDOWS
       Each open window in the screen session is displayed in  the  upper  bar
       toward  the far left.  These are numbered, and include indicators as to
       activity in the window (see "activity" in  screen(1)  and  tmux(1)  for
       symbol  definitions).   The current active window is highlighted by in-
       verting the background/text from the rest of the window bar.

       Users can create a list of windows to launch at startup in  $BYOBU_CON-
       FIG_DIR/windows  and  $BYOBU_CONFIG_DIR/windows.tmux.  This file is the
       same syntax as ~/.screenrc and ~/.tmuxrc, each line specifying  a  win-
       dow, as described in screen(1) or tmux(1).

       User  can  also  launch Byobu with unique window sets.  Users can store
       these as  $BYOBU_CONFIG_DIR/windows.[NAME]  and  $BYOBU_CONFIG_DIR/win-
       dows.tmux.[NAME],  and  launch  Byobu with the environment variable BY-
       OBU_WINDOWS=NAME.

       For example:
         $ cat $BYOBU_CONFIG_DIR/windows.ssh_sessions
         screen -t localhost bash
         screen -t aussie ssh root@aussie
         screen -t beagle ssh root@beagle
         screen -t collie ssh root@collie

       Then:
         $ BYOBU_WINDOWS=ssh_sessions byobu

       For example:
         $ cat $BYOBU_CONFIG_DIR/windows.tmux.split4
         new-session 'bash' ;
         new-window -n term1 ;
         new-window -n term2 ;
         new-window -n ssh ssh 10.9.8.7 ;
         split-window ;
         split-window ;
         split-window ;
         select-layout tiled ;
         select-pane -t 0

       Then:
         $ BYOBU_WINDOWS=split4 byobu

UNITS OF MEASURE
       byobu uses binary for capacity measurements of  KB,  MB,  GB,  and  TB.
       This  means  multiples of 1024 rather than multiples of 1000, in accor-
       dance with JEDEC Standard 100B.01  for  memory  capacity  measurements.
       See:
        * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JEDEC_memory_standards

       byobu  uses  decimal for measurements of network data transfer, meaning
       multiple of 1000, rather than 1024.  See:
        * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_rate_units

KEYBINDINGS
       byobu keybindings can be user defined in  /usr/share/byobu/keybindings/
       (or within .screenrc if byobu-export was used). The common key bindings
       are:

       F2 - Create a new window

       F3 - Move to previous window

       F4 - Move to next window

       F5 - Reload profile

       F6 - Detach from this session

       F7 - Enter copy/scrollback mode

       F8 - Re-title a window

       F9 - Configuration Menu

       F12 -  Lock this terminal

       shift-F2 - Split the screen horizontally

       ctrl-F2 - Split the screen vertically

       shift-F3 - Shift the focus to the previous split region

       shift-F4 - Shift the focus to the next split region

       shift-F5 - Join all splits

       ctrl-F6 - Remove this split

       ctrl-F5 - Reconnect GPG and SSH sockets

       shift-F6 - Detach, but do not logout

       alt-pgup - Enter scrollback mode

       alt-pgdn - Enter scrollback mode

       Ctrl-a $ - show detailed status

       Ctrl-a R - Reload profile

       Ctrl-a ! - Toggle key bindings on and off

       Ctrl-a k - Kill the current window

       Ctrl-a ~ - Save the current window's scrollback buffer

SCROLLBACK, COPY, PASTE MODES
       Each window in Byobu has up to  10,000  lines  of  scrollback  history,
       which  you can enter and navigate using the alt-pgup and alt-pgdn keys.
       Exit this scrollback mode by hitting enter.  You can also  easily  copy
       and  paste text from scrollback mode.  To do so, enter scrollback using
       alt-pgup or alt-pgdn, press the spacebar to  start  highlighting  text,
       use up/down/left/right/pgup/pgdn to select the text, and press enter to
       copy the text.  You can then paste the text using alt-insert  or  ctrl-
       a-].

BUGS
       For Byobu colors to work properly, older versions of GNU Screen require
       a 1-line patch to adjust MAX_WINMSG_REND in screen.c.  The change is in
       GNU  Screen's  upstream source control system as of 2010-01-26, but GNU
       Screen has not released a new upstream version in several  years.   You
       can  disable  colors  entirely  by  setting MONOCHROME=1 in $BYOBU_CON-
       FIG_DIR/statusrc.  For more information, see:
        * http://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?22146

       PuTTY users have reported that the F2, F3, and F4 shortcut keys are not
       working  properly.   PuTTY sends the same escape sequences as the linux
       console for F1-F4 by default.  You can fix this problem  in  the  PuTTY
       config,  Terminal  ->  Keyboard  ->  Function  keys:  Xterm  R6.   See:
       http://www.mail-archive.com/screen-users@gnu.org/msg01525.html

       PuTTY users should configure enable UTF-8 characters in  order  to  fix
       status  refresh issues.  You can fix this problem in the PuTTY configu-
       ration, Window -> Translation: select UTF-8.

       PuTTY users should avoid resizing their window to one  character  tall,
       as this can sometimes crash byobu-screen.

       Apple  Mac  OSX  terminal users have reported 'flashing text'.  You can
       fix this in the advanced settings of  the  terminal  application,  with
       'Declare Terminal As: xterm-color'.

       Apple Mac keyboard users may need to specify a vt100 terminal by adding
       this to your OSX profile, in order to get  Byobu's  function  keys  and
       colors to work:
         alias ssh='TERM=vt100 ssh'

       Users  of  a  non-UTF-8  locale (such as cs_CZ charset ISO-8859-2), may
       need to add "defutf8 off" to ~/.screenrc, if some characters  are  ren-
       dering as "?".

       Users  who  customize  their  PS1  prompt  need  to put this setting in
       ~/.bashrc, rather than ~/.profile, in order for it  to  work  correctly
       with Byobu.

       If  you  run  byobu(1)  under sudo(8), you must use the -H option, such
       that the user's $HOME directory environment variable is  set  properly.
       Otherwise,   byobu(1)  will  create  a  bunch  of  directories  in  the
       $SUDO_USER's $HOME, but will be owned by root.  To  prevent  this  from
       happening,  byobu(1)  will  simply  refuse to run if $USER does not own
       $HOME.

       Byobu requires a suitable ulimit(3) values to run.  If you get an error
       at  startup saying, 'pipe: too many open files', then check your ulimit
       -a values, as your "open files" or "max user processes"  are  too  low.
       In this case, you will probably need to run simple screen(1)

SEE ALSO
       screen(1),  byobu-config(1),  byobu-export(1),  byobu-status(1), byobu-
       status-detail(1), byobu-enable(1), byobu-launch(1),  byobu-select-back-
       end(1), tmux(1)
       http://byobu.org

AUTHOR
       This  manpage  and  the  utility were written by Dustin Kirkland <kirk-
       land@byobu.org> for Ubuntu systems (but may be used by  others).   Per-
       mission  is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document and
       the utility under the terms of the GNU General Public License,  Version
       3 published by the Free Software Foundation.

       The  complete  text  of  the GNU General Public License can be found in
       /usr/share/common-licenses/GPL  on   Debian/Ubuntu   systems,   or   in
       /usr/share/doc/fedora-release-*/GPL on Fedora systems, or on the web at
       http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.txt.

byobu                            19 June 2009                         byobu(1)
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