MULTIXTERM(1)               General Commands Manual              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.

       Because xterm has no mechanism  for  propagating  size  information  to
       external  processes,  particularly  for  character graphic applications
       (e.g., vi, emacs), you may have to manually  ensure  that  the  spawned
       process  behind  each  xterm has the correct size.  For example, if you
       create or set the xterm to a size, you may have  to  send  an  explicit
       stty  command with the correct size to the spawned process(es).  Alter-
       natively, you can add the correct size argument when an xterm  is  cre-
       ated (i.e., "-geometry 80x20").

       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)
