2019-09-07 09:53
This file lists the options I like for some tools that I use.
There's a balance between spending too little time on configuration and spending too much, between using tools that don't fit the hand and being the artist who sharpens pencils for five hours without drawing anything. I err on the side of under-configuring things.
I like ^A rather than ^B because I switched from
screen and got used to ^A.
unbind C-b
set -g prefix C-a
bind C-a send-prefix
I mostly avoid vi-style keybindings outside of text
editors, but I like them for the tmux copy mode too.
set-window-option -g mode-keys vi
These make navigating and resizing panes easier. 5 characters at a time is a compromise between big and little screens.
bind h select-pane -L
bind j select-pane -D
bind k select-pane -U
bind l select-pane -R
bind < resize-pane -L 5
bind > resize-pane -R 5
bind - resize-pane -D 5
bind + resize-pane -U 5
bind * rotate-window
This doesn't exactly have "robust solution" written all over it, but it gives me pretty colorschemes in Kakoune.
set -g default-terminal tmux-256color
set -ga terminal-overrides ",xterm-256color:Tc"
I think I stole this from the Arch Wiki.
Every system has different terminal emulators that work
well on it. Often I end up in the urxvt manpage trying
to customize the terminal. Here are some more-or-less
sensible terminals:
bindsym $mod+Shift+Return exec "urxvt -bg gray70 -rv -fade 5 +sb -vb -tn xterm-256color -fn 'xft:Source Code Pro Medium:pixelsize=24' "
bindsym $mod+Return exec "gnome-terminal --profile=smaller"
The biggest advantage to using gnome-terminal over urxvt is that it's tuned in to whatever foolishness other GUI apps are using for copypaste instead of left-click selection and middle-click paste. (I wish web browsers would use that convention!)
Lately I've been using kitty a lot too.
i3 navigation keybindings default to the uncanny valley:
jkl; instead of hjkl. It's just close enough to
be maddenning.
You can define them at the top and then use them later, for move, rearrange, and resize (3 places!):
set $up h
set $down j
set $left k
set $right l
But if you do this, you have to change how splits are created. I like to add Ctrl:
# split in horizontal orientation
bindsym Mod1+Ctrl+h split h
# split in vertical orientation
bindsym Mod+Ctrl1+v split v
I prefer to exit directly and skip the nagbar:
bindsym $mod+Shift+e exec "i3-msg exit"
Usually the important stuff is in a Kakoune session I
started with kak -s, so even if I kill my session by
mistake, it's easy to bounce back.
I mostly use Kakoune now, but I may not have bothered
to build it, or I may need vim for one of the things it's
better at. (Interactive sed :), and vimdiff)
I like to turn on syntax highlighting and autoindent, highlight matches, and disable the mouse.
filetype plugin on
filetype plugin indent on
syntax on
set hls
set mouse=
set number
Also, some keyboards put F1 where ESC belongs. Especially
some versions of the Thinkpad keyboard. If I want help,
I'll ask for it with :help. I never ever want F1 to
mean help.
noremap <F1> <nop>
inoremap <F1> <nop>
You could map to <F1> to <Esc> instead, but the
absolute best thing to do is to start using ^[ instead
of escape, because the [ is more reliably located and
closer to the home row.
Laptop keyboards can be a problem here too, unfortunately,
because some of them have a Fn key to the left of
Ctrl, and others put it between Ctrl and the logo key.
You could remap Ctrl to Caps Lock, but I like Caps Lock
where it is.
If you overuse visual mode in Vim and feel guilty about it, consider using Kakoune. Kakoune is modal like Vim, but it's oriented around selections rather than actions. I use it as my primary editor for writing programs.
I tend to use spaces for indent because I spend so much time writing Python. And for Python, 4-space tabs are not optional. I don't have deep personal feelings one way or the other. Just try to be consistent, people!
hook global WinCreate .* %{
hook window InsertChar \t %{ exec -draft -itersel h@ }
}
map global insert <backtab> '<a-;><lt>'
set-option global tabstop 4
Honestly kak configuration syntax isn't something I've devoted a lot of effort to learning. Interestingly, vim has a whole lot more options, so each config line is shorter, but kak's commands are simple and compose well. You need to write more stuff as a result to get the same effect, but kak lets you have a slightly different effect if you prefer.
Anyhow, if you want real tabs for Makefiles or something, you can also do:
map global insert <a-t> '<a-;>!printf "\t"<ret>'
You could map from <a-tab> instead, but that messes with
the muscle memory from Windows, so I wouldn't recommend it.
It's bad enough that I'm used to using mod4+L to switch
windows in i3 and sway, which locks the screen on
MS Windows.
The mouse drives me bonkers. If I want mouse select at all, I want terminal-level mouse select, not application-level mouse select.
set-option global ui_options ncurses_enable_mouse=false
I usually number lines and show matches.
hook global WinCreate .* %{add-highlighter buffer/ number-lines}
hook global WinCreate .* %{add-highlighter buffer/ dynregex '%reg{/}' 0:MenuForeground}
These two shortcuts for timestamp and text wrapping are of my own devising, and I use them very heavily:
map global insert <c-t> %{<a-;>!date +"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M"<ret>}
map global normal <c-w> %{<a-x>|fmt -60<ret>l}
It's incredibly useful to have an ssh-agent running as long as you are logged in. 10h is the timeout. Historically I haven't used one but I think it's a good idea. I shamelessly copied this approach from (Mark A. Hershberger](http://mah.everybody.org/docs/ssh), who claims the approach originates with Joseph M. Reagle.
Put this in .bash_profile:
SSH_ENV="$HOME/.ssh/environment"
function start_agent {
echo "Initializing new SSH agent..."
/usr/bin/ssh-agent -t 10h | sed 's/^echo/#echo/' > "${SSH_ENV}"
echo succeeded
chmod 600 "${SSH_ENV}"
. "${SSH_ENV}" > /dev/null
}
if [ -f "${SSH_ENV}" ]; then
. "${SSH_ENV}" > /dev/null
ps -ef | grep ${SSH_AGENT_PID} | grep ssh-agent$ > /dev/null || {
start_agent;
}
else
start_agent;
fi
Archwiki has a user-systemd approach that didn't exist the last time I looked. Might be a superior approach, but I don't always have systemd, e.g. on Cygwin. It also has a dead simple version of the approach I'm using, but this version feels a little nicer.
System beep is annoying. I prefer the flashing terminal. TLDP recommends the following:
- In
.inputrc:set prefer-visible-bell - In
.bashrc:set bell-style visible
You have to do this on remote machines too or your ssh sessions will beep at you.
This was a real pain to figure out.
In ~/.gitconfig
[sendemail]
smtpEncryption = tls
smtpServer = <smtp.domain.tld>
smtpUser = <email address>
smtpServerPort = 587
smtpPass = "password"
smtpAuth = "LOGIN"
smtpServerOption = starttls
I also installed:
perl-io-socket-ssl
perl-authen-sasl
Also, your repo needs a configuration item:
[sendemail]
to = mailinglist@domain.tld
This follows the Arch Wiki. I may not quite have everything right, but it seems to do the job.
set imap_user=<email address>
set imap_pass="password"
set folder=imaps://imap.domain.tld:993
set spoolfile=+INBOX
set header_cache = ~/.cache/mutt
set message_cachedir = "~/.cache/mutt"
set realname="Real Name"
set from = <email address>
set use_from = yes
set smtp_url=smtps://$imap_user:$imap_pass@smtp.domain.tld:465
set ssl_force_tls = yes
set ssl_starttls = yes
set smtp_authenticators="login"
set record = "+Sent"
The last line there copies sent mail to the "Sent" folder.
Why git send-email needs to use port 587 and not 465,
for the same SMTP server, I have no idea. Could be
misconfiguration at my end. Someday I'll learn how
email works.
For keybindings, see i3 config. I also use swayidle
for locking, similar to the commented lines in
/etc/sway/config/:
exec swayidle \
timeout 600 'swaylock -c 007722' \
timeout 1200 'swaymsg "output * dpms off"' \
resume 'swaymsg "output * dpms on"' \
before-sleep 'swaylock -c 007722'
Text-mode browser means text-mode! I prefer my internet wordy and monochrome!
alias w3m=w3m -M -no-mouse -o auto_image=FALSE
I realize you can get this by building a minimal w3m
yourself, but I'm lazy.
This document (README.md) is licensed
CC0.