/tmux-lan-deploy

Shared code and terminal across LAN devices

tmux-lan-deploy

A template workspace to work with a shared codebase and terminal across different machines in LAN through nested tmux sessions.

Use case

You're really tired and you have:

  • Two or more ssh-ready machines in LAN
  • That need to run some platform-specific code
  • Which may or may not be distributed across different packages or repos
  • Which may or may not need to be developed in a joint setup

Hence, here is a single workspace:

  • Shared in a mount point via sshfs
  • In which you can implement your automation scripts
  • That call code arbitrarily distributed
  • That can run at the same time in different machines

Dependencies

Assuming all your machines can already connect among them via ssh, you may need the following additional packages.

Host machine:

$ apt install sshfs openssh-sftp-server \
              ncat tmux tmuxinator

Client machines:

$ apt install sshfs openssh-sftp-server 
$ apt install tmux tmuxinator            # optional, only for nested sessions

Setting up

From the provided boilerplate, adjust the tmuxinator.yml and ssh.config files to your liking.

  • Tune tmuxinator.yml to connect tmux panes to your devices: ssh -F ssh.config user@192.168.21.28
  • Tune ssh.config to define networking behavior for each desired connection.
    • Ajust target IP addresses
    • Assign arbitrary unique ports to enable reverse-calling sshfs
    • Specify the shared dir on the host and its mount path on clients

On clients, ensure the mount path exists as an empty directory.

Find a ssh.config file overview for a single connection here.

Quickstart

Run ./tmuxinator.yml to start the parent tmux session that will get everything moving. Its prefix key has been changed to ^A so that any client can use the default, see and modify the repo's tmux.conf file as you like.

After you're logged in the remotes, try sweet commands like ls or touch f to verify that your files are indeed being shared.

Be very careful and mind the following:

  • Mount point could be left unmounted, keep an eye on warnings if any
  • Mount point is read/write for all clients
  • Weird stuff can happen when layering tmux
  • Do not put more than one finger in the power plug