update #2 [2010/05/17]: uploaded my updated config file, now using ` as my prefix key

I gave tmux a try yesterday.

Clean config file, thorough documentation and a few nice touches here and there (i.e. better, persistent window splitting) make it a nice alternative to screen, but the biggest difference lies in memory usage. Screen can easily eat up to 40-50mb with just a few windows open, but tmux has yet to reach the 10mb mark!

You may argue that ram is cheap these days, but when you’re on a 360mb VPS ram matters

I did find a few bugs/annoyances, for instance if you add set-option -g default-terminal “screen-256color” in your config file, tmux stops evaluating the #T variable.

I hacked my way out of this one by adding the following in my .bash_profile instead:

[[ $TERM == "screen" ]] && export -p TERM="screen-256color"

Turns out that’s not tmux’s fault but bash’s, I’ll have to create a patch for that as well If you have the same issue, you can use the above hack as a temporary fix.

Also version 1.2 does not provide a way for you to customize the colors used on window titles with alerts (either monitored or when the bell is active), but I patched that and sent it upstream

You can find an ebuild with the patch in my overlay, wirelay (layman -a wirelay ).

The patch was accepted upstream so it’ll be in the next release.

My tmux looks like this:

and with some split panes:

finally, below is my (updated on 2010/05/17) tmux.conf config file, used in the above screenshots.

I decided to use ` as my prefix key, its really better than hitting ctrl-a all the time

# ` is an interesting key for a prefix
set-option -g prefix `
# set-option -g prefix C-a

unbind-key C-b
bind-key C-a last-window
bind-key ` last-window
bind-key a send-prefix

# we might need ` at some point, allow switching
# we can also send the prefix char with `-a
bind-key F11 set-option -g prefix C-a
bind-key F12 set-option -g prefix `

# 0 is too far from `
set -g base-index 1

# set-option -g default-terminal "screen-256color"
set-option -g mouse-select-pane on
set-option -g status-keys vi
set-option -g bell-action any
set-option -g set-titles on
set-option -g set-titles-string '#H:#S.#I.#P #W #T' # window number,program name,active (or not)
set-option -g visual-bell on

setw -g mode-keys vi
setw -g mode-mouse on
setw -g monitor-activity on

bind e previous-window
bind f next-window
bind j up-pane
bind k down-pane

set-option -g status-utf8 on
# set-option -g status-justify centre
set-option -g status-justify left
set-option -g status-bg black
set-option -g status-fg white
set-option -g status-left-length 40

set-option -g pane-active-border-fg green
set-option -g pane-active-border-bg black
set-option -g pane-border-fg white
set-option -g pane-border-bg black

set-option -g message-fg black
set-option -g message-bg green

#setw -g mode-bg black

setw -g window-status-bg black
setw -g window-status-current-fg green
setw -g window-status-alert-attr default
setw -g window-status-alert-fg yellow

set -g status-left '#[fg=red]#H#[fg=green]:#[fg=white]#S #[fg=green]][#[default]'

# set -g status-right '#[fg=green]][#[fg=white] #T #[fg=green]][ #[fg=blue]%Y-%m-%d #[fg=white]%H:%M#[default]'
set -g status-right '#[fg=green]][ #[fg=blue]%Y-%m-%d #[fg=white]%H:%M#[default]'

set -g history-limit 4096

# `+r reloads the configuration, handy
bind r source-file ~/.tmux.conf

layman -d kde-testing; layman -L; layman -a kde;

In other news,

Qt 4.6.0 final was released by Nokia yesterday. You’ll find ebuilds in portage’s ~testing. If you’re using stable and want to try it out, make sure you keyword ALL the ebuilds, or you might get ugly blocks A keyword file is available in qting-edge.

Upgrading world is the recommended way to go to avoid B blocks. If you don’t want to upgrade world, make sure your upgrade command includes all installed Qt modules or you will get blocks.

emerge -av1 $(qlist -IC x11-libs/qt\-)

Remember that “b” (lowercase b) blocks are automatically resolved by portage, just remove --pretend and proceed with the upgrade.

For those wondering, KDE 4 works fine with Qt 4.6

If you’re upgrading Qt from a previous version and your Qt apps misbehave, you should rebuild everything depending on Qt:

emerge -av1 $(for i in $(qlist -IC x11-libs/qt-); do equery -q d $i | grep -v 'x11-libs/qt-' | sed "s/^/=/"; done)

KDE 4.3.4 was also released yesterday, ebuilds are available in portage as usual

Lots of stuff to build, have fun!

Some people are still using it though and they have been asking how they can keep it on their system, without emerge screaming each time they try to update world.

I’m writing this post to guide those people (you? ) on how they can achieve that.

1. Adding the kde-sunset overlay
Perhaps the most important thing you need to remember is that the ebuilds will be completely removed from the tree, so you need to add an overlay called kde-sunset to portage which contains a copy of most of them.

To add the overlay you need to have layman with git USE flag enabled:

USE="git" emerge -av layman

make sure you add the git USE flag in your package.use or make.conf

you can then use layman to install the overlay:

layman -f
layman -a kde-sunset

if this is your first time using layman, you’ll have to add the following line @ the end of your make.conf:

source /usr/local/portage/layman/make.conf

you can keep the overlay updated by running:

layman -s kde-sunset

2. KDE 3.5 is masked (this is necessary only while KDE 3.5 is still in tree)
Now we have the overlay, but until KDE 3.5 is completely wiped off the tree, there’s a mask to warn users about it.
Portage will scream about this mask each time you try to emerge so you need to unmask KDE 3.5 manually.

There are two (and a half) ways to do this:
a1) if your package.unmask is a folder, symlink the unmask file from kde-sunset to /etc/portage/package.unmask/

ln -s /usr/local/portage/layman/kde-sunset/Documentation/package.unmask/kde-3.5 /etc/portage/package.unmask/kde-3.5

a2) if your package.unmask is not a folder you can append the file (but you’ll have to update it manually)

cat /usr/local/portage/layman/kde-sunset/Documentation/package.unmask/kde-3.5 >> /etc/portage/package.unmask

b) if you don’t like all that, you can emerge autounmask

emerge -av autounmask

and ask it to unmask stuff for you – note that autounmask doesn’t like :slot and will only work with -version

autounmask kde-meta-3.5

3. I don’t want KDE 4 (yet)
So all is great now but portage wants to install KDE 4 when you emerge world.
This is happening because KDE 4 went stable recently and portage thinks you want to upgrade (you should btw ).
To fix this one we need to tell portage that we actually want the 3.5 version of KDE and we don’t care about 4.

we need to edit /var/lib/portage/world and add a version (or a slot) to every kde 3.5 app we have in there.

* be careful with this file *

for example, lets say that you installed kde 3.5 using the kde-meta ebuild.
if you open /var/lib/portage/world you’ll find a line saying

kde-base/kde-meta

you need to add :3.5 which is the 3.5 slot, or -3.5.10 which is the version (or both, version first) at the end. if you add the version, you’ll have to prepend a “=” as well.

the line should now read:

kde-base/kde-meta:3.5

do this for each KDE 3.5 app you have in the world file. If you’re unsure of the slot/version, use eix packagename to find it out.

4. All systems go

emerge -avDuN world

^^ this should now be clean of any KDE 4 traces and mask warnings

If you have any issues or are interested in maintaining kde-sunset, you may visit us over @ #gentoo-kde in freenode’s IRC network or drop us an email at kde _at_ gentoo _dot_ org. We’ll do our best to help you

Maybe after reading this post your KDE 3 installation will last a bit longer

Enjoy and see you w/ KDE 4 soon

They also created two new branches, master-stable and 4.6-stable. Commits pushed to those branches are tested in Nokia’s testing farms, ensuring that they’ll always build.

The Gentoo Qt team provides various live Qt ebuilds in our official overlay, qting-edge [1]. These ebuilds now include x11-libs/qt-*-4.6.9999, building code from the 4.6 Qt branch, as well as a new USE flag called stable-branch, available (and enabled by default) in 4.6.9999 and 4.9999. This USE flag enables/disables the use of the stable branches, allowing you to choose between last-minute code VS tested, known to compile code.

Either way, its bleeding edge!

If you need help, leave a comment or visit us @ Freenode IRC, #gentoo-kde

[1] to install qting-edge, make sure you have layman installed and configured, then run layman -a qting-edge.

Now available in Gentoo’s kde-testing overlay, soon in tree as usual!

update: in cvs tree

I’ve created an ebuild based on the one in portage.

You can find it in my overlay, wirelay, masked.

for instructions on how to add wirelay to layman, check the Documentation in the overlay or this post:

http://www.linuxized.com/2009/04/private-overlay-eyes-only/

Unfortunately this version requires stuff not in the main portage tree, so you’ll have to add the “x11″ overlay

layman -a x11

I’ve also opened a bug in Gentoo’s bugtracker with the ebuild:

bug #270794 [ebuild] awesome-3.3_rc3

Lots of config changes in this version, so in my upcoming awesome+conky how-to I’ll give you two seperate config files =]

awesome 3.3_rc3 with conky-updated panels

It’s already available in gentoo’s kde-testing overlay and will be added in portage’s tree really really soon

update: 4.2.3 is now in the portage tree =]

This happened because some applications (namely ark and nepomuk) now depend on a new package in extragear/libs called libknotificationitem.

I’ve made the necessary modifications in gentoo’s kde-testing overlay to fix the issue  by adding a new ebuild for libknotificationitem and adding libknotificationitem DEPEND lines in ark and nepomuk. I also had to revbump plasma-workspace to r1 and block the old ebuild because libknotificationitem had file collisions with it.

So, if you had issues while @live-rebuilding kde4 today, sync your overlay and update

update: libknotificationitem just got moved to kdelibs/experimental

For those not familiar with overlays, they are something like a “repository”. They allow you to add and use ebuilds out of the official portage tree.

In my overlay, called “wirelay”, I usually add fixes from bugs.gentoo.org that I need which haven’t reached the tree yet (and maybe never will). I also keep ebuilds of the latest nvidia drivers and other stuff

To browse the overlay, visit http://github.com/wired/wirelay/tree/master

To add the overlay, install layman ( emerge -av layman ) then run:

layman -f -o http://github.com/wired/wirelay/raw/master/Documentation/wirelay.list -a wirelay

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