GNU Screen Pairing

instructions.md

This doc outlines how to setup a remote pairing session using SSH and GNU Screen. These instructions were adapted from https://www.agileventures.org/remote-pair-programming/gnu-screen-pairing-notes

Prerequisit: The person on the guest machine needs a user account created on the host that they can connect to via SSH.

On the Host Machine

1. Install Screen
   • Mac: Should already be installed, but you can also find it on homebrew
   • Ubuntu: sudo apt-get install screen
2. (Platform dependent) Add the set-uid bit to screen chmod 4755 /usr/bin/screen
3. Create a terminal window. Adjust the window to a reasonable size, as this will be the layout that all the guests will see.
4. Start or resume a screen session (the -L logs the session) screen -R -D -L
5. Set up multiuser and add permission for the guest user with the next two key sequences. Don't forget the colon after control-A.
   • <ctrl-a>:multiuser on<return>
   • <ctrl-a>:acladd <guest_username><return>

On the Guest Machine

1. SSH into the guest account on the host machine.
   • If you want to be able to hit a webserver running on the host, include -L 8001:localhost:8000. This allows port 8001 locally to hit port 8000 on the host machine.
   • You may also want -X for X11 forwarding
2. Join the host's screen session by including the host's username in the following command. The slash at the end is important: screen -x <host_username>/
3. With a bit of luck, you should be sharing control of a terminal from which you can run console programs and full screen editors like nano, vim, and emacs.