Record terminal session to GIF

term2gif.sh

#!/bin/bash

MAX=200     # maximum wait between frames
DELAY=0.2   # speed things up a bit

TIMING=$1
SCRIPT=$2

W=$WINDOWID # Note: not alway present. Terminator not, xterm it is.
 
rm -rf /tmp/script-replay-gifs/
mkdir /tmp/script-replay-gifs/
 
t=$(mktemp)
cp $SCRIPT $t
 
#remove first line
sed -i '1d' $t
 
#clear screen
clear
 
#read timing file one by one
curr=0
i=0
while read line
do
    #capture time and chars to read
    cols=($line)
    chars=${cols[1]}
 
    #read from current char the number of chars to read
    dd if=$t bs=1 skip=$curr count=$chars 2>/dev/null
 
    #convert to gif frame with a nice frame-number
    n=$(printf "%010d" $i)
    import -window $WINDOWID /tmp/script-replay-gifs/$n.gif
 
    #and move to next position
    curr=$((curr+chars))
    i=$((i+1))
done <$TIMING
rm -f $t
 
#now, set gif with delay per frame
i=1
while read line
do
    cols=($line)
    timing=${cols[0]}
    #get next image
    file=$(ls -1 /tmp/script-replay-gifs/ | head -n $i | tail -n 1)
    timing=$(echo "$timing*100*$DELAY" | bc -l | awk '{print int($0)}')
    timing=$(( $timing < $MAX ? $timing : $MAX ))
    command=$command" -delay $timing /tmp/script-replay-gifs/$file"
 
    i=$((i+1))
done < $TIMING
 
convert $command /tmp/anim-notoptim.gif
convert /tmp/anim-notoptim.gif -coalesce -layers Optimize /tmp/anim.gif

mv /tmp/anim.gif ./anim_$(date +%Y%m%dT%H%M%S).gif

rm -f /tmp/anim-notoptim.gif
rm -rf  /tmp/script-replay-gifs/

How does it work? Can you elaborate?

How does it work? Can you elaborate?
The dd command reads the specific part of the logfile. (All parts are specified by the timing file, i.e. number of characters and duration.)

The import command makes a screenshot of the terminal.

The convert command processes all gif files and applies timings to each frame. And then the output gif is optimized.

That's it!