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Can you please ELI5 tmux?
(lemmy.ml)
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this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2023
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Tmux is essentially an extension of the concept of running ideas in the background. Like 0xtero mentioned, you use a sort of "virtual terminal" that is persistent (unlike the jobs system you might be familiar with on your shell).
Now, some people do just use it to split the screen. The idea is it can have multiple terminals, show them, and manage them - it is thus a "multiplexer", which is where it gets its name (tmux = terminal multiplexer). If you're on a terminal-only system, this isn't that bad of a usage.
Say you're compiling a large program, like the Linux kernel, and you want to step away, maybe even close the terminal and come back later. Tmux is great for this. You can start the compile in tmux, "detach" (stop viewing it) from it, and it'll still run full-speed in the background. When you want to look at it again, or check the status, you just re-attach.