Skip to content

Instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

@elebow

elebow/socat-share-vim.md

Last active March 13, 2020 00:29
Show Gist options

  • Select an option

    Learn more about clone URLs
  • Save elebow/c3fbdb0668aac22ba68283c88c5802b5 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.

Select an option

Learn more about clone URLs
Save elebow/c3fbdb0668aac22ba68283c88c5802b5 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Download ZIP
Use socat(1) and dtach(1) to share a single vim session among multiple remote hosts. Great for pair programming.
Raw
socat-share-vim.md

  1. Install socat and dtach on all hosts, and openssl on at least one host. And vim on the server!

  2. Generate two self-signed keypairs. You can accept all default values.

    for h in server client; do
openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes -keyout $h-key.pem -x509 -days 365 -out $h-cert.pem
done

  3. Place server-cert.pem, server-key.pem, and client-cert.pem on one host. Place client-cert.pem, client-key.pem, and server-cert.pem on the other host. Repeat as many times as desired, reusing the server-* files and generating a new set of client-* files for each client.

  4. On the server, run

    socat OPENSSL-LISTEN:12346,method=TLS1.2,cert=server-certificate.pem,key=server-key.pem,cafile=client-certificate.pem,verify=1,cipher=HIGH,commonname='' UNIX-CONNECT:dtach-vim
dtach -c dtach-vim vim

    Note the use of commonname=''; in socat >= 1.7.3.0, this must match the certificate.

  5. On the client(s), run

    socat UNIX-LISTEN:dtach-vim OPENSSL:server-hostname:12346,method=TLS1.2,cert=client-certificate.pem,key=client-key.pem,cafile=server-certificate.pem,commonname=''
dtach -a dtach-vim

  6. The server and client(s) now all have simultaneous full access to the server's dtach session. vim is only running on the server. If you're pair programming, remember that there is only one cursor!

  7. Consider running vim in restricted mode (-Z, http://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/starting.html#-Z) if you don't trust the other participants. If you do trust them, then you can just give them ssh access and skip most of the trouble.

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment