This program was created to wrap an ssh session with the ability to enter a hotkey which pops you out into "line-editing mode", so that you can type full lines without sending a single char at a time over the tunnel and waiting for it to ACK. This can really be an annoyance especially if your keyboard, like mine, misses keys sometimes, and especially you're on a very high latency link, such as a GSM or satellite link.
It is inspired by ssh-line-mode, written in Perl. I had issues installing and running it on a server where I'm restricted to being a user and can't install system packages, so I decided rather than dive into local installation of Perl with my hands tied behind my back, I'd make use of the freedom afforded by the sysadmins providing a python2.7 interpeter in the environment.
git clone https://github.com/dt-rush/pysshlm
cd pysshlm
python setup.py install
If you don't have root access on your box, run
python setup.py install --user
... and be sure to add $HOME/.local/bin to your PATH.
After installing, run the command, optionally specifying a user and a password:
pysshlm [user@]host
Once the session starts, you can type CTRL+] at any time to pop into and out of line-editing mode.
You can force quit in line-mode by hitting CTRL+D.
- line history with up/down arrow keys
- left/right arrow key line navigation (including CTRL+left, CTRL+right)
- tab completion (this will be a bit annoying to implement)