Shell commands have a " " prefixed, breaking (some) history

[klausman]

Step 1: Provide a summary of your problem

All commands in a YAML file have a " " (space, 0x20) prefixed, which breaks history for people who have bash set to omit space-prefixed commands form history. If I wanted that, specifying a space in the config would be the thing to do.

Step 2: Provide tmuxp details

• Include output of tmuxp debug-info

$ tmuxp debug-info
-------------------------
environment:
   dist: Linux-5.15.0-2-amd64-x86_64-with-glibc2.33
   arch: x86_64
   uname: Linux; workdog; 5.15.0-2-amd64
   version: #1 SMP Debian 5.15.5-2 (2021-12-18)
-------------------------
python version: 3.9.9 (main, Jan 10 2022, 10:55:59)  [GCC 11.2.0]
system PATH: /home/klausman/.local/bin:/usr/lib/go-1.8/bin:/home/klausman/go/bin:/home/klausman/bin:/home/klausman/.local/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/games/bin
tmux version: 3.2
libtmux version: 0.10.1
tmuxp version: 1.9.2
tmux path: /usr/bin/tmux
tmuxp path: /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/tmuxp/__init__.py
shell: /bin/bash
-------------------------
tmux sessions:
   shorthands: 1 windows (created Fri Jan 14 14:38:10 2022) (attached)

tmux windows:
   0: long form* (3 panes) [82x24] [layout 786d,82x24,0,0[82x13,0,0,8,82x4,0,14,9,82x5,0,19,10]] @5 (active)

tmux panes:
   0: [82x13] [history 0/10000, 6516 bytes] %8 (active)
   1: [82x4] [history 0/10000, 3228 bytes] %9
   2: [82x5] [history 0/10000, 3260 bytes] %10

tmux global options:
   activity-action none
   assume-paste-time 1
   base-index 0
   bell-action any
   default-command ''
   default-shell /bin/bash
   default-size 80x24
   destroy-unattached off
   detach-on-destroy on
   display-panes-active-colour red
   display-panes-colour blue
   display-panes-time 1000
   display-time 750
   history-limit 10000
   key-table root
   lock-after-time 0
   lock-command "lock -np"
   message-command-style bg=black,fg=yellow
   message-style bg=yellow,fg=black
   mouse off
   prefix C-a
   prefix2 None
   renumber-windows off
   repeat-time 500
   set-titles on
   set-titles-string "#T"
   silence-action other
   status on
   status-bg black
   status-fg white
   status-format[0] "#[align=left range=left #{status-left-style}]#[push-default]#{T;=/#{status-left-length}:status-left}#[pop-default]#[norange default]#[list=on align=#{status-justify}]#[list=left-marker]<#[list=right-marker]>#[list=on]#{W:#[range=window|#{window_index} #{window-status-style}#{?#{&&:#{window_last_flag},#{!=:#{window-status-last-style},default}}, #{window-status-last-style},}#{?#{&&:#{window_bell_flag},#{!=:#{window-status-bell-style},default}}, #{window-status-bell-style},#{?#{&&:#{||:#{window_activity_flag},#{window_silence_flag}},#{!=:#{window-status-activity-style},default}}, #{window-status-activity-style},}}]#[push-default]#{T:window-status-format}#[pop-default]#[norange default]#{?window_end_flag,,#{window-status-separator}},#[range=window|#{window_index} list=focus #{?#{!=:#{window-status-current-style},default},#{window-status-current-style},#{window-status-style}}#{?#{&&:#{window_last_flag},#{!=:#{window-status-last-style},default}}, #{window-status-last-style},}#{?#{&&:#{window_bell_flag},#{!=:#{window-status-bell-style},default}}, #{window-status-bell-style},#{?#{&&:#{||:#{window_activity_flag},#{window_silence_flag}},#{!=:#{window-status-activity-style},default}}, #{window-status-activity-style},}}]#[push-default]#{T:window-status-current-format}#[pop-default]#[norange list=on default]#{?window_end_flag,,#{window-status-separator}}}#[nolist align=right range=right #{status-right-style}]#[push-default]#{T;=/#{status-right-length}:status-right}#[pop-default]#[norange default]"
   status-format[1] "#[align=centre]#{P:#{?pane_active,#[reverse],}#{pane_index}[#{pane_width}x#{pane_height}]#[default] }"
   status-interval 15
   status-justify left
   status-keys emacs
   status-left "[#h]"
   status-left-length 10
   status-left-style default
   status-position bottom
   status-right ''
   status-right-length 40
   status-right-style default
   status-style bg=green,fg=black
   update-environment[0] DISPLAY
   update-environment[1] KRB5CCNAME
   update-environment[2] SSH_ASKPASS
   update-environment[3] SSH_AUTH_SOCK
   update-environment[4] SSH_AGENT_PID
   update-environment[5] SSH_CONNECTION
   update-environment[6] WINDOWID
   update-environment[7] XAUTHORITY
   visual-activity off
   visual-bell off
   visual-silence off
   word-separators " "

tmux window options:
   aggressive-resize off
   allow-rename off
   alternate-screen on
   automatic-rename on
   automatic-rename-format "#{?pane_in_mode,[tmux],#{pane_current_command}}#{?pane_dead,[dead],}"
   clock-mode-colour blue
   clock-mode-style 24
   copy-mode-match-style bg=cyan,fg=black
   copy-mode-current-match-style bg=magenta,fg=black
   copy-mode-mark-style bg=red,fg=black
   main-pane-height 24
   main-pane-width 80
   mode-keys emacs
   mode-style bg=yellow,fg=black
   monitor-activity on
   monitor-bell on
   monitor-silence 0
   other-pane-height 0
   other-pane-width 0
   pane-active-border-style "#{?pane_in_mode,fg=yellow,#{?synchronize-panes,fg=red,fg=green}}"
   pane-base-index 0
   pane-border-format "#{?pane_active,#[reverse],}#{pane_index}#[default] \"#{pane_title}\""
   pane-border-lines single
   pane-border-status off
   pane-border-style default
   remain-on-exit off
   synchronize-panes off
   window-active-style default
   window-size latest
   window-style default
   window-status-activity-style "fg=white bg=black"
   window-status-bell-style "fg=white bg=black"
   window-status-current-format "#I:#W#{?window_flags,#{window_flags}, }"
   window-status-current-style "bg=white fg=black"
   window-status-format "#I:#W#{?window_flags,#{window_flags}, }"
   window-status-last-style "fg=white bg=black"
   window-status-separator " "
   window-status-style default
   wrap-search on
   xterm-keys on

Step 3: Describe the problem:

Steps to reproduce:

~ $ cat bla.yaml 
session_name: shorthands
windows:
  - window_name: long form
    panes:
    - shell_command:
      - echo 'did you know'
      - echo 'you can inline'
    - shell_command: echo 'single commands'
    - echo 'for panes'
$ tmuxp load bla.yaml

Observed Results:

• What happened? This could be a description, log output, etc.

 echo 'did you know'
 echo 'you can inline'
workdog ~ $  echo 'did you know'
did you know
workdog ~ $  echo 'you can inline'
you can inline
workdog ~ $ 






──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 echo 'single commands'
workdog ~ $  echo 'single commands'
single commands
workdog ~ $ 
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 echo 'for panes'
workdog ~ $  echo 'for panes'
for panes
workdog ~ $ 

[workdog]0:long form*           ```
#### Expected Results:
  * What did you expect to happen?

#### Relevant Code:

Note how all the echo commands have space in front of them. Since I have shopt -s ignorespace (for reasons unrelated to tmuxp), it means that I can't arrow-up to rerun those commands. Wrapping the commands like this: - "echo bla" does not help.

[tony]

@klausman

have you tried suppress_history: false in windows

https://tmuxp.git-pull.com/examples.html#terminal-history, https://github.com/tmux-python/tmuxp/blob/master/examples/suppress-history.yaml

session_name: shorthands
windows:
  - window_name: long form
    suppress_history: false
    panes:
    - shell_command:
      - echo 'did you know'
      - echo 'you can inline'
    - shell_command: echo 'single commands'
    - echo 'for panes'

do those help in any way?

[klausman]

Yeah, that fixes the issue for me.

I tried finding anything about this in the docs, but did not manage to do so before you pointed it out here. So at least it could be more discoverable (maybe strategically using the term "leading space" somewhere in the document, so fulltext search can find it). Oddly enough,m I searched for "leading space" rather than "history", hence my inability to find it. It did look intentional since wrapping commands in " didn't help, but I somehow failed to find the relevant tmuxp option. Maybe because I thought default-on suppression of hisotry to be unlikely (see below).

Personally, I find history suppression being on by default to be counter-intuitive (seeing how I can selectively do it myself with just adding leading space to the commands themselves). I guess it depends on how likely it is that you will exit/restart a command in a tmuxp-created session (I do this a lot when doing work with weechat and its plugins) vs. not wanting your history "spammed".

[tony]

The reason why I made it the default is the shell commaands would accrue in .bash_history and .zsh_history and it can be messy. Over a week of running tmuxp load, those can make histor look ups messy

And I also would very much welcome a documentation improvement in this respect if you'd like to make a PR. I want to make sure this setting can be changed easily and doesn't get in the way

It's the first time I've seen an instance of not liking the default. If we get enough feedback in that regard, it's possible we can change it. we want intuition, but I don't have enough data to go on yet

[klausman]

The reason why I made it the default is the shell commaands would accrue in .bash_history and .zsh_history and it can be messy. Over a week of running tmuxp load, those can make histor look ups messy

I've done more thinking about it.

I guess it depends on the use case. I use tmuxp to re-setup state after reboots (or when upgrading things running inside tmux), so it doesn't happen often that I run it "from scratch", and re-running things inside of the generated tmux session is a lot more common (hence history being useful). Given that tmuxp is specifically intended for the frequent startup/teardown of entire sessions, I totally understand that to most users the dont-spam-my-history part is more important than rerunning things inside the session, so the default makes sense.

And I also would very much welcome a documentation improvement in this respect if you'd like to make a PR. I want to make sure this setting can be changed easily and doesn't get in the way

I will try and make a PR this weekend.

It's the first time I've seen an instance of not liking the default. If we get enough feedback in that regard, it's possible we can change it. we want intuition, but I don't have enough data to go on yet

Agreed. As mentioned above, I would not be surprised if the default is actually the right thing for most people, and my case is the exception, thus making the current default the right thing to do.

[tony]

if we can make it clearer and improve the examples.rst to catch more people who are searching, that will be of help. because clearly our current way of writing it needs to make it easier to access suppress_history

and as for the defaults the door is always open to see what people thing. intuitive defaults and principle of least astonishment are good ways to keep things running smooth.

where we do have corner cases, introducing new config options and solid tests for them have proved very successful here