Ansible Role tmux¶

This role installs tmux and deploys a system-wide /etc/tmux.conf with sensible defaults, for example a larger scrollback buffer.

Available in the next LFOps release.

How the Role Behaves¶

The configuration is fully templated. On every run /etc/tmux.conf is re-rendered from the role’s template (a timestamped backup is kept), so out-of-band manual edits are overwritten. Manage all settings through the role variables below.
A changed configuration takes effect for newly started tmux sessions. Already running sessions keep their loaded configuration until they are restarted or the file is sourced manually.
Copy-mode selections are sent to the clipboard of the local terminal emulator through the OSC 52 escape sequence (set-clipboard on). This works over SSH, but only if the local terminal emulator supports OSC 52. Terminals without OSC 52 support simply ignore the sequence.
As a terminal-independent alternative, prefix + P writes the complete scrollback buffer of the current pane to /tmp/tmux-scrollback-<user>-<session>-<window>.<pane>.txt (mode 0600, since the scrollback may contain secrets). From there it can be copied off the host, searched or archived. A confirmation with the exact path is shown in the status line.

tmux

tmux__history_limit

tmux__mouse

Example:

# optional
tmux__history_limit: 50000
tmux__mouse: false

Copy mode does not reach the local clipboard over SSH

OSC 52 (set-clipboard on) hands the selection to the local terminal emulator, which this role cannot configure. The emulator must support and allow OSC 52 clipboard writes. foot, kitty, WezTerm and Alacritty work out of the box. xterm needs XTerm*disallowedWindowOps: 20,21,SetXprop in ~/.Xresources (OSC 52 is disabled by default there). gnome-terminal and other VTE terminals only support OSC 52 from VTE 0.78 onwards.
Note that the relevant terminal is the one running locally. Over SSH the remote-only tools wl-copy / xclip cannot reach your local clipboard; OSC 52 is what carries the data back through the connection.
Independent of any terminal support, prefix + P dumps the whole scrollback to a file (see How the Role Behaves) that can be copied off the host.

Clipboard does not work through nested tmux (tmux inside tmux)

Each tmux layer relays the OSC 52 of an inner tmux only when its own set-clipboard is on; the tmux default external sets the clipboard from its own copy mode but swallows OSC 52 coming from an inner tmux. Set set-clipboard on in any outer tmux you manage yourself, for example a local ~/.tmux.conf.

Copied text pastes with middle-click but not with Ctrl+V

The terminal stored the OSC 52 data in the PRIMARY selection (middle-click) instead of CLIPBOARD (Ctrl+V). tmux sends an empty selection target and terminals differ in how they interpret it. On xterm, add XTerm*selectToClipboard: true to ~/.Xresources to route it to CLIPBOARD.

missing or unsuitable terminal: <name> when starting tmux over SSH

The remote host has no terminfo entry for your local terminal (common with foot and xterm-kitty). This is a terminfo gap, not a role problem. Either connect with a TERM the host already knows, for example TERM=xterm-256color ssh <host>, or copy your terminfo to the host once with infocmp -x | ssh <host> tic -x -.