[Info-vax] VMS - Virtual Terminals - A security risk way back yonder OR was that an Old Wives Tale ?

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On Mon, 15 Feb 2016 08:07:50 -0800 (PST)
osuvman50--- via Info-vax <info-vax at rbnsn.com> wrote:

> On Thursday, February 11, 2016 at 11:12:57 AM UTC-5, Michael Moroney
> wrote:
> > Virtual terminals are still around.  They were great with flaky dialup 
> > lines,  However, virtual terminals don't work with SSH, DECnet (SET
> > HOST), DECterms and maybe not telnet (unsure).  So they see little use
> > now.
> > 
> 
> The SSHv1 server I wrote for VMS in the 90s supported virtual terminals
> (someone paid me to put it in).  You had to configure the server to start
> the interactive process without credentials so loginout would handle
> authentication (requiring the client to use password authentication).  I
> still use it on my home network.
> 
> I'm dealing now with flaky SSH sessions across the atlantic.  I
> jury-rigged a way to create processes with disconnectable PTYs, but the
> problem is the TCPIP services SSH isn't good at detecting broken
> connections (no keepalive apparently).  I can lose connection in the
> client, but the session on the server side is still open so the terminal
> I want to connect back usually isn't in a disconnected state.

Hoffman mentioned tmux briefly along with gnu screen upthread. I was never
a fan of screen but tmux is the cat's meow.

The tmux developers are more aware than most that other OS beside Linux
(ok, debatebly Linux is not an OS but that's not important right now)
exist. In fact, tmux is included in OpenBSD base which is where I first
became familiar with it. The few times there were issues building it on
Solaris the guy who runs OpenCSW submitted patches and they were accepted.

If somebody could get tmux working on VMS I think everybody would find it
useful. Specifically to the issue of virtual terminals, tmux maintains its
state across line drops, etc. It's great for working headless or over SSH.
If your client goes away you can tmux attach when you reconnect to the
server. tmux allows you to create and switch between multiple virtual
terminals inside one physical connection so is very nice when you don't
have an X session and want to run more than one console app.