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Multiple security issues in GNU Screen

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416 points st_goliath | 6 comments | 13 May 25 11:28 UTC | HN request time: 0.002s | source | bottom
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mmsc ◴[13 May 25 12:05 UTC] No.43971967[source]▶
It's surprising that upstream was involved in this. Around 5 years ago, I came to the (sad) conclusion that GNU screen development had completely halted. Is that still not the case?

Does screen have the functionality to add a new window to an existing screen without attaching to the screen yet?

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1. criddell ◴[13 May 25 13:44 UTC] No.43972925[source]▶
It’s not necessarily sad for GNU tool development to stop (other than bug fixes, of course). I would take that as a sign that they are basically complete.
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2. lxgr ◴[13 May 25 15:21 UTC] No.43973934[source]▶
Whether constant development is necessary or not largely depends on the surface area of your tool, both in terms of formal APIs it uses and external data formats and services.
3. kstrauser ◴[13 May 25 15:27 UTC] No.43973991[source]▶
Not quite in this case. Tmux was started by someone who wanted to update screen with new features but wasn’t able to bend the code that far. I say this not out of spite or meanness, as I used screen for many happy years, but I’d say it’s less complete and more abandoned. It still has maintainers but it seems to me that they’re more “keep the lights on” than actively developing it.
4. dundarious ◴[13 May 25 17:42 UTC] No.43975601[source]▶
screen didn't even have vertical splits until maybe 5 or 10 years ago. After tmux was already a solidly reliable replacement with vertical splits for years.
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5. Kwpolska ◴[13 May 25 18:57 UTC] No.43976373[source]▶
It's not sad if a good Stallman-free alternative exists. Like tmux.
6. wkat4242 ◴[13 May 25 19:26 UTC] No.43976656[source]▶
True, this is why I switched to tmux.