Socket and servers

A tmux server is selected by its Unix-domain socket. Use different sockets for independent servers, such as a development session and an isolated test server. Choose the default socket, a named socket (-L), or an explicit path (-S).

Naming a server¶

mServer::at_default() selects the default socket. Use mServer::at_socket_name("work") for a named socket or mServer::at_socket_path(path) for an explicit path.

auto named = libtmux::Server::at_socket_name("work");

Choose either a socket name or a socket path. tmux uses TMUX_TMPDIR to resolve the directory for default and named sockets.

Is the server actually there?¶

A server handle does not prove that the target server is running. Use a liveness check when your program needs to distinguish a live server from an unavailable socket:

mServer.is_alive takes a timeout and returns a boolean.

if (server.is_alive(std::chrono::seconds{2})) {
  server.sessions();
}

Killing a server, and telling two apart¶

Killing a server ends all its sessions. Use this only for a server your program owns; for narrower cleanup, kill the session or pane you created.

Call mserver.kill() and inspect its result for a failure.

A restarted server can reuse a socket path while having different state. Do not treat a matching path as proof that a cached object still exists.