Re: script to run screen with multiple telnet windows?

[bmathis-screen]

Sam Cramer wrote:
> I'm trying to write a script to start a screen session with multiple
> telnet windows to a terminal server.  The name of the terminal server
> varies, as does the number of windows, so this isn't something I can
> do by just adding some lines to my .screenrc.
>
> I tried creating a screen session and then repeatedly sending it
> commands using -X as follows
>
> screen -S screen_cons -X screen -t node$i $i telnet $tsv 20$i
>
> where $i is the terminal server port number and $tsv is the terminal
> server hostname.
>
> Unfortunately, the screen -X commands silently fail.  If I remove the
> trailing telnet clause, the windows are created (without the telnet
> commands, of course).
>
> I also tried synthesizing a .screenrc file, which I stored in a temp
> file and supplied to screen using the "-c" command.  That worked OK,
> save for the fact that screen seems to want to have the .screenrc file
> present when reconnecting to the session. This prevents me from
> deleting the temp file in the script and I'd really like to avoid
> having lots of old screenrc temp files lying around.
>
> Does anyone have any suggestions on how to solve this problem?
>
> Thanks,
> Sam

Maybe not as elegant, but you could write a script that does the following:
1. Figure out the name of the server and number of windows you need
2. Write that info as screen commands into a file, like .screen-terms
3. Include .screen-terms in your .screenrc
4. Launch screen

This way, you'll be able to dynamically alter the configuration without
messing with anything else you might have in the .screenrc file.

Not pretty, but it should work.