#### "Linux Gazette...making Linux just a little more fun!"

# The Answer Guy

#### By James T. Dennis, linux-questions-only@ssc.com
Starshine Technical Services, http://www.starshine.org/

### Telnet/xterm: Log to file

From Jason Joyce on 07 Oct 1998

How can you log a telnet session using it from an xterm in Linux? I need to create a log of my actions during a telnet session, and I know that you can do it using telnet under Microsoft. And I know that if those guys have it, then they must have copied it from somewhere, and so I believe that it is possible using Linux, but I can't find any way.

Thanks for any help, Jason

> You can run the '`script`' command (which creates a "transcript" named "typescript" by default.

> You can also run the '`screen`' utility, which, among many other features, allows you to take open multiple screen sessions through one virtual console, telnet, xterm, or even dial-up VT100 sessions and dumb terminals. Think of having all the power of your virtual consoles from any sort of terminal/shell session. You can do screen snapshots, open and close log files, view a backscroll buffer (with '`vi`' like search features), mark and paste text (keyboard driven), do a screen lock, and even detach the whole screen session from your current terminal, xterm or whatever (and re-attach to it from any login, from that or any other terminal, later).

> I routinely run '`screen`' for all my sessions. When I log into one of my ISP shell accounts I prefer to run '`screen`' at the far end because it will auto-detach if my modem disconnects me. So, I can redial, re-attach and resume my work. I can also dial into my home system, do a '`kill -HUP`' on my screen process (actually a '`screen -d -R`' will auto located, HUP, and re-attach all at once) and continue working on all ten of the interactive programs that I had running at the time.

> There are other ways you can do this. There was a sample script in '`expect`' that did this in about 10 lines of TCL/expect code.

> You can also use Kermit (ckermit, from Columbia University). This is a communications package, file transfer package and network client. I wrote an article for SysAdmin Magazine about a year ago to describe its use as a telent/rlogin client.

> In addition to be fully scriptable and supporting the same file transfers over TCP/IP as it does over any serial connection; it's also possible to do logging and exentisive debugging using Kermit.

> The next version (currently still in beta?) should support Kerberos authentication and encryption (one of several enhancements that I beat up on Frank de la Cruz --- it's principal author and co-ordinator --- about while researching my article).

> So, there's about four options off the top of my head.

##### Copyright © 1998, James T. Dennis
Published in Linux Gazette Issue 34 November 1998

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