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I just learned about screen and it looks wonderful.

Some questions:

  1. How do they actually work?
  2. Why are downloads / process not interrupted in screens even though something bad happened?
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  • May be useful: echo $TERM in a screen session prints screen as opposed to xterm in ordinary bash sessions. Commented Dec 30, 2017 at 18:06

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21

Very briefly (it's possible to write several pages on the topic): screen works by

  • setting up a server process that takes over all input/output directly to your terminal,
  • starting client processes for each window that you create, and
  • connecting the server and clients as they are started using a pseudo-terminal connection (a feature of the operating system).

Once a client (window) is created, it is isolated from the other clients. It communicates via the pseudo-terminal connection to the server process, which updates the terminal. The server keeps track of what should be shown on the terminal in a given window, providing you with the ability to switch between windows. The clients run without knowing if screen is currently displaying their information.

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  • clear and fast +1 Commented Jan 29, 2019 at 9:35

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