Node.js: Remote shell with control sequences

Question

Node.js: Remote shell with control sequences

I am trying to code a remote shell with Node.js. Here's what I got for the moment :

Client

var net = require('net');

var client = net.connect({port: 1234}, function(){
  process.stdin.pipe(client);
  client.pipe(process.stdout);
});

Server

var net = require('net'),
    spawn = require('child_process').spawn;

var server = net.createServer(function(socket){
  var sh = spawn('/bin/sh');
  sh.stdout.pipe(socket);
  sh.stderr.pipe(socket);
  socket.pipe(sh.stdin);
});
server.listen(1234);

It works pretty well with simple commands but when I launch emacs or nano it doesn't because control sequences aren't sent. I would like to make it behave kinda like ssh. Is such a thing possible ? Maybe using process.stdin.setRawMode(true) ?

Thanks

javascript
node.js
sockets
remote-access
tty

Answer 1

I found what I was looking for. It's called pty.js.

Server-side:

var net = require('net');                                                                           
var pty = require('pty.js');

var server = net.createServer();

server.on('connection', function(socket){
  var term = pty.spawn('bash', [], {
    name: 'xterm-color',
    cols: 80,
    rows: 40,
    cwd: process.env.HOME,
    env: process.env
  });
  socket.pipe(term);
  term.pipe(socket);
});
server.listen(1234);

Client-side:

var net = require('net');

var client = net.connect(1234);

client.on('connect', function(){
  process.stdin.setRawMode(true);
  process.stdin.pipe(client);
  client.pipe(process.stdout);
});

client.on('end', function(){
  console.log('[Connection closed by peer]');
  process.stdin.setRawMode(false);
  process.exit();
});

Only works with node v0.10.x for the moment.