LilyTerm

LilyTerm is a light and easy to use terminal emulator for Linux and macOS, based on the VTE library. It has tabs, split panes, profiles, and key bindings that you can change from the right click menu.

This repository is a modernized fork of Tetralet/LilyTerm, whose last release was in 2019. The fork builds against current GTK+ 3 (3.24) and VTE (0.84), runs natively on Wayland and on X11, and is also released as one fully static binary that runs on any x86_64 Linux system. On macOS (Apple Silicon) it runs with the native backend of GTK+ 3, from a .dmg with everything inside, or installed with Homebrew.

Features

• Tabs: rename, reorder, and drag them to another window (a tab with split panes cannot be dragged yet).
• Split panes: split a tab side by side or one above the other, as many times as you want.
• Profiles: save the current tabs, colors and fonts with [Save settings] in the right click menu.
• Key bindings: change or disable every key binding with [Set key binding] in the right click menu.
• Search: Ctrl+F (Cmd+F on macOS) opens a search bar over the top right corner, which finds text in the scrollback as you type. Enter goes to the match before, Shift+Enter to the one after, Esc closes it. Aa makes it case sensitive, .* takes the text as a regular expression.
• Hyperlinks: click a web or file:// URL, or an email address, to open it. An email address opens as a mailto: URL in your mail client. Links that programs mark with OSC 8 (ls --hyperlink, gcc, git, systemctl, ...) open the same way, and show where they go in the corner of the window when the mouse is over them. Only web, ftp, mailto: and file:// links open, and a file:// link only to a file on this machine (not one that ls printed on a server over ssh).
• Paths: click a path to open it with the file manager command, as open / xdg-open do: /etc/hosts, ~/notes.txt, ./build, src/main.c and, with a line number as compilers print them, main.c:42:5. A relative path is taken in the directory of the shell. Only a file or directory that exists opens. A program (an executable file, an .app, or a file that runs a command when it is opened, as a .terminal, .command, .fileloc or .desktop file) is not run: its folder opens. While ssh, mosh, et, telnet, docker, podman, kubectl or lxc runs in the tab, paths do not open: they are the ones of the other machine or of the container. (LilyTerm tells by the name of the program in the foreground of the tab, so a program that starts ssh for you is not known.)
• Tab names: a tab shows what runs in it, or the directory of the shell, as ~/src/LilyTerm for a directory in your home. The whole name is in its tooltip.
• Copy on select: with [Copy selected text to clipboard] in the right click menu (copy_on_select = 1 in the profile), a selection goes to the clipboard as well, ready for Ctrl+V or Cmd+V in other programs. It is off by default; the middle click pastes a selection either way. Text copied to the clipboard has no spaces at the end of its lines.
• One running LilyTerm for all windows: a second lilyterm command opens its window in the process that already runs, over a socket. Start LilyTerm with -s to run a window in its own process.
• Wayland and X11, with the same binary.

Installation

Static binary (any x86_64 Linux)

The releases page has one static binary, lilyterm-x86_64. GTK+ and VTE are linked in, so it does not need any library of your system.

curl -LO https://github.com/ebal/LilyTerm/releases/latest/download/lilyterm-x86_64
curl -LO https://github.com/ebal/LilyTerm/releases/latest/download/SHA256SUMS
sha256sum --check --ignore-missing SHA256SUMS
chmod +x lilyterm-x86_64
./lilyterm-x86_64

To also install the icon, the desktop entry, the manual and the translations, use the tarball from the same page:

tar xf lilyterm-*-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
cd lilyterm-*-linux-x86_64
./install.sh              # into ~/.local
sudo ./install.sh         # into /usr/local, for every user
./install.sh --uninstall  # remove it again

Set PREFIX=/usr to install somewhere else. The translations are only found when LilyTerm is installed with PREFIX=/usr.

The static binary cannot load plugins. Because of this:

• On Wayland, it reads the theme and font settings from ~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini and $GTK_THEME, not from dconf.
• Icons that exist only as SVG in your icon theme are not shown.
• If you use IBus or Fcitx on X11, start it with GTK_IM_MODULE=xim.

docker/README.md has the full list.

macOS (Apple Silicon)

The releases page has LilyTerm-VERSION-macos-arm64.dmg: LilyTerm.app with GTK+ 3 and VTE inside, so it needs nothing else.

1. Open the .dmg and drag LilyTerm to Applications. It has to be in /Applications, where it finds its icon, translations and settings.

2. LilyTerm is not signed by Apple, so macOS refuses to open it the first time ("cannot be opened" or "is damaged"). Remove the quarantine flag once, in Terminal:

   xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/LilyTerm.app

3. Open LilyTerm from Launchpad, Spotlight or the Applications folder. It starts a login shell, so your ~/.zprofile is read as in Terminal.

4. The first time a program in LilyTerm connects to a computer on your local network (ssh to 192.168.x.x), macOS asks to allow LilyTerm to find devices on the local network: allow it. Without it, ssh says "No route to host" for those computers only. If you said no, or it does not ask: System Settings > Privacy & Security > Local Network, switch LilyTerm off and on, and start LilyTerm again.

macOS keeps that permission when you update LilyTerm, since 0.14.4: the app is signed with the same certificate in every release, and LilyTerm itself is its main executable, which macOS knows the permission by. (Up to 0.14.3, a script started LilyTerm, and macOS gave the permission to the program it started, another one in every release: ssh said "No route to host" after an update. Allow LilyTerm once more after updating to 0.14.4.)

The .dmg is built for the macOS version of the GitHub runner and later (LSMinimumSystemVersion in the app). Intel Macs are not supported.

On macOS, window transparency is off (GTK+ 3 would draw the title bar clear as well). LilyTerm has a menu bar there, and its key bindings use the Command key (see Key bindings), so most Ctrl keys go to the programs in the terminal. Links open with open, also with a profile that says xdg-open (from Linux, or with xdg-utils installed).

Or with Homebrew

brew install ebal/tap/lilyterm
lilyterm

Homebrew builds LilyTerm from source, with GTK+ 3 and VTE from Homebrew, and installs the lilyterm command, not an app. The tap's README has the details.

From source

Requirements

• GTK+ 3.22 or later (gtk+-3.0), VTE 0.50 or later for GTK+ 3 (vte-2.91) and GLib 2.32 or later, with their development files
• A C compiler, make, pkg-config and gettext

On Arch Linux, install the gtk3, vte3 and gettext packages. On Debian and Ubuntu, install libgtk-3-dev, libvte-2.91-dev and gettext.

Build and install

git clone https://github.com/ebal/LilyTerm.git
cd LilyTerm
./configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc/xdg
make
sudo make install

./configure --help shows the other options. sudo make uninstall removes LilyTerm again.

Usage

Start LilyTerm with three tabs, in your home directory:

lilyterm -t 3 -d ~

Run a command in a new tab, and keep the tab open after the command ends:

lilyterm -H -e htop

lilyterm --help lists every option. man lilyterm is the full manual.

Key bindings

These are the defaults. You can change each of them, or disable it, with [Set key binding] in the right click menu.

Keys	Action
Ctrl+T	New tab in the current directory
Ctrl+PgUp / PgDn	Previous / next tab
Ctrl+Home / End	First / last tab
Ctrl+F1 ... F12	Tab 1 ... 12
Ctrl+Shift+E	Split the pane side by side
Ctrl+Shift+O	Split the pane one above the other
Ctrl+Shift+N	Move the focus to the next pane
Ctrl+Shift+W	Close the pane (the last pane closes the tab)
Ctrl+F	Search bar (F3 / Shift+F3: next / previous match)
Ctrl+Delete / Insert	Copy / paste with the clipboard
Shift+Delete / Insert	Copy / paste with the primary selection
Ctrl+= / - / Enter	Bigger / smaller / reset font
Alt+F11 / Alt+Enter	Full window / full screen
Ctrl+`	Disable or enable hyperlinks, function keys and the menu

The right click menu also has [Split right], [Split down] and [Close pane].

On macOS the defaults use the Command key instead. The keys not listed here stay as in the table above.

Keys	Action
Cmd+T / Cmd+N	New tab / new window in the current directory
Cmd+W	Close the tab
Cmd+Shift+[ / ]	Previous / next tab
Cmd+Home / End	First / last tab
Cmd+Alt+[ / ]	Move the tab forward / backward
Cmd+Alt+Up / Down	Move the tab to first / last
Cmd+Shift+I	Rename the tab
Cmd+1 ... 9	Tab 1 ... 9
Cmd+D / Cmd+Shift+D	Split the pane side by side / one above the other
Cmd+] / Cmd+Shift+W	Next pane / close the pane
Cmd+C / Cmd+V / Cmd+A	Copy / paste / select all
Cmd+F	Search bar (Cmd+G / Cmd+Shift+G: next / previous match)
Cmd+K	Clear the scrollback
Cmd+= / - / 0	Bigger / smaller / reset font
Cmd+Ctrl+F	Full screen
Cmd+Q / Cmd+H / Cmd+M	Quit / hide / minimize

In a profile, Cmd is the Command key on macOS and the Super (Win) key on Linux, e.g. new_tab_key = Cmd T. On macOS, a profile saved before 0.12.0 (on macOS or Linux) has its keys that are still the Linux defaults read as the macOS ones. A profile saved by 0.12.0 or later is used as it is. To keep a Ctrl key, set it again with [Set key binding] and save the profile.

Configuration

File	What it is
/etc/xdg/lilyterm.conf	The system wide configuration
~/.config/lilyterm/default.conf	Your profile

lilyterm -p prints a sample profile with every setting and its description. lilyterm -u FILE starts LilyTerm with another profile.

The running LilyTerm listens on a socket in $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR (or in /tmp without one), .LilyTerm_USER followed by the display name. It holds a lock on the .lock file next to it for as long as it runs, so the next lilyterm knows that it is there even when it is busy.

Development

The docker/ directory has two container images. One builds LilyTerm against the system libraries and runs the test suite on X11 (Xvfb) and on Wayland (headless sway). The other builds the static binary.

docker build -f docker/Dockerfile.dev -t lilyterm-dev .
docker run --rm -v "$PWD":/src:ro lilyterm-dev
docker run --rm -e SANITIZE=1 -v "$PWD":/src:ro lilyterm-dev   # with ASan and UBSan

docker build -f docker/Dockerfile.static --target export --output dist .
./dist/lilyterm

The test suite starts with the unit tests of tests/unit/ (also tests/unit/run.sh on its own). The macOS app is built by macos/bundle-app.sh, on macOS with GTK+ 3 and VTE from Homebrew, and tested by macos/test-app.sh with Homebrew moved away; GitHub Actions runs both on an Apple Silicon runner.

docker/README.md explains the tests, the static build and the release process. Every change is built and tested on Gitea first; GitHub Actions builds and publishes a release for every tag vX.Y.Z.

Contributing

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on the issue tracker. Commit messages follow Conventional Commits. Run the test suite in docker/ before you open a pull request.

Changes

CHANGELOG.md lists the changes of every release, in the Keep a Changelog format. Since 0.9.10 the versions follow Semantic Versioning.

Authors

LilyTerm was written by Lu, Chao-Ming (Tetralet) and its contributors. Evaggelos Balaskas maintains this fork.

License

LilyTerm is free software under the GNU General Public License version 3.