- Plexer: always-active terminal multiplexing. NativePlexerController/ TmuxPlexerController share one interface, chosen by which env var is already set (TAI_PLEXER_SOCKET vs TMUX_PANE); NativePlexerBackend is the pty.fork()-based wrapper (raw mode, SIGWINCH resize forwarding, a Unix-socket control protocol, continuous session logging, a Ctrl+A prefix key distinct from tmux's own Ctrl+B). Auto-wraps new interactive shells via a .bashrc hook mirroring the existing command-not-found install pattern, gated on $TMUX/$TAI_PLEXER_ACTIVE/ a $HOME/.tai-no-plexer bypass. New plexer_send/read/type/status tools, env-gated on a detected controller. - tests/container.py + docker-compose.yml + tests/docker/Dockerfile: a disposable podman/docker image for the tests that must never touch a real machine (installing the plexer hook into a real ~/.bashrc, a live tmux session). Required suite (test_seal.py, test_tai.py, tests/plexer.py, tests/bashrc.py) gates the result; tests/rag.py runs as best-effort since its real-LLM dependency can't be satisfied inside a disposable container with no nested engine. - tests/bashrc.py: real end-to-end hook install + bash -i auto-wrap, anti-recursion, tmux-active skip, non-interactive skip, a live TmuxPlexerController test, and an install/uninstall round-trip. - tests/plexer.py: NativePlexerBackend under a real pty, plus a dedicated robustness pass (file permissions, >64KB payload framing, a malformed control request, a genuine self-deadlock fix in the write-to-child path). - tai_test.py: the shared async process-driving framework (pipe/pty transport, group-wide kill-and-reap, a StdinBridge for --interactive) both test files build on. - ChatClient last-resort backend: when there's no local opencode CLI but the sandbox box is already running, install opencode into it (official Node tarball, not apt -- apt's nodejs/npm pull in webpack/babel/jest as transitive deps) and route through it instead of giving up. Only reachable after the first retry round already failed everything else; never creates the box itself. TmuxPlexerController.status() fixed to use `list-panes` instead of `display-message -p`, which silently fell back to the default pane instead of erroring against a dead target. - Fix 4 pre-existing test_tai.py bugs surfaced by running it in a clean environment for the first time: two stale mock signatures (subprocess.run's stdout= kwarg, Chat.complete's deadline= kwarg), one $TMUX-dependent catalog assertion, one tty-dependent color assertion. - research/: a sourced research archive (Source Dossier/Citation Card/Conclusion tiers) backing the above design decisions, with its own audit.py consistency checker. - .gitignore: fix a blanket *.md rule that was about to silently drop the entire research/ archive from version control; add __pycache__/ and the one-off debug transcript this session started from. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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2.5 KiB
LKML 2003 — SIGWINCH Only Reaches the Foreground Process Group
Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Institute | Molodetz Institute — Research & Retrieval Division |
| Subject | shell-multiplexer-auto-attach |
| Document type | Source Dossier |
| Tier | 1 |
| Source title | RFC/CFT 1/1: SIGWINCH - behaviour change |
| Source URL | https://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0302.1/1591.html |
| Source publisher / author | Linux kernel mailing list (2003) |
| Source type | forum thread |
| Source date (published) | 2003 (approximate, per thread era) |
| Date researched | 2026-10-09 |
| Researched by | tai (agent), model: Claude Sonnet 5, on behalf of retoor |
| Research method | web search synthesis |
| Confidence | High |
| Status | Active |
Summary
A kernel-mailing-list discussion establishing that SIGWINCH is only ever delivered to the foreground process group of a terminal — a backgrounded or detached job (exactly tmux's own panes when no client is attached) will not receive it even if the underlying terminal size genuinely changed.
Key findings
- A process group needs to be in the foreground to receive
SIGWINCHat all; this is a kernel-level restriction, not an application bug. - The direct consequence: relying solely on the signal to learn about a resize is insufficient for anything that can be backgrounded or detached (a tmux session with no client, or any session reattached later) — the size must be re-read and re-applied explicitly on resume/reattach, not assumed to have been kept in sync via signals the whole time.
Pros / strengths
- Primary-source kernel discussion, not a secondary summary — authoritative on kernel signal-delivery semantics.
Cons / limitations / caveats
- Old (2003) thread; kernel behavior in this specific area has been stable since, per the broader search synthesis, but worth a sanity check against current kernel docs if correctness here is load-bearing for a safety property.
Relevance to tai
Directly explains why tmux itself re-queries and re-applies window size on attach/reattach rather than relying purely on signals (this is exactly the detach/reattach cycle the proposal's whole persistent-session model depends on) — confirms that if tai ever builds any of this logic itself rather than delegating to tmux, it must re-sync size explicitly on every reattach, never assume signals alone kept it current.
Changelog
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| 2026-10-09 | Initial dossier created. |