BK-DEBUGTOOL(1)

🌸 NAME 🌸

Hey bestie, welcome to the bk debugtool(none) page from the BitKeeper User’s Manual 💖 — this is bk debugtool, and it’s a tool for use in remote command line debugging. Periodt.

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

bk debugtool [‐‐shell] [‐‐server] [‐pproxy] [‐uusername] [host:port]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

bk debugtool launches a graphical interface that connects to a remote debug server and allows the possibility of remote command line debugging. One instance of debugtool connecting to the server declares itself as the shell, and all the other instances can chat and issue commands to the shell. It’s giving group chat, but make it terminal 💅.

The debugtool works by connecting to a remote debug server using the HTTP protocol. It does not keep an open connection to the server — instead it polls the server for updates at regular intervals. This lets debugtool appear exactly as any other HTTP client to any intermediate proxy servers, which should allow all communication to pass through any firewalls that already allow web traffic. The client will simply appear as another web client. No cap, that’s the whole stealth vibe 🌈.

• ‐‐shell — this says you want your instance of debugtool to be the shell that everyone executes commands on. Each time a command is requested, you are asked to allow the command to proceed, or you can simply say that all commands from that user should be allowed. There can only be one shell in a session, and any attempt to connect a second shell will simply disable the shell for the subsequent clients. Only the first to request it is given the shell 👑.
• ‐‐server — this starts a local instance of the debug server and then immediately launches the debugtool and connects to that local instance. Other people can then connect to your local instance to create a debug session ✨.

The synopsis also has ‐pproxy and ‐uusername, bestie. The original page doesn’t spill any extra tea about them, so I’m not inventing details — ikykyk 💀.

💅 COMMANDS 💅

Hitting Tab from within the debugtool will switch between chat and shell mode. The prompt at the bottom next to the entry box will show the current mode. Anything you type while in chat mode will simply be echoed to everyone in the session. Anything entered while in shell mode will be sent to the client who has the shell, executed on their machine, and the result echoed back for everyone to see. Main character energy for the shell holder, fr fr 🫶.

Typing a / as the first character of anything entered specifies any of a list of commands to be called from within the tool. The available commands are:

• /allow <all | username> — allow all users or a single user access to execute commands if you are the shell. This will give permanent permission to execute commands if you are the shell, and you will not be prompted to approve commands if they are sent from this user (or all users) 🎀.
• /clear <chat | shell> — clear either the chat or shell window. Fresh screen, fresh vibe 🧼.
• /say <message> — send a message to the chat window no matter which mode you are in. This is handy if you want to say something without exiting command mode 💬.
• /shell <command> — execute a command in the shell no matter which mode you are in. This is handy if you want to execute a quick command without exiting chat mode ⚡.

Cute little footer sign-off: BitKeeper Inc · 1E1 · bk debugtool(none). There’s no date listed in the footer, so I’m not inventing one — periodt, bestie 💅✨🦋.