[scp, ssh] Open remote machine’s files in Midnight Commander (MC) and Vim

0. ssh-agent and ssh-add

Got into the habit of adding a passphrase to private keys, so ssh commands will keep asking for it every time. ssh-agent solves this problem, and makes sure that passphrase popups won’t interrupt.

1. Current workflow

1. Open tmux

2. cd to project

3. ssh-agent vim -S Session.vim

4. In Vim, :!ssh-add

5. Continue with either Vim or Midnight Commander (or both)

1. scp in `Midnight Commander

As of version 4.8.23:

1. Open either Left or Right on the top menu (press F9 if using mouse is not an option)

2. Select Shell link...

3. Type in the connection in the format username@hostname (e.g., lofa@1.2.3.4)

Mostly taken from here . There is this question asking how to make this permanent.

2. Vim

Using

:Lexplore scp://<server>/<path>

For example:

:Lexplore scp://1.2.3.4//home/toraritte/clones/

The extra / (instead of the :) is crucial! Type :h scp for more info (which is an alias to :h netrw).

Prefer using Lexplore (see :h Lexplore) because it gives the layout I prefer (i.e., a fixed vertical file browser on the left).

2.1 Issues

Whenever I select a file the Vim tab gets messed up upon opening (e.g., the file browser split becomes blank, the opened file’s lines show up funky), so just press CTRL-L to redraw the screen (see :h CTRL-L).