remote-atom

Remote Atom is a package for Atom which implements the Textmate's 'rmate' feature for Atom. It transfers files to be edited from remote server using SSH port forward and transfers the files back when they are saved.

Installation

Remote Atom can easily be installed using the Atom package manager by going to "Settings > Install" and searching for remote-atom, or by using the command line:

sudo apm install remote-atom

On the remote server, we need to install rmate (this one is the bash version). You don't have to install it if you have been using rmate with TextMate or Sublime Text. It is the same executable for TextMate and Sublime Text. If not, it (the bash version) can be installed by running this script (assume that you have the permission),

curl -o /usr/local/bin/rmate https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aurora/rmate/master/rmate
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/rmate

You can also rename the command to ratom

mv /usr/local/bin/rmate /usr/local/bin/ratom

If your remote system does not have bash (so what else does it have?), there are different versions of rmate to choose from:

• The official ruby version: https://github.com/textmate/rmate
• A bash version: https://github.com/aurora/rmate
• A perl version: https://github.com/davidolrik/rmate-perl
• A python version: https://github.com/sclukey/rmate-python
• A nim version: https://github.com/aurora/rmate-nim
• A C version: https://github.com/hanklords/rmate.c
• A node.js version: https://github.com/jrnewell/jmate

Usage

Open your Atom application, go to the menu Packages -> Remote Atom, and click Start Server. Your can also launch the server via command palette. The server can also be configured to be launched at startup in the preference.

Then, open an ssh connection to the remote server with remote port forwarded. It can be done by

ssh -R 52698:localhost:52698 user@example.com

After running the server, you can just open the file on the remote system by

rmate test.txt

... or if you renamed it to ratom then ...

ratom test.txt

If everything has been setup correctly, your should be able to see the opening file in Atom.

SSH config

It could be tedious to type -R 52698:localhost:52698 everytime you ssh. To make your life easier, add the following to ~/.ssh/config,

Host example.com
    RemoteForward 52698 localhost:52698
    User user

From now on, you only have to do ssh example.com.

Known issues

Since each window of Atom is a separate instance, the tcp server can only be running on one window. Therefore, file will only be opened in the window with the server running. If that window is closed, the server can be restarted by clicking Packages -> Remote Atom -> Start Server.

Maintainer wanted!**

This Atom package is no longer maintained. If there are any one who are interested to take charge of it, please file an issue on GitHub issues.

TODO

• writing tests