iTerm2 - How to auto-close sessions and auto-exit when last one closed

 Problem

There are two problems when you close sessions and windows in ITerm2.

When you gracefully exit from ITerm2 sessions with a recommended exit command;

1. Closed sessions leave them dangled until you Bury them (with Bury from context menu) or close with the cross-sign  'X'  on top left. That is an extra useless step.
2. When last session is closed iTerm2 is still left running (on the Mac menu bar.) Why not quit at the same time?

This iTerm2 window has two sessions:

Exiting from the RHS session leaves a useless pane on the right:

You can close it with the cross on the top left of the session pane, but that is an extra step.

Moreover closing the window with the last dangled session, does not close the ITerm2 app. Why not quit at the same time?

Solution

1. To fix dangled sessions after exit, go to iTerm2 Preferences, Profiles/Session tab. Under Closing, "After a session ends" dropdown, select Close.
2. To quit iTerm2 when last session is closed, go to iTerm2 Preferences, General/Closing tab. Tick the checkbox "Quit when all windows are closed".

New frontiers

It has been six years since I wrote here. There had been the grind of full time work and Covid.

Now that I am working parttime, I have more time for my fun projects, these are given below.

• Read Take control of the Mac Command Line with Terminal, Joe Kissel.
• Tune up iTerm2, and make use of panels for more productive use.
• Go through latest React tutorial.
• Learn Next.js.
• Re-write modern version of my online password manager using Next.js.
• In full CRUD (Create-Read-Update-Delete) mode.

.. more to come in this space..

Express, React on Elastic Beanstalk - Tutorial

In this tutorial I am going to show you how to build a secure website using:

• AWS Elastic Beanstalk 
  With Elastic Beanstalk, you can quickly deploy and manage applications in the AWS Cloud without worrying about the infrastructure that runs those applications.
   
• React 
  A JavaScript library for building user interfaces.
• Express 
  Fast, un-opinionated, minimalist web framework for Node.js.

AWS Elastic Beanstalk uses an AWS EC2 service which is not free. A very basic EC2 instance type t1.micro that includes 600MB disk space and 1 core CPU will cost you around ~16 AUD a month. A domain name from Amazon will cost you  ~16 AUD a year. We are looking at spending a little over 200 AUD a year just to keep this very basic website up and running.

The minimum strength instance type is t2.nano which costs 0.008 $

In return you will have a highly available secure website. Amazon will autoscale your application using a nginx load balancer, so your app will always be available regardless of load. The load balancer will also funnel through https requests into your web server.

AWS elastic beanstalk, Node.js, Aurelia and ESNext

Long story short, I decided to write a web based password management app using the AWS elastic beanstalk stack. The motivation came from:

• I  withdrew MiniBluebox, a simple password manager app I wrote, from the Apple App Store in 2016. Since then it became increasingly difficult to keep up with changes Apple introduced on their iCloud/IOS/OSX ecosystem. On some new iPhone models, iCloud synchronisation started to play up and fail. There are also rumours that in late 2017 Apple will drop support for 32-bit apps. Hence MiniBluebox app will simply disappear from all IOS devices with its data. I need a more reliable infrastructure to serve my apps. 
• I would like to move away from Apple ecosystem and develop cloud based, service oriented web apps using Open Source technologies. This has many advantages:
• Open source is cheaper
• Open source is incredibly dynamic and fertile
• Brand agnostic (web apps work on all platforms, desktop or mobile
• Service oriented apps are extensible
• Leverage my existing AWS knowledge I have been acquiring for over a year.
• Learn about new technologies such as AWS elastic beanstalk, React.JS, and ESNext.

In this blog I will be writing more about my findings as I go along. Stay tuned.

git notes

Create a project directory, initialise git repository and copy some files:

mkdir gitter
git init
ls -a
. .. .git
git add -n /Users/ergun/gitter/         // -n: dry-run

git add /Users/ergun/gitter/            // actual add (stage)
git commit -m 'initial project version' /Users/ergun/gitter/


You may use add command to add new files or stage modified files.

Only staged files can be committed.

This is how you exclude DerivedData folder under your project folder:

Edit .git/info/exclude and add this line:

DerivedData/

x

IOS Provisioning

Creating a Developer Certificate

When developer certificate is close to expire or you have provisioning conflicts you may need to have a fresh start. Start with creating a new certificate:

1. Revoke the old certificate from IOS portal/Certificates
2. Create a new certificate from Keychain Access on Mac using KeyChainAccess/Certificate Assistant/Request a Certificate From a Certificate Authority menu option and Save to Disk.
3. From IOS portal/Certificates upload new certificate then Submit. Refresh browser.
4. Download IOS Development Certificate (ios_development.cer) and run.

Remove the duplicate development certificate

This step is required to fix an error when you build your project in XCode, after installing new certificate:

CodeSign error: Certificate identity 'iPhone Developer: XXXX (12345678)' appears more than once in the keychain. The codesign tool requires there only be one.

Somehow the old developer certificate is cached in XCode and added to KeyChain. To fix this it needs to be removed from KeyChain. The old developer certificate has an earlier expiration date and it is labelled as "iPhone developer..".

1. Exit XCode
2. In KeyChain Access under Login KeyChain/My Certificates category remove the old developer certificate starting with "iPhone developer..".
3. In KeyChain Access under System KeyChain/Certificates category remove the old developer certificate starting with "iPhone developer..".
4. Start XCode. This may recreate the old certificate again. Repeat steps 2 and 3.

App IDs

On the Provisioning Portal App IDs section enable required entitlements (such as iCloud) for both wildcard XXXXXXXXXX.* and XXXXXXXXXX.com.company.product.* App IDs. Enable all entitlements for simplicity.

Create Provisoning Profiles

On IOS Provisioning Portal delete all provisioning profiles under Provisioning section.

You need to create:

1. A Development Provisioning Profile for wildcard App ID
2. An AppStore Distribution Profile for product App ID
3. An Adhoc Distribution Profile for product App ID

On XCode:

1. Remove all provisioning profiles under Organizer/Library and Organizer/Device sections.
2. Under Library/provisioning Profiles click Refresh on the bottom right.
3. Check that under Organizer/Device required profiles were created. If not drag them from Organizer/Library section.

Setup XCode

On XCode

1. Create two Schemes "Adhoc" and "App Store" from Product/Edit(New) Scheme.
2. Set Archive/Build configuration of Adhoc scheme to "Adhoc distribution"
3. Set Archive/Build Configuration  of App Store scheme to "Release".
4. On Build Settings/Targets pick Ad Hoc Distribution Profile for  Ad Hoc Distribution Code Signing Identity.
5. On Build Settings/Targets pick Team Provisioning Profile (generated by XCode) for  Debug Code Signing Identity.
6. On Build Settings/Targets pick App Store Distribution Profile for  Release Code Signing Identity.
7. Delete Product.entitlements file.
8. On Targets/Summary check Entitlements box and fill relevant entitlements. For example if your app uses iCloud, check Enable iCloud checkbox and add your product App ID to Ubiquity Containers section.
9. Some sections will be filled and created by XCode.

If you complete all above successfully you should be able to Debug your app on a connected device, upload your app in Ad Hoc distribution mode to your device, upload your app to App Store, or run your app on a simulator. 

When you are ready to submit to App Store make sure to pick up the App Store Scheme, then Archive.

References:

Video on certificate creation:

CodeSign error: Certificate identity 'iPhone Developer: XXXX (12345678)' appears more than once in the keychain

Syntax highlighter from Google Code

I enabled my blog with an awesome syntax highlighter from Google Code.

    private void LoadLayout()
    {
        LayoutSaver aLayoutSaver = new LayoutSaver();
        aLayoutSaver.LoadLayout(this);
        diagramView1.Diagram.RouteAllLinks();
        diagramView1.Update();
        UpdateLinksBetweenShapes();
    }

For details see:

• Heisencoder
• Brush Aliases
• Syntax Highlighter Home Page