How do I open an ansi-term on a remote server via Tramp?

Question

I am editing a file on a remote server via Tramp, and I decide that I want to open up an ansi-term session on the remote server (as opposed to relying on shell-command). How do I do this? When I run ansi-term, it just opens up a new session on my local computer.

Answer 1

You can use the following function

(defun dfeich/ansi-terminal (&optional path name)
  "Opens an ansi terminal at PATH. If no PATH is given, it uses
the value of `default-directory'. PATH may be a tramp remote path.
The ansi-term buffer is named based on `name' "
  (interactive) 
  (unless path (setq path default-directory))
  (unless name (setq name "ansi-term"))
  (ansi-term "/bin/bash" name)
  (let ((path (replace-regexp-in-string "^file:" "" path))
    (cd-str 
     "fn=%s; if test ! -d $fn; then fn=$(dirname $fn); fi; cd $fn;")
    (bufname (concat "*" name "*" )))
    (if (tramp-tramp-file-p path)
    (let ((tstruct (tramp-dissect-file-name path)))
      (cond 
       ((equal (tramp-file-name-method tstruct) "ssh")
        (process-send-string bufname (format
                      (concat  "ssh -t %s '"
                           cd-str
                           "exec bash'; exec bash; clear\n")
                      (tramp-file-name-host tstruct)
                      (tramp-file-name-localname tstruct))))
       (t (error "not implemented for method %s"
             (tramp-file-name-method tstruct)))))
      (process-send-string bufname (format (concat cd-str " exec bash;clear\n")
                       path)))))

This code is also linked this gist. I have a similar gist for opening gnome-terminals at the current path (or any given path) here.

With the ansi terminal there may just some small but non-critical problem with the remote server not knowing the 'eterm-color' type. E.g. look at this stackoverflow question.