Common Questions

Q: How do I create a mosh connection instead of a ssh connection?
A: By default, connections are created with the ssh protocol. Change the protocol to mosh on the left-hand drop down before creating a new connection.

ConnectBot APK
Source Code

Known issues

• Warning: your private keys (and all other settings) are uploaded to Google's servers as part of the built-in Android application settings backup
• there is no way to set the path to the remote mosh server
• when the mosh background service is killed (example case: out of memory), it does not retain the session information and cannot reconnect without going through ssh again
• This apk won't install if you have the real irssiconnectbot installed.
• If there is a lot of output while the session isn't in the foreground, it might buffer and take awhile to playback
• If the mosh-server refuses to start (such as: locale not utf-8 safe), irssiconnectbot should print out the error messages
• without upgrading the mosh server to the current github version, having a mosh connection while on the cell network drains the battery very quickly
• if you run the mosh-client binary by hand, make sure you have a $TERM set, or it'll segfault
  

  #00  pc 00000000  
  #01  pc 000a70ec  /data/data/org.woltage.irssiconnectbot/files/lib/libgnustl_shared.so (__cxa_type_match)
  0x000a70ec ldr     pc, [r3, #8]
  r3 = 0x000aa030 vtable for __cxxabiv1::__class_type_info
  pc = 0x0
   

• For Android 2.x devices with a physical keyboard, the menu button brings up a list of keys with a "more" button
• for servers before mosh 1.2, passing the locale can fail (ssh server can reject sending the LANG environment). Fix is to update the server to 1.2 or later, which accepts the -l option.

Changelog

• 7/14/2012 - hardcoded the LANG to en_US.UTF-8
• 7/15/2012 - fixed proguard flags to fix pubkey generation
• 7/18/2012 - fixed Gingerbread (and earlier) menu button crash
• 7/30/2012 - the icon on the top left of the action bar now navigates to the host list page, mosh-client is sent SIGSTOP when the app is in the background to conserve battery power, usb keyboard shift-[1234567890] now sends the proper keys
• 8/2/2012 - fixed hardware keyboard ctrl and escape, long-press on host > edit host now has mosh port to request and locale to send
• 8/9/2012 - fixed freeze when the remote ssh server rejects the LANG environment variable, mosh now works on Jelly Bean, added RSS feed
• 8/10/2012 - fixed build system so it doesn't skip the code that launches mosh and local shells, [from Joakim Andersson] fix the post-login command when using mosh, [from Joakim Andersson] include ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity in hardware keyboard list, [from Joakim Andersson] Make the unloading of keys on disconnect configurable, [from Timo Sirainen] UTF8 support
• 8/14/2012 - fixed mosh (widget) shortcuts, switched to a static linked version of mosh-client to save disk space
• 10/19/2012 - recompiled to support ARMv6 and older processors
• 11/10/2012 - many features and fixes by m0viefreak:
  horizontal swipes on the top half of the screen switch between sessions, buttom half switches between "irssi" channels
  allow specification of (ssh) bind_address for port forwards
  url scan now removes duplicate URLs
  use /system/xbin/bash for "local" sessions, if the file exists
  and many others!
• 1/16/2013 - allow editing of the path to the remote mosh-server
  another set of features and fixes by m0viefreak:
  fixes for various terminal emulation bugs
  new preferences for keyboard
  various others
  
• 1/20/2013 - fixed FC for new installs
• 1/21/2013 - fixed mosh-client binary not getting installed on first launch
• 1/26/2013 - fixed imported PEM/OpenSSH public keys, fixed bug that unloaded all public keys on disconnect
• 2/24/2014 - added note about settings and private keys being backed up to the Google application settings backup service

Battery usage

All measurements made on my Nexus S handset, with the screen off

Battery usage, on wifi

• Before the 7/30 change - 10% per hour
• After the 7/30 change - 5% for 2 hours
• Observed battery usage without irssiconnectbot/mosh running - around 2% per hour

Battery usage, on UMTS/HSPA (cell network)

These measurements can't be very exact for the following reasons: they are highly affected by signal strength, they are affected by other processes using data, and battery % used is not exactly measured

• Without server changes - roughly 10% per hour
• With server changes (in mosh's github) - roughly 6% per hour
• Without mosh client running - roughly 6% per hour

Contact

Email: dan-mosh AT drown.org
IRC: ddrown on freenode #mosh