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Keeping Commands Running with GNU Screen

You may occasionally find yourself in situations where you’ll want to keep something running for a longer period of time, even when you close your shell session. You might need a file to download, a program to compile, or a complex installation process to finish. You’ve already seen how to background tasks, but often this isn’t enough.

Of a few methods you can use to keep long-running tasks going, the GNU Screen program is one of the easiest and most flexible options. screen is a terminal multiplexer, meaning that it creates virtual terminal sessions on top of your actual terminal session. You can start tasks in these sessions, “detach” from them, and they’ll run in the background, even if you log out. ...