README.md

instantrun

When working in a graphical desktop, there are applications that you probably launch often, such as a terminal emulator, and your text editor.

Even though these programs usually start up fairly quickly (like half a second), the wait can be noticeable, and it builds up as you launch many instances of your applications throughout the course of your day.

The wait is especially frustrating if you just need to perform a short task. Let's say you want to open a terminal to check the output of uptime. Typing and running the command itself takes only about a second, so having to wait an extra half second just for the terminal to start can be maddening. And if you have a bloated configuration for your shell (such as loading bash completions), then the wait can be even much longer than half a second.

Working with text editors shares the same problem. If you need to make a small change to a file, then waiting for Vim to load is painful. During your day, as you edit many files, this minor inconvenience builds up, and can be bad for your mental health. If Vim is configured with a lot of plugins then the start time can even be quite substantial, making the situation much worse. (It is true that for long editing/coding sessions, one usually uses a single Vim instance, but I find that in practice I am constantly launching Vim from a shell in order to open various random files)

Wouldn't it be great if these programs could be started instantly?

instantrun is the solution. It is a service that runs in the background, and pre-starts hidden copies of your applications. When you want to start an application, all it needs to do is instantly unhide the application's window.

Installation

To compile instantrun you need the Haskell GHC compiler with the cabal toolchain:

$ cabal configure
$ cabal build
$ cabal install

Tutorial

First start the instantrun background process (You can do this in .xsession or friends, to have it start automatically):

$ instantrun --server

Now, if you want to instantly start a program, run it through instantrun:

$ instantrun xterm

The first run of the program will not be instant. But now that instantrun has learned about xterm, it will make sure to always have a hidden xterm ready in the background for future runs.

You can also pass command line arguments to your program, such as a file to edit:

$ instantrun gvim foo.txt

But wait! Isn't there already supposed to be a gvim process already running in the background? How can command line arguments be sent to an already running program? In order to accomplish this, instantrun uses some magic, and requires specific configuration for each program. Currently, there is hardcoded support only for gvim, so it is the only program that can receive command line arguments. (See src/Config.hs for the magic details). In the future, an instantrun config file will allow the user to add support for other programs.

In order to save typing, I recommend configuring your shell to create an alias for your favorite programs:

$ alias gvim='instantrun gvim'

Now you can easily instantly edit any file:

$ gvim this-will-open-instantly.txt

If you need to shut down the background server then run:

$ instantrun --shutdown

To check the status of the background server run:

$ instantrun --status

For more help:

$ instantrun --help

Compatibility

instantrun should be compatible with all window managers. I use it with xmonad and it works great.

Warning

instantrun is incomplete, and currently has lots of known bugs.

• Don't make a typo and try to instantrun a nonexistent program, or the background server will hang.

• Don't give commandline arguments to programs other than gvim (it is currently the only program with commandline arguments support)