byobu-export Is Deprecated: What to Run Instead

You will identify what the installed byobu-export command does, confirm that it is only a deprecation notice, and choose a supported way to install or run Byobu. On the system used for this guide, the package is Byobu 6.11-0ubuntu1.1 and the command exits successfully after printing the notice. Allow about ten minutes for the checks, or longer if you need to build Byobu from source.

This guide is about an old installation helper, not about creating a Byobu session. The command accepts no documented options, does not export a session, and does not change your configuration.

1. Confirm which command is installed

Run the lookup as your normal user:

$ command -v byobu-export
/usr/bin/byobu-export
$ dpkg-query -W -f='${Package} ${Version}\n' byobu
byobu 6.11-0ubuntu1.1

Your path or package version may differ. The useful checks are that the command resolves to the package you expect and that the package manager can identify its version. No elevated privilege is needed to inspect either value.

Checkpoint: if command -v prints nothing, stop here. There is no installed command to run, so use your distribution's Byobu package instructions or the source installation route in step 4.

2. Run byobu-export and read the result

Run it without adding flags:

$ byobu-export

The byobu-export utility is now deprecated.

To install byobu on a system for which byobu is not packaged, or
where you are not the root user, simply:
 * Download the latest release (>= 3.0) from:
    https://github.com/dustinkirkland/byobu
 * And follow the instructions in the README

The wording above is from the installed manpage's documented behaviour and the command on this machine. It is a notice, not an export operation. The installed command returns status 0 after printing it:

$ byobu-export >/tmp/byobu-export.out
$ status=$?
$ printf 'exit status: %s\n' "$status"
exit status: 0
$ sed -n '1,3p' /tmp/byobu-export.out

The byobu-export utility is now deprecated.

Redirecting to a temporary file makes the status check unambiguous. The temporary file contains only the command's output and can be removed after inspection:

$ rm -- /tmp/byobu-export.out

This removal is safe because the file was created by the example. Do not substitute a path to a useful file when copying the command.

3. Do not look for flags or an export file

The local synopsis is simply byobu-export. The manpage documents no option for selecting a destination, exporting a running session, or choosing a backend. In particular, a successful exit status does not confirm that Byobu is installed from source, that a session exists, or that any configuration has been copied.

There is no configuration change to undo after running this command. If you expected an archive or a session description, check the command name in the script or runbook that called it. The old helper may have been retained by a package for compatibility, but it is not the interface to use for current Byobu administration.

4. Install current Byobu when your distribution does not package it

The installed notice points to the official Byobu project repository. Its README describes a local installation under a directory you own. This avoids changing system files and does not require sudo:

$ git clone https://github.com/dustinkirkland/byobu.git byobu-src
$ cd byobu-src
$ ./autogen.sh
$ ./configure --prefix="$HOME/byobu"
$ make
$ make install

Read the release and README instructions for the source tree you downloaded before running the build. The project documents build prerequisites and notes that GitHub release tarballs may need ./autogen.sh. Compilation can take a few minutes. These commands write inside the new source directory and the $HOME/byobu prefix; they do not require root.

Do not append an unreviewed line to your shell startup files. Test the installed binary explicitly first:

$ "$HOME/byobu/bin/byobu" --help
$ "$HOME/byobu/bin/byobu"

If the local prefix is not the path produced by your source tree, find the installed executable before starting it:

$ find "$HOME/byobu" -type f -name byobu -perm -u+x -print

Starting Byobu is a separate action that creates or attaches to a terminal multiplexer session. Close that session using the normal Byobu or tmux controls when you are finished. Do not delete the source or prefix until you have confirmed that your shell and session workflow work as expected.

5. Diagnose the likely failure modes

If byobu-export is missing, the package is not installed or its executable directory is not on PATH. Check both without changing state:

$ dpkg-query -W -f='${Status} ${Version}\n' byobu 2>/dev/null || true
$ printf '%s\n' "$PATH"
$ command -v byobu

If the command prints the deprecation notice but a script reports failure, capture the status immediately after the command and inspect the script for a different failure. If a source build fails, keep the error output, check the README prerequisites, and do not compensate by running the build as root. Remove only the source directory and private prefix if you deliberately want to abandon that build:

$ rm -rf -- "$HOME/byobu" "$HOME/byobu-src"

This last command permanently removes those two directories. Review the expanded paths before running it, and omit it if they contain anything you want to keep.