15.2.2 Connection settings

The first configuration part that needs to be filled concerns the way we will connect to this server:

You have to enter first all mandatory fields, identified by an asterisk:

• The network name is the name used to connect to this server via your network. It can be either an IP address, a host name of your local network, or a fully qualified network name.
• The remote access tool is the tool used to connect to this server. You select it using the drop down list. The following tools are supported natively by GPS: ssh, rsh, telnet and plink (Windows tool) in ssh, rsh or telnet mode. See Defining a remote connection tool, if you need to add a specific tool. Note also that if one of those tools is not installed (e.g. is not in your path), then it won't appear in the tools list. Some tools incompatible with GPS will not be displayed either, such as the Microsoft telnet client.
• The shell tells GPS what shell runs on the remote server. The following unix shells are supported by GPS: sh, bash, csh and tcsh. Windows' shell is also supported (cmd.exe). See Limitations, for cygwin's shell usage on windows: it is preferable to use cmd.exe as a remote shell on Windows servers.

Other fields might need to be taken into consideration, but they are not mandatory. They are, for the most part, accessible through the advanced configuration pane.

• The remote sync tool is used to synchronize remote and local filesystems, if these are not shared filesystems. For now, only rsync is supported.
• The Extra Init Commands field represents initialization commands sent to the server upon connection: when GPS connects to your remote machine, the chosen shell is launched, and your default initialization files are read (i.e. .bashrc file for the bash shell). Then GPS sends these extra init commands, allowing you for example to specify a compilation toolchain.
• (In Advanced configuration pane) The user name specifies the name used to connect to the server. If unspecified, the remote access tool will typically use your current login name. If not, and a user name is requested, GPS will prompt you for a user name.
• (In Advanced configuration pane) The timeout value is used to determine if a connection to a remote host is dead. All elementary operations performed on the remote host (i.e., operations that normally complete almost immediately) will use this timeout value. By default, this value is set to 10s. If you have a very slow network connection or a very overloaded server, set this timeout to a higher value.
• (In Advanced configuration pane) The maximum number of connections determines the maximum number of simultaneous connections GPS is allowed to have to this server. In fact, if you want to compile, debug and execute at the same time on the machine, GPS will need more that one connection to do this. The default value is 3.
• (In Advanced configuration pane) Depending on the kind of server and the remote access tool used, commands sent to the server may require a specific line terminator, i.e., either the LF character or CR/LF characters. Usually GPS can automatically detect what is needed (the 'auto' mode), but the choice can be forced to CR/LF (cr/lf handling set to 'on') or LF (cr/lf handling set to 'off').
• (In Advanced configuration pane) The Debug console allows you to easily debug a remote connection. If checked, it will open a console reporting all exchanges between GPS and the selected server.