GUIDES

Linux and systemd

Tether runs on x86_64 and aarch64 Linux. Install it with the install script, Homebrew, mise, a static release download, or from source. See Install. Then run tether init.

Daemon

Terminal

tether daemon install

On Linux, this installs and enables a systemd user service in ~/.config/systemd/user/tether.service. The service gets your shell's PATH, GEM_HOME and GEM_PATH. tether daemon uninstall removes it.

Without a systemd user session, Tether asks you to use tether daemon start
Paths with spaces, $ or % work
systemd cannot run a program whose path has a quote, a backslash or a control character. A unit also cannot hold a newline in the log path, PATH, GEM_HOME or GEM_PATH. In these cases, tether daemon install stops with an error and writes no unit

Terminal

tether daemon status
tether daemon logs -f

Notifications

Tether uses notify-send for desktop notifications. Without it, Tether logs this once and shows no notifications.

Packages

Tether does not install Homebrew casks on Linux
Tether skips gems that ship with Ruby or with Debian. On a Ruby from ruby-build or rbenv, Tether cannot identify these gems
Machine records name their OS. When only Macs list a version, Linux tries it first. If it fails, Tether holds the newest release that suits Linux in the Inbox as "other OS version". Approve it to install exactly that release

Merge tool

When the synced merge tool is opendiff, a machine without it uses vimdiff. To use another tool on one machine, set it in ~/.tether/local.toml. See Merge tool.