quit qemu ... inside screen inside tmux

Question

I used too many levels of indirection and now I can't get out.

• I used Tmux from my jump host to get into the dev host.
• Then I used screen to keep track of what I'm doing on the dev host.
• Finally I started a program using Qemu (--nographic).

Normally I would quit Qemu using the keys C-a x, but:

• I've also bound C-a to be my escape for Tmux and Screen.
• Typing C-a x and Tmux asks if I want to close the window.
• Typing C-a C-a x logs me out of Screen.
• Typing C-a C-a C-a x and again Tmux asks if I want to close the window.

How do I send C-a x to the triple-nested Qemu?

Answer 1

Even today, I'm still stuck with this problem. Finally I find that you can use send-keys command of tmux to bypass C-a binding.

1. Switch foucs to the panes running qemu. C-a + o in my configuration.
2. Press c-a which is your escape. Then press : to tmux's command mode.
3. Type send-keys C-a x.