The pre‑alpha v0.1.2 release of mosh‑rs ships native Windows binaries and a --scrollback flag that records session output in the local terminal history.
New capabilities over upstream mosh
Mosh‑rs is a line‑by‑line port of the upstream C++ code, keeping protocol compatibility with mosh 1.4 so existing mosh-server installations continue to work. Two features that upstream never had are now available:
* Native Windows client – a pre‑built mosh.exe for x86_64 Windows (runs on Arm via emulation) without needing WSL or Cygwin.
* Scrollback – enabled with mosh --scrollback host; the server side must also be the mosh‑rs server, otherwise the flag falls back to the original behavior.
Both are optional and do not affect standard usage.
Installing on common platforms
The release provides static binaries for Linux (x86_64 and aarch64) and macOS Apple‑silicon, each with accompanying SHA‑256 checksums. On Linux you can download and install with:
v=v0.1.2
t=$(uname -m)-unknown-linux-musl
curl -LO https://github.com/Arunjay4213/mosh-rs/releases/download/$v/mosh-rs-$v-$t.tar.gz
curl -LO https://github.com/Arunjay4213/mosh-rs/releases/download/$v/mosh-rs-$v-$t.tar.gz.sha256
sha256sum -c mosh-rs-$v-$t.tar.gz.sha256
Windows users can fetch the zip from the same release URL and unzip it; the launcher uses the built‑in OpenSSH client. Homebrew and Scoop taps are also provided, though the Homebrew formula conflicts with the existing mosh package and must be unlinked first.
Compatibility and performance notes
All interop tests (clean, 5 % loss, 30 % loss with 200 ms delay, 2‑minute blackout, client address change) passed for every client/server combination, including the new scrollback mode. Benchmarks show comparable or lower memory usage (client 4.1 MiB vs 14.3 MiB for upstream) and similar startup latency (≈250 ms first frame). The implementation forbids unsafe Rust in most crates, but the platform crate contains a few unsafe blocks with documented invariants.
Caveats and when to try it
The project is labeled pre‑alpha, so expect rough edges and limited testing on macOS (v0.1.0 cannot connect). There is no native Windows server binary, and the repo does not list a security audit. Because the software is free and open‑source, cost is not a factor, but you should validate the Windows client on a non‑critical machine before adopting it in production.
What to watch: keep an eye on the upcoming stable releases and any added Windows server support; try the v0.1.2 binaries on a dev box to confirm scrollback works with your existing mosh-server setup.
