TMACS

Edit remote files with your editor of choice (vi or emacs), even if TRAMP doesn't really work for you or if you ssh and su your way through a network. It works by tunneling the file-data through the terminal on which you are working.

Example

Start local emacs:

$ emacs

In emacs, start the server:

M-x server-start

In another terminal:

$ tmacswrap    # this starts tmacswrap in your terminal

You should see a terminal title like tmacswrap(/home/user)

# ssh a little bit around

$ ssh you@this-server.de
$ ssh youtoo@server2.companydomain
$ ssh you@hard-to-reach-server.companydomain

# su to some user
$ su

On a this shell (it's build for bash) press Ctrl-t t. That should install the 'tmacs' command as a function in your current shell session.

$ tmacs -t some_text_file.txt   # this should open your local emacsclient

Usage

C-t t : Installs the tmacs command

# starts local emacsclient to use with tramp

$ tmacs <file>
 
# tunnels file through terminal and starts local emacsclient
# this is the really useful thing, if tramp is not a real option
$ tmacs -t <file>

Customize

You are probably using vi or some other weird non-emacs-editor, but this tool should be relatively easy to customize. Just find the calls to emacsclient and change them to use your editor.