README: write a section about the server mode

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Daniel Eklöf 2019-11-19 00:17:13 +01:00
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## Server mode
When run normally, **foot** is a single-window application; if you
want another window, start another foot process.
However, foot can also be run in a _server_ mode. In this mode, one
process hosts multiple windows. Note that this is **nothing** like
tabs. When first started in server mode, **no** windows are available.
You open new windows by running `footclient`. This is a small process
that instructs the foot server to open a new terminal window. The
client process remains running until the terminal window is
closed. The exit value of the client process is that of the shell that
was running in the terminal window.
The point of this mode is **a)** reduced memory footprint - all
terminal windows will share fonts and glyph cache, and **b)** reduced
startup time - loading fonts and populating the glyph cache takes
time, but in server mode it only happens once.
The downside is a performance penalty; all windows' input and output
are multiplexed in the same thread (but each window will have its own
set of rendering threads). This means that if one window is very busy
with, for example, producing output, then other windows will suffer.
And of course, should the server process crash, **all** windows will
be gone.
Typical usage would be to start the server process (`foot --server`)
when starting your Wayland compositor (i.e. logging in to your
desktop), and then run `footclient` instead of `foot` whenever you
want to launch a new terminal.
## Requirements ## Requirements
### Running ### Running