termbin: how to share terminal output quickly and without much fuss

When you encounter a bug in Linux or try to explain what went wrong, the easiest thing to do is to show terminal output. Especially if you're asking for help on a forum, discussing a bug with a colleague, or sending a report to a developer. No one likes to copy kilometers of output manually, and it is a questionable pleasure to parse such sheets. In such cases, termbin - a simple and convenient tool that allows you to share output from the terminal literally in a couple of clicks - comes in handy. It creates a short link that shows the whole log at once.

What is termbin?

In short: it is a service for quick text publishing directly from the terminal. It works like good old pastebin, only simpler. You run a command, send the output via nc and get a link. That's it. No accounts, no registrations and no tambourine.

How to use termbin on Linux

The nice thing is that you don't need to install anything. termbin works directly from the terminal. The only thing that needs to be installed is netcat (aka nc). Often it is already on the system. To check, just try typing:

nc

If the command is not found, install it. Here are the commands for different distributions:

Debian/Ubuntu/Mint

sudo apt install netcat

RHEL/Fedora/AlmaLinux

sudo dnf install nc

Alpine 

sudo apk add netcat

Arch 

sudo pacman -S gnu-netcat

openSUSE 

sudo zypper install netcat

How to send the output of the command

Let's say you want to show what dmesg produces. Just type:

dmesg | nc termbin.com 9999

You'll get a link in return - something like this:

https://termbin.com/wjp4

You can send it to chat, to a ticket, to a forum - anywhere. Open it and you can see at once what is happening in the system.

And if you need to send an error log?

The same principle. For example:

systemctl status apache2 | nc termbin.com 9999

That's it, you get the link and share it. Convenient, fast and fuss-free.

Why termbin is good

→ Minimal action. No need to install programs, create accounts or go to your browser.
→ No unnecessary copypasting. Just pass the output - get the link.
→ Works always and everywhere. Any machine with netcat and internet access can handle it.
→ Safer than dumping log into chat. Especially if the output contains sensitive data - it's better to think once and just not publish everything than to regret it later.

Is there an alternative?

Yes, of course. If you need a more flexible tool, you can give it a try:
→ Pastebinit - sends data to different paste services at once.
→ GitHub Gist - good for code or logs if you already have a GitHub account.

In a nutshell

Termbin - it's about convenience. Share logs quickly, don't get confused by buttons and don't waste extra time. If you often mess around with servers or help others, take note.