Use an overlay window for browsing the scrollback buffer in less

README.asciidoc

@@ -244,14 +244,13 @@ feature is best illustrated with a link:remote-control.asciidoc[tutorial].
 
 kitty supports scrolling back to view history, just like most terminals. You
 can use either the <<scrolling-shortcuts,keyboard shortcuts>> or the mouse
-scroll wheel to do so.  However, kitty has an extra, neat feature. Sometimes you
+scroll wheel to do so.  However, kitty has an extra, neat feature. Sometimes
-need to explore the scrollback buffer in more detail, maybe search for some
+you need to explore the scrollback buffer in more detail, maybe search for some
 text or refer to it side-by-side while typing in a follow-up command. kitty
 allows you to do this by pressing the {sc_show_scrollback} key-combination,
-which will open the scrollback buffer in a new window, using your favorite
+which will open the scrollback buffer in your favorite pager program (which is
-pager program (which is `less` by default). You can then explore the scrollback
+`less` by default). Colors and text formatting are preserved. You can explore
-buffer using whatever program you normally use. Colors and text formatting are
+the scrollback pager comfortably within the pager.
-preserved.
 
 
 == Miscellaneous features

kitty/boss.py

@@ -359,15 +359,12 @@ class Boss:
         for window_id in tuple(w.id for w in self.window_id_map.values() if getattr(w, 'os_window_id', None) == os_window_id):
             self.window_id_map.pop(window_id, None)
 
-    def display_scrollback(self, data):
+    def display_scrollback(self, window, data):
-        if self.opts.scrollback_in_new_tab:
+        tab = self.active_tab
-            self.display_scrollback_in_new_tab(data)
+        if tab is not None:
-        else:
+            tab.new_special_window(
-            tab = self.active_tab
+                SpecialWindow(
-            if tab is not None:
+                    self.opts.scrollback_pager, data, _('History'), overlay_for=window.id))
-                tab.new_special_window(
-                    SpecialWindow(
-                        self.opts.scrollback_pager, data, _('History')))
 
     def switch_focus_to(self, window_idx):
         tab = self.active_tab
@@ -506,9 +503,3 @@ class Boss:
         tm = self.active_tab_manager
         if tm is not None:
             tm.move_tab(-1)
-
-    def display_scrollback_in_new_tab(self, data):
-        tm = self.active_tab_manager
-        if tm is not None:
-            tm.new_tab(special_window=SpecialWindow(
-                self.opts.scrollback_pager, data, _('History')))

kitty/config.py

@@ -251,7 +251,6 @@ type_map = {
     'adjust_column_width': adjust_line_height,
     'scrollback_lines': positive_int,
     'scrollback_pager': shlex.split,
-    'scrollback_in_new_tab': to_bool,
     'font_size': to_font_size,
     'font_size_delta': positive_float,
     'focus_follows_mouse': to_bool,

kitty/kitty.conf

@@ -90,9 +90,6 @@ scrollback_lines 2000
 # handle ANSI escape sequences for colors and text formatting.
 scrollback_pager less +G -R
 
-# When viewing scrollback in a new window, put it in a new tab as well
-scrollback_in_new_tab no
-
 # Wheel scroll multiplier (modify the amount scrolled by the mouse wheel). Use negative
 # numbers to change scroll direction.
 wheel_scroll_multiplier 5.0

kitty/window.py

@@ -332,7 +332,7 @@ class Window:
     # actions {{{
 
     def show_scrollback(self):
-        get_boss().display_scrollback(self.buffer_as_ansi().encode('utf-8'))
+        get_boss().display_scrollback(self, self.buffer_as_ansi().encode('utf-8'))
 
     def paste(self, text):
         if text and not self.destroyed: