How do you programmatically opening a terminal application, like Gnome Terminal, and running cd /some/path; source ./setup.bash? I'm trying to write a script that will automatically launch some common terminals and IDEs for work.
I tried:
gnome-terminal --tab --working-directory="/some/path" -e 'source ./setup.bash'
but that launches a gnome-terminal window, but the window shows the error:
Failed to execute child process "source" (No such file or directory)
Presumably, that's because it's not executing the command in bash, so I instead tried:
gnome-terminal --tab --working-directory="/some/path" -e 'bash -c "source ./setup.bash"'
However, that seems to do nothing at all. It launches no window nor produces any stdout or stderr output.
The closest I could get was:
gnome-terminal --tab --working-directory="/some/path" -e 'bash -c "source ./setup.bash; bash -i"'
That launches gnome-terminal and seems to source setup.bash correctly, but some of the terminal formatting set by setup.bash isn't shown, presumably because I'm launching a new bash shell.
Is there a better way?
When you use the -e option the gnome-terminal will run that command without starting a new shell (you can even run something like: gnome-terminal -e gedit), so if you want to run a command into the bash shell into a new terminal/tab you have to do something like this:
gnome-terminal -x bash -c "command"
But note that when "command" ends the terminal/tab will end too.
You can specify the bash startup file to set variables. You might want that file to have source $HOME/.bashrc in it:
$ gnome-terminal --working-directory="/some/path" -e 'bash --rcfile ./setup.bash -c gdb'
You can put a command in after that,as I have -c gdb.
Related
I am trying to launch a new gnome-terminal with a command executed
When I execute gnome-terminal, a new terminal opens smoothly.
Now when I run this
gnome-terminal -- "zsh; echo hello"
I expect a new terminal with zsh to open, with hello printed.
But what I get is a new terminal with this:
There was an error creating the child process for this terminal
Failed to execute child process “zsh; echo hello” (No such file or directory)
Some important results
Please take a look
❯ gnome-terminal -e "echo hello"
# Option “-e” is deprecated and might be removed in a later version of gnome-terminal.
# Use “-- ” to terminate the options and put the command line to execute after it.
❯ gnome-terminal --command "echo hello"
# Option “--command” is deprecated and might be removed in a later version of gnome-terminal.
# Use “-- ” to terminate the options and put the command line to execute after it.
Executing the following lines, does something like some ghost moves on the screen, but produces no visible output
❯ gnome-terminal --window -- echo hello
❯ gnome-terminal --tab -- echo hello
❯ gnome-terminal --tab -- echo hello
❯ gnome-terminal --tab --wait -- echo hello
Where am I making mistake ? How can do do my intended job ie launch a new zsh terminal with hello printed, and waiting for next command
What it's happening is that you are opening a new terminal, but running those commands in your actual terminal. If you want to run those commands IN the new terminal, you've got to specify the -x option, which says that it will execute the remainder of the command line inside the terminal that will be opened. Now, you can write the command, but you need to specify the -c option for the zsh, in order for zsh to take the first argument "The commands within commas" as a command. Now the terminal will execute the command, and will stay opened, it won't do that blinking. But it won't have a shell, and I guess you want to keep writing commands, so you will need to exec zsh. And that's it.
It would be something like this:
gnome-terminal -- zsh -c 'echo hello; exec zsh'
The first line of your code could contains something like:
#!/usr/bin/expect -f
or
#!/bin/bash
make sure that this directory exists. For example, maybe you are running the program expect when it is not installed.
This question already has answers here:
Avoid gnome-terminal close after script execution?
(10 answers)
Closed 7 years ago.
How do you prevent gnome-terminal from exiting after its given command has exited?
I'm calling gnome-terminal from a cronjob, in order to create a terminal accessible to the user. The terminal is initially given a specific program to run. e.g.
gnome-terminal --tab -e "/usr/bin/myprog"
This works fine, except that when "myprog" exits, so does the gnome-terminal. How do I keep it running, but just drop back to a terminal prompt?
Try this:
gnome-terminal --tab -- "/bin/bash -c '/usr/bin/myprog; exec /bin/bash -i'"
Create a profile (i.e. hold), set "When command exits: Hold the terminal open" and then
$ gnome-terminal --tab --profile hold -e /usr/bin/myprog
Create a shell script like this:
#!/bin/bash
# myprog-wrapper.sh - runs /usr/bin/myprog and then starts a new bash session
/usr/bin/myprog
/bin/bash
Give the shell script execute permission.
Then set up your cron job to call this script instead of directly calling myprog:
gnome-terminal --tab -e "/path/to/myprog-wrapper.sh"
Replace /bin/bash with your shell of choice.
You could use xterm or rxvt-unicode instead of gnome-terminal, both of which have the -hold option for this purpose.
I'm trying to write a script that opens 3 terminal windows and runs a couple of statements in those windows. But it's not working. I've tried using the && operator as well as " " but I can't get it to work. I've also tried it with the statements on the same line as well as below each other. The error I'm receiving is that the cd child process failed to execute stating that there is no such Directory. But the directory ~/Projects/catkin_ws is correct.
#!/bin/bash
# ROS opstarten
gnome-terminal -e cd ~/Projects/catkin_ws source devel/setup.bash roscore
# gazebo opstarten
gnome-terminal -e cd ~/Projects/catkin_ws
source devel/setup.bash
roslaunch cvg_sim_gazebo Qr_Chessboard.launch
# programma opstarten
gnome-terminal -e cd ~/Projects/catkin_ws
source devel/setup.bash
/usr/bin/python /home/user/Projects/catkin_ws/src/drone7_project/src/drone_program.py
If you really want to run them on separate terminals programmatically you can use a terminal multiplexer such as GNU screen for that.
First you have to start a session:
$ screen -S demo
Then open all the terminals you need inside it with Ctrl-a c and configure their environments as needed, and then you can send commands to any screen page (tab) from your script using the "-X stuff" option (to stuff characters into a virtual screen terminal):
$ screen -S demo -p <page_number> -X stuff 'ls -l
'
Note that you also have to send the newline character to really enter the command.
I try add main enviornment path to bash and I success run roscore in another terminal.
#!/bin/bash
# ROS opstarten
PATH=/opt/ros/kinetic/bin
gnome-terminal --tab -e /opt/ros/kinetic/bin/roscore
You need to quote the statements and use a statement separator between them.
gnome-terminal -e 'cd ~/Projects/catkin_ws; source devel/setup.bash; /usr/bin/python /home/user/Projects/catkin_ws/src/drone7_project/src/drone_program.py'
or alternatively with newline as statement separator
gnome-terminal -e 'cd ~/Projects/catkin_ws
source devel/setup.bash
/usr/bin/python /home/user/Projects/catkin_ws/src/drone7_project/src/drone_program.py'
However, running these commands in a separate terminal seems rather misdirected. Why don't you run them as regular background jobs in your current terminal with output to a file?
I've created an alias in .bashrc file as follows
alias myproject = 'cd ~/Desktop/myproject'
After saving the file when I restart my terminal, typing in myproject takes me to the project directory but when I try to use the alias as a command argument to a new gnome-terminal tab it throws an error,
gnome-terminal --tab -e "myproject"
throws the error
There was an error creating the child process for this terminal
Failed to execute child process "myproject" (No such file or directory)
What is wrong with this ?
When a bash shell is started, per default bash executes the commands specified in .bashrc. This is how your shell knows your aliases.
Now your idea does not work because gnome-terminal never sees your .bashrc file.
You could try
gnome-terminal --working-directory='<path-to-your-home-directory>/Desktop/myproject/
I was trying to do something similar... possibly not exactly what you want, but:
alias startMyRailsProject='cd ~/Desktop/myproject; gnome-terminal --tab --tab -e "rails s" --tab -e "rails c"; exit'
This:
- changes directory to where I want
- starts a new gnome terminal (in the right directory from before)
- creates a 2nd tab and starts my rails server
- creates a 3rd tab and starts my rails console
- and then closes the original terminal window which I call it from.
It does what I need it to and saves a bunch of repetive keystrokes :-)
Cheers
I succeeded in getting some of it to work, I am missing my aliases, but I can run the program I want in the following way:
gnome-terminal --window --title="testtitle" -- $SHELL -c "<path to script/application>/<script/application> <arguments>;"
An example:
gnome-terminal --window --wait --title="testtitle" -- $SHELL -c "echo test;read -p \"press any key to exit\" -n 1 ;"
I created a bash script that opens several gnome-terminals, connect to classroom computers via ssh and run a script.
How can I avoid that the gnome-terminal closes after the script is finished? Note that I also want to be able to enter further commands in the terminal.
Here is an example of my code:
gnome-terminal -e "ssh root#<ip> cd /tmp && ls"
As I understand you want gnome-terminal to open, have it execute some commands, and then drop to the prompt so you can enter some more commands. Gnome-terminal is not designed for this use case, but there are workarounds:
Let gnome-terminal run bash and tell bash to run your commands and then start a new bash
$ gnome-terminal -- bash -c "echo foo; echo bar; exec bash"
or if the commands are in a script
$ gnome-terminal -- bash -c "./scripttorun; exec bash"
The first bash will terminate once all the commands are done. But the last command is a new bash which will then just keep running. And since something is still running gnome-terminal will not close.
Let gnome-terminal run bash with a prepared rcfile which runs your commands
Prepare somercfile:
source ~/.bashrc
echo foo
echo bar
Then run:
$ gnome-terminal -- bash --rcfile somercfile
bash will stay open after running somercfile.
i must admit i do not understand completely why --rcfile has this behaviour but it does.
Let gnome-terminal run a script which runs your commands and then drops to bash
Prepare scripttobash:
#!/bin/sh
echo foo
echo bar
exec bash
Set this file as executable.
Then run:
$ gnome-terminal -- ./scripttobash
for completeness
if you just want to be able read the output of the command and need no interactivity
go to preferences (hamburger button -> preferences)
go to profiles (standard or create a new one)
go to command tab
when command exits -> hold the terminal open
i recommend to create a new profile for just for this use case.
use the profile like this:
gnome-terminal --profile=holdopen -- ./scripttorun
Every method has it's quirks. You must choose, but choose wisely.
I like the first solution. it does not need extra files or profiles. and the command says what it does: run commands then run bash again.
All that said, since you used ssh in your example, you might want to take a look at pssh (parallel ssh). here an article: https://www.cyberciti.biz/cloud-computing/how-to-use-pssh-parallel-ssh-program-on-linux-unix/
Finally this one works for me:
gnome-terminal --working-directory=WORK_DIR -x bash -c "COMMAND; bash"
Stack Overflow answer: the terminal closes when the command run inside it has finished, so you need to write a command that doesn't terminate immediately. For example, to leave the terminal window open until you press Enter in it:
gnome-terminal -e "ssh host 'cd /tmp && ls'; read line"
Super User answer: Create a profile in which the preference “Title and Command/When command exits” is set to “Hold the terminal open”. Invoke gnome-terminal with the --window-with-profile or --tab-with-profile option to specify the terminal name.
Run with -ic instead -i to make terminal close bash proccess when you close your terminal gui:
gnome-terminal -e "bash -ic \"echo foo; echo bar; exec bash\""
As of January 2020, the -e option in gnome-terminal still runs properly but throws out the following warning:
For -e:
# Option “-e” is deprecated and might be removed in a later version
of gnome-terminal.
# Use “-- ” to terminate the options and put the command line to
execute after it.
Based on that information above, I confirmed that you can run the following two commands without receiving any warning messages:
$ gnome-terminal -- "./scripttobash"
$ gnome-terminal -- "./genericscripttobash \"echo foo\" \"echo bar\""
I hope this helps anyone else presently having this issue :)
The ideal solution would be to ask for a user input with echo "Press any key".
But if double-click in Nautis or Nemo and select run in a terminal, it doesn't seem to work.
In case of Ubuntu a shell designed for fast start-up and execution with only standard features is used, named dash I believe.
Because of this the shebang is the very first line to start with to enable proper use of bash features.
Normally this would be: #!/bin/bash or similar.
In Ubuntu I learned this should be: #!/usr/bin/env bash.
Many workarounds exist to keep hold of the screen before the interpreter sees a syntax error in a bash command.
The solution in Ubuntu that worked for me:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
your code
echo Press a key...
read -n1
For a solution applicable to any terminal, there is a script that opens a terminal, runs the command specified and gives you back the prompt in that new terminal:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/60732147/1272994
I really like the bash --rcfile method
I just source ~/.bashrc then add the commands I want to the new startrc.sh
now my automated start.sh work environment is complete... for now 😼
If running a bash script just add gedit afile to the end of the script and that will hold gnome-terminal open. "afile" could be a build log which it was in my case.
Did not try just using gedit alone but, that would properly work too.
Use nohup command.
nohup gnome-terminal -e "ssh root# cd /tmp && ls"
Hope this will help you.