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.
Related
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.
I'm lazy, and I prefer that computers do my work for me. I ssh into several machines on a daily basis, so I created a simple script that launches some xterm windows and places them in positions I want (as you can see, I'm using bash):
#!/bin/bash
xterm -geometry 80x27+1930+0 &
xterm -geometry 80x27+2753+0 &
xterm -geometry 80x27+1930+626 &
xterm -geometry 80x27+2753+626 &
However, the next thing I do is go to the first window and type in
ssh server_a
then in the second
ssh server_b
and so on. What I'd like to do is have my script do the ssh commands in each xterm window, and then leave the windows open for me to do my work. I've seen the -e option for xterm, but the window closes after I execute my command. Is there a way to do this?
I apologize if this is a duplicate question. I've searched around and haven't had any luck with this. Many thanks!
I'd love to see a more elegant answer, but what I came up with does work:
xterm -e bash -c 'echo foo; exec bash'
Replace echo foo with the command of your choice, and you're good to go.
This answer gives one of the best answers I've seen so far to do this. Use the bash --init-file flag either in the shebang or when executing the terminal:
#!/bin/bash --init-file
commands to run
... and execute it as:
xterm -e /path/to/script
# or
gnome-terminal -e /path/to/script
# or
the-terminal -e bash --init-file /path/to/script/with/no/shebang
My only real complaint with the exec option is if the command executed prior to exec bash is long running and the user interrupts it (^C), it doesn't run the shell. With the --init-file option the shell continues running.
Another option is cmdtool from the OpenWin project:
/usr/openwin/bin/cmdtool -I 'commands; here'
# or
/usr/openwin/bin/cmdtool -I 'commands; here' /bin/bash
... where cmdtool injects the commands passed with -I to the slave process as though it was typed by the user. This has the effect of leaving the executed commands in the shell history.
Another option is to use gnome terminator. This creates and positions terminals interactively, and you can set up each terminal to run commands within terminator preferences.
Also does lots of extra tricks using keybindings for things like move, rotate, maximise/minimise of terminals within the containing terminator window
See: https://superuser.com/a/610048
"ClusterSSH controls a number of xterm windows via a single graphical console window to allow commands to be interactively run on multiple servers over an ssh connection"
https://github.com/duncs/clusterssh/wiki
$ cssh server_a server_b
$ command
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 ;"
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 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.