byobu crashes on start up

[St John Giddy]

This is the error I'm getting:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/byobu/include/select-session.py", line 163, in <module>
    attach_session(sessions[choice - 1])
  File "/usr/lib/byobu/include/select-session.py", line 108, in attach_session
    os.execvp("screen", ["", "-AOxRR", session_name])
  File "/usr/lib/python3.6/os.py", line 559, in execvp
    _execvpe(file, args)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.6/os.py", line 594, in _execvpe
    exec_func(fullname, *argrest)
ValueError: execv() arg 2 first element cannot be empty

I'm using Arch. I'm seemed to fix it for now by changing
 os.execvp("screen", ["", "-AOxRR", session_name])
to
 os.execvp("screen", [" ", "-AOxRR", session_name])

[eviweb (eviweb)]

Hi,
I just encountered this issue, and I can confirm that the fix works.
For me it had to be inserted in the tmux call of the attach_session function, like below :

def attach_session(session):
    update_environment(session)
    backend, session_name = session.split("____", 2)
    # must use the binary, not the wrapper!
    if backend == "tmux":
        os.execvp("tmux", [" ", "-2", "attach", "-t", session_name])
    else:
        os.execvp("screen", [" ", "-AOxRR", session_name])

Best regards

Eric

[CDGSThermi (e-noel)]

That fix works for me, too. I've had that problem for years on new installations. Please introduce the patch.

[eviweb (eviweb)]

Hi,

for info I'm on an Ubuntu distro where the issue is the same and the fix above works also.

Best regards

Eric

[Theodotos Andreou (theodotos)]

Same here on Ubuntu 16.04. eviweb's suggestion fixed the issue.

[Dustin Kirkland  (kirkland)]

Is this fix still need as of byobu 5.127? The current code says this:

def attach_session(session):
        update_environment(session)
        backend, session_name = session.split("____", 2)
        cull_zombies(session_name)
        # must use the binary, not the wrapper!
        if backend == "tmux":
                if reuse_sessions:
                        os.execvp("tmux", ["tmux", "attach", "-t", session_name])
                else:
                        os.execvp("tmux", ["tmux", "-2", "new-session", "-t", session_name, "-s", "_%s-%i" % (session_name, os.getpid())])

        else:
                os.execvp("screen", ["screen", "-AOxRR", session_name])