gnome-terminal with --command option fails after first time

[Jesse Aldridge]

Binary package hint: gnome-terminal

Open the terminal ( Accessories -> Terminal )

> gnome-terminal --command "echo test"

Close the spawned window.

> gnome-terminal --command "echo test"

Window spawns, but there's no output.

Using Ubuntu 7.10

[Jesse Aldridge (jessealdridge)]

Can work around by using xterm instead:
>xterm -e "echo test; read"

[Loïc Minier (lool)]

I couldn't reproduce your bug; the window always closes immediately after opening with your examples.

I tried:
gnome-terminal --command "sh -c 'echo test; cat'"
which would display the text in all cases.

[Jesse Aldridge (jessealdridge)]

In the terminal you can go "Edit"->"Current Profile"->"Title and Command" and set "When command exits" to "Hold terminal open."

Your example works for me also, so there's another work-around.

Note that I'm still new to Linux so I may just be doing something dumb :)

[Yann Rouillard (yann-pleiades)]

I confirm this bug, it's a strange one.
If I do:
    gnome-terminal --command "cat test.txt"

gnome-terminal displays nothing except if test.txt is more that 54 lines...

Anyway it's a very minor bug, why do you need this functionnality Jesse ?

[Jesse Aldridge (jessealdridge)]

Well, I wanted to make a nautilus script (<a href="http://g-scripts.sourceforge.net/faq.php">like these</a>) so that I could right-click on any ruby file and run it through the ruby interpreter.
I ended up getting it to work via the two solutions mentioned, so it's not really a problem for me any more.

The only problem here is that because I'm new to Linux I ended up spending several frustrated hours trying to figure out what I was doing wrong, when it was a bug all along. I bet this has tripped up others as well.

[Dennis Kaarsemaker (dennis)]

Works for me in hardy, try with:
gnome-terminal --command 'sh -c "echo test && sleep 5"'

[Jaya Ballard (jaya-ballard)]

I have the "same" problem

my command:
gnome-terminal --command "echo test"

A new terminal pops up but showing only a blinking cursor, no "test" AND no prompt ....

if I start
gnome-terminal --command 'sh -c "echo test && sleep 5"'

I do see the text, but I doen't return to a prompt ...

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

this sounds pretty similar to bug http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=324407 probably because of the same cause.

[Luciano Panepucci (lpanebr)]

Hello,

Sorry if I sound arrogant or inconvenient in any way, it is not my intention. It just happens that I would very much like this to work and cant understand why this bug endures until now if it was reported back in 2005 (https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=324407#c1)..

Why can't the terminal just stay open and operational after the commands execution?

is this just because of a super low priority or is it really a hard thing to fix?

[Luciano Panepucci (lpanebr)]

Hi, just to let you know that I found a way to leave the prompt open and operational http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-296628.html

Basically you just have to create a script that initiates the command /bin/bash

then if you want to run some specific command whe that shell opens you need to create a custom .bashrcCustom and pass it with the --rcfile option like this:

#! /bin/sh

/bin/bash --rcfile .myCustombashrc

hope this helps someone

[MakClaudD_AR (cdmakare)]

Hi! ,
sent a solution, thanks to
http://superuser.com/questions/178617/programmatically-open-tab-in-gnome-terminal-execute-command-and-have-tab-stay

gnome-terminal-e "bash-c \" echo foo; echo bar; exec bash \ ""

I encountered the same problem you
regards, El Ruso.