reverse ssh howto force a new instance of either FF or Chrome

lleb · 08-20-2012, 11:50 AM

on the remote computer.

I have reverse ssh working from my house to the office. I can get applications like Putty or gedit to open without an issue, but when i try to open chrome or firefox i get a display error and a msg telling me it is already running, as it is, and that it will open a new screen on my work computer.

it never brings it to the home computer.

what options do i need to add to get /usr/bin/google-chrome to open on the computer at the house via ssh?

273 · 08-20-2012, 11:56 AM

I've not played with Chrome in this way but with Firefox you can only have one instance of each profile open at a time. So the only way to have Firefox open on two difference X displays is to open a different profile on each.
I'm being lazy so just googled quickly and found this:
http://www.callum-macdonald.com/abou...fox-instances/
The principals apply whenever you're running Firefox on different X servers though which includes remote ones.
You may also need to specify the DISPLAY variable to Firefox when opening remotely.

suicidaleggroll · 08-20-2012, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 273

I've not played with Chrome in this way but with Firefox you acn only have one instance of each profile o

Chrome works the same way - the way around it is to make a second profile for these remote connections.

273 · 08-20-2012, 12:06 PM

I don't have Chrome but Chromium does this

Code:

$ chromium
Created new window in existing browser session.

Meaning it opens another window on the same desktop as the first -- so running it remotely doesn't work (neither does it work on a monitor set as a separate X desktop). Perhaps if a DISPLAY is passed to it?

suicidaleggroll · 08-20-2012, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 273

I don't have Chrome but Chromium does this

Code:

$ chromium
Created new window in existing browser session.

Meaning it opens another window on the same desktop as the first -- so running it remotely doesn't work (neither does it work on a monitor set as a separate X desktop). Perhaps if a DISPLAY is passed to it?

Tried that before, still doesn't work. The only solution I've found is to set up a new profile.

I run separate X desktops on my machine at work, and I have to have a separate profile for each. The launcher in the taskbar for one monitor is:

Code:

/opt/google/chrome/google-chrome %U

The other monitor is:

Code:

/opt/google/chrome/google-chrome %U --user-data-dir=~/.config/google-chrome0

It works fine, the only downside is you can't share bookmarks between them. So when I want to add a new bookmark, I have to add it to each of them separately.

273 · 08-20-2012, 12:33 PM

Ah, so the same as Firefox then. Good to know, thanks.

lleb · 08-20-2012, 01:44 PM

thanks all. glad it is something semi easy to resolve.