[SOLVED] How do I run a command on a separate terminal in a bash script?

Nathan.eth0 · 04-06-2011, 08:47 AM

Hello World!

I'm trying to do something here::
I'm writing a bash script, I want to [open a new terminal and run a bash command in it] inside the script.

I tried to use this, but apparently I get syntax errors.

Quote:

#! /bin/bash
echo "echo Something" > ~/Second.sh
chmod +x ~/Second.sh
xterm -e sh -c ./Second.sh

vikas027 · 04-06-2011, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nathan.eth0

Hello World!

I'm trying to do something here::
I'm writing a bash script, I want to [open a new terminal and run a bash command in it] inside the script.

I tried to use this, but apparently I get syntax errors.

I am unable to figure out why do you want to open a new terminal of the same machine you are working on.

Still if you are trying to do so, an alternative is to run your script "Second.sh" through ssh.

You can do something like:

Code:

#! /bin/bash
echo "echo Something" > ~/Second.sh
chmod +x ~/Second.sh
dir=`pwd`
ssh localhost "cd $dir; ./Second.sh"

Athough this would ask for password which can be automated through expect.

theNbomr · 04-06-2011, 10:59 AM

The script gets created as '~/Something.sh' but executed as './Something.sh', which would only be correct if the current working directory is '~/' I see no syntax error, however the script is so short that it closes the window almost immediately. If you do something more like

Code:

echo "echo Something; sleep 3" > ~/Second.sh

it seems to do what would I expect.

--- rod.

Nathan.eth0 · 04-06-2011, 11:24 AM

That was not what I wanted to do, I want my script to open a whole new shell console and start running my second script on that console. Like the main script is a root which triggers several sub-scripts to start running, each on a new shell console, Separately, and my main all my main terminal does would be creating the sub-scripts not running them.

MTK358 · 04-06-2011, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nathan.eth0

That was not what I wanted to do, I want my script to open a whole new shell console and start running my second script on that console. Like the main script is a root which triggers several sub-scripts to start running, each on a new shell console, Separately, and my main all my main terminal does would be creating the sub-scripts not running them.

Did you read theNbomr's post?

You're creating ~/Second.sh but executing ./Second.sh. What if the working directory is not $HOME?

theNbomr · 04-06-2011, 12:24 PM

What exactly do you mean by 'a whole new shell console'? When you make the changes I previously suggested, what does it do or not do that you see as incorrect?

--- rod.

Nathan.eth0 · 04-06-2011, 12:24 PM

That's not the problem, That was just an example of what I wanted in a nutshell,
you add a

cd

up there;

vikas027 · 04-06-2011, 12:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nathan.eth0

That's not the problem, That was just an example of what I wanted in a nutshell,
you add a

cd

up there;

Did you tried my code ?
Does it solve your problem ?

Nathan.eth0 · 04-06-2011, 01:29 PM

Yes I did. And No it didn't. (Thanks though

)
Logically when I SSH to my local host, I'm using the VERY TERMINAL I'M USING to run my program.

MTK358 · 04-06-2011, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theNbomr

What exactly do you mean by 'a whole new shell console'?

Open a new terminal window.

theNbomr · 04-06-2011, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MTK358

Open a new terminal window.

And that's what I would have thought, except that he says that using an xterm isn't getting him there.

--- rod.

Ramurd · 04-06-2011, 03:13 PM

Code:

echo 'echo "test";sleep 3' > testscript.sh; chmod u+x testscript.sh; xterm -e sh -c ./testscript.sh

just confirming what others said before: above code works and opens an xterm nicely; If you want to run more xterms concurrently from the same script, you should run them in the background of course. (&)

gnashley · 04-07-2011, 03:28 AM

Since your script is writing a script, you also need to write the shebang to the script:

Code:

#! /bin/bash
echo '#!/bin/bash' > ~/Second.sh
echo "echo Something" >> ~/Second.sh
chmod +x ~/Second.sh
xterm -e sh -c ~/Second.sh

MTK358 · 04-07-2011, 07:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gnashley

Since your script is writing a script, you also need to write the shebang to the script:

No.

xterm is told what to interpret it with in the -e option. If you don't specify it, it assumes the shell.

EDIT: looking at the xterm man page, I found a problem! it says:

Quote:

-e program [ arguments ... ]
This option specifies the program (and its command line arguments) to be run in
the xterm window. It also sets the window title and icon name to be the base‐
name of the program being executed if neither -T nor -n are given on the command
line. This must be the last option on the command line.

theNbomr · 04-07-2011, 10:40 AM

It is the last argument. Everything following the '-e' is considered part of that argument (at least in the examples here). Although there are elements within it that look like option arguments, they are for the command which will be launched by xterm, and are considered to be lumped together as part of the '-e' argument to xterm. I usually enclose the whole thing in quotes to enforce this, although evidently, this is not required.

--- rod.