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FrankBKK

Member

From: far away

Registered: 2024-03-05

Posts: 14

[SOLVED] Thunar Custom Actions - how to run a bash script ?

I try to run a bash script via custom actions.

The script runs fine in terminal but in Thunar nothing happens.
Already checked in Settings Editor  thunar/misc-exec-shell-scripts-by-default  is set to true.

Linux Mint 22 XFCE

What else can I do to persuade Thunar to run a script ?

Last edited by FrankBKK (2024-10-14 16:01:07)

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,481

Re: [SOLVED] Thunar Custom Actions - how to run a bash script ?

Thunar Custom actions needs to be able to find the script to run it - look at ~/.xsession-errors in case an error message is being posted.

Can you post back the contents of this script plus its location and your $PATH? Also the Custom Action properties as you have set them.

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FrankBKK

Member

From: far away

Registered: 2024-03-05

Posts: 14

Re: [SOLVED] Thunar Custom Actions - how to run a bash script ?

after I played around some more I found a hint when monitoring active processes and finally got it to work.

I had to change the Thunar Custom Action Property Command to

/usr/bin/xfce4-terminal -x /home/user/scripts/copyTBData.sh

Previously I just added the script path+file (e.g. /home/user/scripts/copyTBData.sh)
which did not work.

Works fine now, but I have no clue to why I have to call the terminal explicitly.
Maybe someone can help explain ?

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,481

Re: [SOLVED] Thunar Custom Actions - how to run a bash script ?

What does the script do? Can you post a copy of it?

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FrankBKK

Member

From: far away

Registered: 2024-03-05

Posts: 14

Re: [SOLVED] Thunar Custom Actions - how to run a bash script ?

What does the script do? Can you post a copy of it?

Sure thing, it's a simple script to copy a Thunderbird profile from a NTFS partition to the local drive

#!/bin/bash
#
# copy Thunderbird email data from share to local Linux home folder 
# last edited: 2024-10-11 FW
#

# Source directory
source_dir="/media/user/server/Thunderbird/"

# Destination directory
dest_dir="/home/user/Thunderbird"

# Exclude the specified folder and all subfolders and files
exclude_folder="Archive"

# Create the destination directory if it doesn't exist
mkdir -p "$dest_dir"

# Use rsync to copy only newer files, excluding the specified folder and its contents
rsync -av --exclude="prefs.js" --exclude="$exclude_folder/" --update "$source_dir" "$dest_dir"

# keep the terminal window open, dont close it
bash

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,481

Re: [SOLVED] Thunar Custom Actions - how to run a bash script ?

I see. It's because you want to keep the window open. Those prior commands should run in the background and complete, but if you want to see the output, then yes - you will need to open a terminal window.

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FrankBKK

Member

From: far away

Registered: 2024-03-05

Posts: 14

Re: [SOLVED] Thunar Custom Actions - how to run a bash script ?

I see. It's because you want to keep the window open. Those prior commands should run in the background and complete, but if you want to see the output, then yes - you will need to open a terminal window.

I C - then we can close that - thanks for the info.