I've knocked out a bash script that uses dialog boxes (Xdialog in this
case) to pass arguments to a perfectly good command line utility. The
idea is that a rodent-fixated $USER can satisfy his fetish by clicking
on a Desktop Icon. [Desktop Icons are those tiny graphic thingies that
live under xterms and deface your Megan Gale wallpaper.]
Having punched out said script I suddenly had a Thought. [A Thought is
an explosion in the brain that turns very tired hackers into
insomniacs.]
What if $USER doesn't have [X|K|G|*]dialog? or has moved or nuked it?
[$USER is capable of _anything_.]
My first idea -- to add another dialog box into the script -- seemed to
cause a loop. So ..., why not use an xterm? But the "-e" option to
xterm seems to have very limited functionality. If I pass a message to
an ad hoc xterm it closes immediately because the "-e" option is
explicitly designed to terminate the xterm when the command has been
executed. Also, "-e" won't allow more than one command -- a
"restricted" xterm!? Further, the man page for xterm seems to give just
about every option known to mankind, except the one I want.
My "solution", which follows, is a total kludge:
BEGIN SCRIPT SNIPPET <<<<<<<<<<<<
#!/bin/bash
...
TITLE="My Bash Wrapper Script"
XDIAL="/path/to/Xdialog"
...
if [ ! -x "$XDIAL" ]; then
cat <<- EOF > "/tmp/emergency_script"
#!/bin/bash
echo " $TITLE"
echo "I can't find the bloody Xdialog file?"
echo "It may be a permissions problem."
sleep 3
EOF
chmod 700 "/tmp/emergency_script"
xterm -ut +l +ls +bc -font 10x20 -geometry 40x4 -title "$TITLE" \
-mesg -e "/tmp/emergency_script"
rm "/tmp/emergency_script"
exit 1
fi
...
END SCRIPT SNIPPET <<<<<<<<<<<<<
BTW, "emergency_script" still works if the shebang is absent.
Finally, my question:
What is the correct way to do this? or a better way? or, even, The
Debian Way?
TIA,
Robert Thorsby
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