Error launching Mozilla (only from inside Eclipse) using simple Runtime.exec() on Ubuntu.

I discovered that, on Ubuntu 9.04, I cannot launch mozilla browser using the simple invocation of Runtime.getRuntime().exec("/usr/bin/mozilla"). It turns out, I have to use the variant of exec() where I can pass in some environment variables explicitly.

Here is the program that I used to test it:

import java.io.IOException;

public class MB {

/**
* @param args
*/
public static void main(String[] args) {
   try {
       Process exec = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("/usr/bin/mozilla"
               // Uncommenting out following line will launch mozilla browser on Ubuntu
               //, new String[] {"DISPLAY=:0.0", "HOME="+System.getProperty("user.home")}
               );
       System.out.println(exec.waitFor());
   } catch (IOException e) {
       e.printStackTrace();
   } catch (InterruptedException e) {
       e.printStackTrace();
   }
}

}

Very interesting. May be that is why Eclipse has trouble launching help in default external browser on Ubuntu.

UPDATE: It turns out that this fails only if I run the above program from inside Eclipse. If I run it from a terminal window it works. It turns out that Eclipse sets an environment variable MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME to point to /usr/lib[64]/xulrunner-addon to make the SWT's embedded browser widget work correctly. However this environment variable is inherited by any process that is launched from within Eclipse. And apparently MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME inteferes with the Mozilla browser (/usr/bin/mozilla) launch.

Two issues have been filed in Eclipse Bugzilla:

https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=278415
https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=278296

Graphical cd

The following bash function allows you to change directory using a Directory chooser:

gcd() {
   local CDTO=`zenity  --title="cd" --file-selection --directory`
   if [ -n "${CDTO}" ] ; then
   cd "${CDTO}"
   fi
}

Reclaim Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V for familiar Copy and Paste in gnome-terminal

Most people work with graphical desktops. Most desktop (GUI) applications use the Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V for Copy and Paste actions respectively. One gets use to these really fast. However, when working with bash shell running inside a gnome-terminal those key bindings mean something different i.e. Ctrl+C sends the kill signal to the foreground process and Ctrl+V is used for quoted insert functionality (i.e. to enter control keys literally). This is the legacy of the command line oriented Unix terminals based on tty (stty - program that controls the settings of tty devices).

In this entry I describe how to make Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V do Copy and Paste in gnome-terminals. Here is how to do it:

Open a gnome-terminal window and type the following commands:

> stty intr ^K         # free Ctrl+C for copy
> stty lnext ^-        # free Ctrl+V for paste
> stty -g
> stty -g > ~/.stty    # store the settings in home directory

Add the following to .bashrc

case $- in
*i*)
stty `cat ~/.stty`     #  reload the stored stty settings
bind -u quoted-insert  #  unbind the quoted-insert function of bash - free Ctrl+V for paste
esac

Now using the gconf-editor, edit the gnome-terminal's key bindings (@ /apps/gnome-terminal/keybindings key).

Close and reopen the terminal window. And now Ctrl+C will copy and Ctrl+V will paste.