launch-mac

Scripts and instructions for launching items on window session startup. Mac version.

To clone the repo

git clone git@github.com:mjbmon/mps-buildtools.git

Notes and scripts for launching things on window session start-up.

We need to be able to launch things automatically, when the user first starts the initial session. To do this in a more or less portable way we will assume that there is a script located in a known location and then put launch items into that script. There may be several possible places. For now we assume that the script is a shell script called launch_init.sh and that it is located in ~/.local/.initial which will NOT EVER be in the executable path, so there is very little chance of executing it by accident. Plus, it will not be executable. The script filename and the script location are arbitrary and for security reasons it might be a good idea to change either or both.

To launch on Mac OS we create an applescript that runs the launch_init.sh script. Then we turn the applescript into an app, then finally install the app in Settings->General->Login Items & Extensions

Creating the launch_init.sh script.

The launch_init.sh script is a normal shell script created with a text editor.

#!/bin/bash
echo "Running the launch_init.sh script"
echo "Hello, world"
pwd
echo ${PATH}
sleep 10

This file is intended to be modified by the user for whatever needs to be launched at the beginning of the session.

Testing the launch_init.sh script.

Execute the following command

 (source ./launch_init.sh )

We put this in parentheses to protect the current shell and we use source because the script is not executable.

The output should look something like this

Running the launch_init.sh script
Hello, world
/Users/mark/Github/launch-mac
/Users/mark/.cargo/bin:/opt/homebrew/bin:/opt/homebrew ...

Installing the launch_init.sh script.

We install the script as follows

 mkdir -p ~/.local/.initial
 cp launch_init.sh ~/.local/.initial

This creates the target directory ~/.local/.initial and copies the script into it. At this point there is nothing to tell the system how or when to run this script.

Building the applescript app.

The applescript is created in a file launch.scpt with any text editor and contains the following

do shell script "~/.local/.initial/launch_init.sh > ~/launch_init.log"

Open this file with the following command

 open launch.scpt

and this will start the Script Editor application. Choose File->Export and under File Format choose Application, then Save. This will create an application launch.app.

Testing the applescript (initial test).

To test the new app

 open launch.app
 cat ~/launch_init.log

and the output should be

Running the launch.sh script
Hello, world

Installing the applescript app.

We can now install the app to be run whenever the user logs into a window session. This will not happen if the user accesses the account in some other way, such as ssh.

To do this, go to Settings->General->Login Items & Extensions. In the section Open at Login click on + to add the application. This pops up a folder window that lets you search for and select the app, in the directory where the app was just created.

Testing the launch_init script.

To test the installation we just log out and log back into the session. Then cat the launch_init.log in the home directory. Compare with the result from running the script directly.

Running the launch_init.sh script
Hello, world
/
/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin

This is very obviously not what we want!

Modify the launch_init script.

The launch_init script does not do anything useful so far. Here is a modified script that sets working directory, the path, and then launches the terminal

#!/bin/bash
cd ~
export PATH=${PATH}

echo "Running the launch_init.sh script"
echo "Hello, world"
pwd
echo ${PATH}
sleep 10

To install this script we merely copy it to ~/.local/.initial/launch_init.sh and log out of and back into the session. The browser should open automatically.

Alternative approach.

Rather than heavily modify the launch_init.sh script a better approach is to have that script call another script to launch the browser. This way we can easily add various things to be launched. We don't want this to get

Questions

• What about security?

• Note that the launch_init.sh script does not have to be executable, in fact it should NOT be.

• Note that the normal .bashrc etc are NOT run. HOWEVER, when wezterm is launched and the user creates new tabs or windows then .bashrc IS run.

• We can edit and update the launch_init.sh script at any time. No effect will be seen until we log out and back in.

• What about the applescript and app? Do I need to keep them around? Try it.

TODO

• Create a github repo called launch_mac and put all this stuff in it, with a README.md file (and a zip file to download?)

• Similarly, launch_linux? (maybe more than one).

• Now need to add code to launch a specific app or apps. For example launch_diary.sh

• Work on linux. Different distros might be quite different.

• Look up issues with desktops (spaces).

• Move app to different desktop. On mac just drag in the toolbar, eventually it goes to the next desktop.

Or grab in toolbar and use control-2 to move to desktop 2. That does not work.