Gnome-terminal does not open new tabs

[eantowne]

Describe the bug When using gnome-terminal with "--tab" option to open new console sessions in a new tab (default behavior for console profile is new window), a new window is opened instead. When testing from the CLI, opens correctly in new tabs. command string provided below.

gnome-terminal --tab -t "%d" -e "telnet %h %p

GNS3 version and operating system (please complete the following information):

• OS: Linux
• GNS3 version: 2.2.37
• Any use of the GNS3 VM or remote server: bare metal

To Reproduce Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Add the following console profile "gnome-terminal --tab -t "%d" -e "telnet %h %p"
2. Open multiple devices consoles

[ghost]

Tested with gnome-terminal v3.46.8: gnome-terminal --tab opens a new tab in an existing gnome-terminal window only, when issued within gnome-terminal. When issuing gnome-terminal --tab in another application, for example xterm or GNS3, it always opens a new window, never a new tab.

There is a hack to open a gnome-terminal tab even when using other programs: When you manage to find out the environment variables GNOME_TERMINAL_SERVICE and GNOME_TERMINAL_SCREEN of a gnome-terminal window and add these to the environment of the gnome-terminal --tab command, then a new tab in that gnome-terminal window is opened. But I see no easy way to achieve that.

The easiest way is to forget about gnome-terminal and use mate-terminal instead. GNS3 already includes the settings for mate-terminal to open new tabs.

[leribe]

thanks @b-ehlers that worked. Appreciated.

[grossmj]

I have tried a few workarounds but unfortunately I couldn't find anything that can be done by GNS3 to make gnome-terminal work with tabs :(

Our default terminal on Linux is xterm excepting on Debian, Ubuntu and Linux Mint (cf. code extract from GNS3 GUI)

    if sys.platform.startswith("linux"):
        distro_name = distro.name()
        if distro_name == "Debian" or distro_name == "Ubuntu" or distro_name == "LinuxMint":
            DEFAULT_TELNET_CONSOLE_COMMAND = PRECONFIGURED_TELNET_CONSOLE_COMMANDS["Gnome Terminal"]

I propose to switch to mate-terminal by default for these and also have mate-terminal as a dependency for our gns3-gui Debian package (or at least a recommended dependency).

[ghost]

As an experiment I created gnome-terminal-tab, which is a wrapper around gnome-terminal, that will open a new tab. But this just for testing.

[Mario156090]

Yeah, mate terminal works perfectly. Same problem with kde konsole. Always open to a new window.

[ghost]

Same problem with kde konsole. Always open to a new window.

To open a new tab in konsole the option --new-tab is used. konsole --help shows:

  --new-tab                  Create a new tab in an existing window rather than
                             creating a new window ('Run all Konsole windows in
                             a single process' must be enabled)

So within Konsole in Settings / Configure Konsole... / General the option Run all Konsole windows in a single process must be enabled to open new consoles in tabs. By default this setting is disabled, then the option --new-tab won't work and new windows will be created.

[grossmj]

Thanks, looks like we gonna have to implement something similar to https://github.com/GNS3/gns3-gui/files/11382898/gnome-terminal-tab.txt

[ghost]

Thanks, looks like we gonna have to implement something similar to https://github.com/GNS3/gns3-gui/files/11382898/gnome-terminal-tab.txt

Please note, that gnome-terminal-tab just got some limited testing in my environment. I don't know if it works with wayland. And it my choose the wrong display, especially when you are doing remote logins by ssh to the GNS3-GUI system.

Personally I won't try to work around the limitations of gnome-terminal. I just would recommend mate-terminal (or any of the others terminal emulators offering working tab support).

[grossmj]

I have added a working PR. Gnome-terminal must be configured to open new terminals in Tab.

I am still hesitating to switch to mate-terminal by default. I guess we could if it has already been installed.

[grossmj]

Gnome-terminal must be configured to open new terminals in Tab.

Actually there is no need for that. I had mistaken the -t parameter for --tab

[Mario156090]

Hello, today I get the update with the new function for gnome-terminal and works well.

A question, when I open the first terminal I can get gnome-terminal attention but if I open the second there is not windows attention. Is required any configuration?

[grossmj]

I noticed the same behavior, the gnome-terminal window is not focused when opening more tabs... from what I read it is the standard behavior on Gnome, I haven't found a work-around.

[Fyne5]

Tested with gnome-terminal v3.46.8: gnome-terminal --tab opens a new tab in an existing gnome-terminal window only, when issued within gnome-terminal. When issuing gnome-terminal --tab in another application, for example xterm or GNS3, it always opens a new window, never a new tab.

There is a hack to open a gnome-terminal tab even when using other programs: When you manage to find out the environment variables GNOME_TERMINAL_SERVICE and GNOME_TERMINAL_SCREEN of a gnome-terminal window and add these to the environment of the gnome-terminal --tab command, then a new tab in that gnome-terminal window is opened. But I see no easy way to achieve that.

The easiest way is to forget about gnome-terminal and use mate-terminal instead. GNS3 already includes the settings for mate-terminal to open new tabs.

Thank you so much. From you suggest, I did and worked. Here is my ugly sample for someone who need

if [[ -z $CHECK_PROCCESS_GNOME-TERMINAL_EXIST_OR_NOT ]]; then
    rm -rf /tmp/1.txt
    /usr/bin/gnome-terminal --tab -p -- $1 | tee /tmp/1.txt
    else
        a=$(egrep SERVICE /tmp/1.txt|cut -d\= -f2)
        b=$(egrep SCREEN /tmp/1.txt|cut -d\= -f2)
        export GNOME_TERMINAL_SERVICE="$a"
        export GNOME_TERMINAL_SCREEN="$b"
        /usr/bin/gnome-terminal --title=$SCRIPT_NAME --tab $SCRIPT_NAME -- $1
fi

[nourgaser]

Tested with gnome-terminal v3.46.8: gnome-terminal --tab opens a new tab in an existing gnome-terminal window only, when issued within gnome-terminal. When issuing gnome-terminal --tab in another application, for example xterm or GNS3, it always opens a new window, never a new tab. There is a hack to open a gnome-terminal tab even when using other programs: When you manage to find out the environment variables GNOME_TERMINAL_SERVICE and GNOME_TERMINAL_SCREEN of a gnome-terminal window and add these to the environment of the gnome-terminal --tab command, then a new tab in that gnome-terminal window is opened. But I see no easy way to achieve that. The easiest way is to forget about gnome-terminal and use mate-terminal instead. GNS3 already includes the settings for mate-terminal to open new tabs.

Thank you so much. From you suggest, I did and worked. Here is my ugly sample for someone who need

if [[ -z $CHECK_PROCCESS_GNOME-TERMINAL_EXIST_OR_NOT ]]; then
  rm -rf /tmp/1.txt
  /usr/bin/gnome-terminal --tab -p -- $1 | tee /tmp/1.txt
  else
      a=$(egrep SERVICE /tmp/1.txt|cut -d\= -f2)
      b=$(egrep SCREEN /tmp/1.txt|cut -d\= -f2)
      export GNOME_TERMINAL_SERVICE="$a"
      export GNOME_TERMINAL_SCREEN="$b"
      /usr/bin/gnome-terminal --title=$SCRIPT_NAME --tab $SCRIPT_NAME -- $1
fi

This didn't quite work for me but it inspired the following (mostly AI-generated script) which is working flawless, but many thanks to you for the original idea

#!/bin/bash

INSTANCE_FILE="/tmp/gnome-terminal-${USER}.info"
LOCK_FILE="/tmp/gnome-terminal-${USER}.lock"
SLEEP_TIME=0.15

readonly SERVICE_PATTERN='(?<=SERVICE=).*'
readonly SCREEN_PATTERN='(?<=SCREEN=).*'

focus_terminal() {
    type wmctrl >/dev/null 2>&1 && wmctrl -xa "gnome-terminal"
}

check_session_valid() {
    local service
    service=$(grep -oP "$SERVICE_PATTERN" "$INSTANCE_FILE") || return 1
    [[ -n "$service" ]] || return 1

    timeout 0.5 gdbus call --session --dest "$service" \
        --object-path /org/gnome/Terminal/window/0 \
        --method org.freedesktop.DBus.Peer.Ping >/dev/null 2>&1
}

trap 'flock -u 9 2>/dev/null' EXIT

exec 9>"${LOCK_FILE}"
if ! flock -n 9; then
    sleep $SLEEP_TIME
    if [[ -f "$INSTANCE_FILE" ]] && check_session_valid; then
        export GNOME_TERMINAL_SERVICE=$(grep -oP "$SERVICE_PATTERN" "$INSTANCE_FILE")
        export GNOME_TERMINAL_SCREEN=$(grep -oP "$SCREEN_PATTERN" "$INSTANCE_FILE")
        gnome-terminal --tab
        focus_terminal
    fi
    exit 0
fi

[[ -f "$INSTANCE_FILE" ]] && ! check_session_valid && rm -f "$INSTANCE_FILE"

if [[ -f "$INSTANCE_FILE" ]]; then
    GNOME_TERMINAL_SERVICE=$(grep -oP "$SERVICE_PATTERN" "$INSTANCE_FILE")
    GNOME_TERMINAL_SCREEN=$(grep -oP "$SCREEN_PATTERN" "$INSTANCE_FILE")

    if [[ -n "$GNOME_TERMINAL_SERVICE" ]] && [[ -n "$GNOME_TERMINAL_SCREEN" ]]; then
        export GNOME_TERMINAL_SERVICE
        export GNOME_TERMINAL_SCREEN
        gnome-terminal --tab
        focus_terminal
        exit 0
    fi
fi

gnome-terminal -- bash -c '
    echo "SERVICE=$GNOME_TERMINAL_SERVICE" > '"$INSTANCE_FILE"'
    echo "SCREEN=$GNOME_TERMINAL_SCREEN" >> '"$INSTANCE_FILE"'
    exec $SHELL
'
sleep $SLEEP_TIME

[grossmj]

The GNS3 GUI should support opening consoles in tabs. This was implemented in https://github.com/GNS3/gns3-gui/pull/3500

A question, when I open the first terminal I can get gnome-terminal attention but if I open the second there is not windows attention. Is required any configuration?

Does your script get the gnome-terminal window focus when a new tab is opened?

[grossmj]

Hum, after having a closer look at your script, indeed it does. Sorry for the question ;)

[grossmj]

I noticed the same behavior, the gnome-terminal window is not focused when opening more tabs... from what I read it is the standard behavior on Gnome, I haven't found a work-around.

I have added some improvements and fixed the focus issue described above.