Open a terminal from a Crontab

Question

How do I get a gnome-terminal window to open from a crontab?

I have tried this:

    * * * * * /usr/bin/gnome-terminal 

    * * * * * source /home/user_name/.bashrc ; /usr/bin/gnome-terminal

    * * * * * source /home/user_name/.profile ; /usr/bin/gnome-terminal

    * * * * * source /home/user_name/.bashrc ; /home/user_name/bin/opengnometerminal.sh

None of these seem to work.

Solution 1

You can't, safely. cron jobs run independent of the desktop session where X is running, therefore you can't do this without causing security violations.

Solution 2

* * * * * export DISPLAY=:0 && /usr/bin/gnome-terminal

Though this is not really a robust solution since there's no guarantees that X server will be on :0.

Comments

[Admin]

Haven't used X in awhile but you probably need DISPLAY set in your environment.

[hafichuk]

Why are you trying to do this?

[userend]

I want to send myself a message at a certain time. I will find another way.

[Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams]

There's also no guarantees that the user crond runs as will have the X auth cookie.

[userend]

This is what I got when I tried that on my system: <code> Failed to parse arguments: Cannot open display: </code> I think I will try Python-notify.

[userend]

This is what I got when I tried that on my system: [code] Failed to parse arguments: Cannot open display: [/code] I think I will try Python-notify.

[userend]

Thanks for your help I will try Python-notify to accomplish this task.

[Scott - Слава Україні]

What is /home/user/show-my-script-in-window-terminal.sh?