Spec to define the default terminal?

[Thomas Gläßle]

Thomas Gläßle wrote on 10/20/2015 12:23 PM:
> 1 a) invent a new variable e.g. $TERMINAL or similar that works like
> $BROWSER, i.e. something of the form TERMINAL=urxvt:gnome-terminal:xterm
>
> 1 b) invent a new variable e.g. $TERMINAL or similar that works like the
> one used by mimeopen, i.e. TERMINAL="xterm -e"
>
> 2) encourage the use of (and possibly semi-mandatory dependency on)
> gvfs-open/kde-open
>
> 3). invent a mimetype for terminal applications so available terminals
> can be iterated via .desktop files and a default can be requested in the
> mimeapps.list file, e.g.:

I forgot to mention option 4 which I saw lurking around:

4) use the binary x-terminal-emulator which is to be symlinked to
whatever terminal one wants to use.

  - [+] nice and simple
  - [+] possibly already supported by several subsystems?
  - [-] system-wide config (you have to modify PATH in order to change
it for users)



> concerning 1 a)
>
>   - [+] nice and simple
>   - [-] have to hardcode command line options, e.g. terminator uses "-x"
> rather than "-e"
>   - considering $TERMINAL is already used in a different fashion by
> mimeopen (and mimeopen is used as fallback by xdg-open), I'd rather tend
> towards a different name for the variable, e.g. $TERMCMD which would be
> upward compatible to how its used by terminator
>
>
> concerning 1 b)
>
>   - [+] no need to hardcode command line options
>   - [+] compatible with existing mimeopen behaviour
>   - [-] contains more than just a executable name, may be less simple to
> analyze
>
>
> concerning 2)
>
>   - [+] easy out without much coding for xdg-open
>   - [-] doesn't really solve the problem that "everyone uses their own
> mechanism"
>   - [-] I didn't look at gvfs-open/kde-open so far, but I'm afraid, they
> don't allow the user to specify their preferred terminal as easily
>   - [-] seems like a heavy dependency
>
>
> concerning 3)
>
>   - [+] uses an established config format
>   - [+] can configure multiple terminals with correct command line
> options and the default
>   - [-] not sure if the mimetype concept applies to this problem very well
>   - [-] maybe too complex for such a simple goal


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