terminal emulator which auto closes after execution but stays open if there was an error during execution

Question

I have a automatic build script it uses a makefile which starts different ant scripts depending on the target

I start it using xterm (I have a shortcut on the desktop) It works fine but if I want to check if the execution was successful I cant close the terminal automatically

Is there a terminal emulator which wont auto close if there was an error during execution ?

Answer 1

You seem to open a terminal to run one command and close the terminal. This is a highly unusual workflow outside the Windows world. The usual workflow is to have a terminal open permanently, and run commands in it when needed. Or, when the command is a build command, work in an IDE and have it invoke the build process.

If you insist in creating a new terminal each time (a bad idea, because that will make messages from prior builds immediately unavailable), you can make the terminal wait in case of error by inserting a shell snippet that checks the return status, and waits for input if there is an error.

xterm -e sh -c 'ant mytarget || read line'

If the build process completes successfully, the terminal window will be closed immediately. If the build process fails, the terminal window will be closed after you press Enter.

Answer 2

So do not put exit in the end of the script and/or check return code...

Answer 3

I think what Jiri meants was that you should use xterm, without -hold, and change your build script to only exit if it completes successfully. If there is an error, have your build script stop and wait for a key press from the user. If your build script is a bash script, just use the read statement:

read unused_var