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How can I run applications from terminal?
For some applications I can find the path/name using which or whatis: which python or whatis mathematica or whatis math, but I can't run them by typing mathematica or math.
However, python works fine and I don't know what command I should give to chromium to run it. I can give a command to tor-browser to run in terminal, though.
I am using Debian Stretch with Gnome desktop.
Try chromium-browser.
If that doesn't work, issue the command dpkg-query -L chromium to list all the files installed during installation of chromium browser. One of these files will be your binary.
chromium-browser is an Ubuntu-specific thing they do to distinguish the version shipped in form of a Snap from the version that is distributed as a Debian package. You can actually install them both in parallel. On Debian stretch, which is used by the OP, the name is just chromium.
Jul 9, 2020 at 1:01
To start the chromium web browser in ubuntu, try the following command :
chromium
Please note it is just chromium and not chromium-browser
chromium for the browser. It's still chromium-browser
Find the actual name of your application and then type it in the terminal:
chromium-browser
If you've run the application from GUI before, right-click the name in the menu and you should see the command/path of the application under Properties. That is where the actual name could be found as well.
Or you could search for it using find or apt-cache search or ...
Or maybe you have to add its location to PATH.
PATH=$PATH:/path/to/chromium
The world is full of options.
Note that on Unix systems you have a few options when it comes to calling executables:
You can type the full path. For example
$ /usr/bin/nano
You can type a relative path. For example
/usr/lib$ ../bin/nano
There is a common pitfall for Unix newbies: If you want to call an executable from the current working directory you have to say
/usr/bin$ ./nano
Note that this is different from Windows where you don't need the ./ (on the up side these two additional characters can often prevents surprises).
You can just type nano in which case it will be searched in the directories specified by your PATH environment variable. This pattern should work for all programs installed as packages.
If it doesn't work check your search path. Here's what I get as a regular user on my machine:
$ echo $PATH
/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games
Note that the search path for privileged users (root) typically includes additional directories like /usr/sbin containing executables that usually aren't too useful for regular users.
To start up a program, you need the package name (eg. python, chromium-browser, etc.), it's what you typed when you installed the program from terminal. To start it, just type the package name. If you don't know the name, google it, or use dpkg -l | less, and search the package names for to one you want using the arrow keys. Press q to exit.
On Raspberry Pi Ubuntu I did this to start a webpage, fullscreen (in Kiosk mode):
# put in ~/.bash_profile
DISPLAY=:0 chromium-browser --app=https://your.website —kiosk &
