Enable Debugging output from desktop menu commands in XFCE 4.2?

[David Mohr]

On 9/6/07, Colin Stuckless <cstuckless at gmail.com> wrote:
> Is there a way to turn on debugging output for commands launched from
> the xfdesktop menu in XFCE 4.2?
>
> The reason I ask is that I've got a menu entry that looks like this:
>
> <app name="OpenWorks R2003.12" cmd="/users/env/prod/ow.csh" visibile="no"/>
>
> The cmd is a csh shell script which sets ups some variables and paths
> (via setenv statements) and then launches the application startup
> script which is a separate sh shell script.
>
> This works fine when I am logged in locally on my workstation, however
> when I log in remotely to an indentical machine running ThinAnywhere
> (a VNC like remote connection solution) the same command does not
> work. I suspect it relates to the setting of the $DISPLAY or something
> similar, however the xfdesktop menu option produces no output and I
> can't see where/why it's failing.
>
> If I bring up an xterm within the ThinAnywhere session and run the
> same /users/env/prod/ow.csh command, it launches fine. Setting it to
> "Run in Terminal" also doesn't work - I see a Terminal flash up
> momentarily but it disappears and my application doesn't start.

You should put a "wait for keypress" into your script at the end --
then the window will stay open, and after hopefully seeing some error,
you can insert further debugging echo statements.

> How can I see what's going on when the xfdesktop menu runs my command?
> Also, can I control what type of Terminal it runs in when I specify
> "Run in Terminal" (i.e. my default Terminals are 'xterm -ls'
> terminals), not gnome-terminal or another terminal application.

~David