dbus-launch(1)                                                                     dbus-launch(1)



NAME
       dbus-launch - Utility to start a message bus from a shell script

SYNOPSIS
       dbus-launch [--version] [--sh-syntax] [--csh-syntax] [--auto-syntax] [--exit-with-session]
       [--config-file=FILENAME] [PROGRAM] [ARGS...]


DESCRIPTION
       The dbus-launch command is used to start dbus-daemon-1 from a shell script. It would  nor-
       mally  be called from a user's login scripts. Unlike the daemon itself, dbus-launch exits,
       so backticks or the $() construct can be used to read information from dbus-launch.

       With no arguments, dbus-launch will simply print the  values  of  DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS
       and DBUS_SESSION_BUS_PID.

       You may specify a program to be run; in this case, dbus-launch will then set the appropri-
       ate environment variables and execute the specified program, with the specified arguments.
       See below for examples.

       Finally,  you  may  use  the --sh-syntax, --csh-syntax, or --auto-syntax commands to cause
       dbus-launch to emit shell code to set  up  the  environment.   This  is  useful  in  shell
       scripts.

       With  the  --auto-syntax  option,  dbus-launch looks at the value of the SHELL environment
       variable to determine which shell syntax should be used.  If SHELL  ends  in  "csh",  then
       csh-compatible  code is emitted; otherwise Bourne shell code is emitted.  Instead of pass-
       ing --auto-syntax, you may explicity specify a particular one  by  using  --sh-syntax  for
       Bourne  syntax,  or  --csh-syntax  for  csh syntax.  In scripts, it's more robust to avoid
       --auto-syntax and you hopefully know which shell your script is written in.


       See http://www.freedesktop.org/software/dbus/ for more information about D-BUS.  See  also
       the man page for dbus-daemon-1.


       Here is an example of how to use dbus-launch with an sh-compatible shell to start the per-
       session bus daemon:

         ## test for an existing bus daemon, just to be safe
         if test -z "$DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS" ; then
             ## if not found, launch a new one
             eval 'dbus-launch --sh-syntax --exit-with-session'
             echo "D-BUS per-session daemon address is: $DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS"
         fi

       You might run something like that in your login scripts.


       Another way to use dbus-launch is to run your main session program, like so:

       dbus-launch gnome-session

       The above would likely be appropriate for ~/.xsession or ~/.Xclients.


OPTIONS
       The following options are supported:

       --auto-syntax
              Choose --csh-syntax or --sh-syntax based on the SHELL environment variable.


       --config-file=FILENAME
              Pass --config-file=FILENAME to the bus daemon, instead of passing it the  --session
              argument. See the man page for dbus-daemon-1


       --csh-syntax
              Emit csh compatible code to set up environment variables.


       --exit-with-session
              If  this option is provided, a persistent "babysitter" process will be created that
              watches stdin for HUP and tries to connect to the X server. If this process gets  a
              HUP on stdin or loses its X connection, it kills the message bus daemon.


       --sh-syntax
              Emit Bourne-shell compatible code to set up environment variables.


       --version
              Print the version of dbus-launch


AUTHOR
       See http://www.freedesktop.org/software/dbus/doc/AUTHORS


BUGS
       Please send bug reports to the D-BUS mailing list or bug tracker, see http://www.freedesk-
       top.org/software/dbus/



                                                                                   dbus-launch(1)