Quit Terminal without quitting process? / Multiple simultaneous Firefox profiles

[Let's Sekuhara!]

Hi, I'd like to know how I can start a process via command line that is not a child of the app used to invoke the command.

For example if I open Terminal and enter:

/Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox -P "ProfileName"

It will run that Firefox profile, but only as long as I keep Terminal open.

Also tried creating an app bundle in AppleScript Editor, like so:

do shell script "/Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox -P \"ProfileName\""

This is less annoying, but still requires the launcher app to remain open alongside Firefox.

Any ideas?

[toptan]

I use nohup for stuff like that.

nohup /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox -P "ProfileName"

The annoying thing is that you have to close terminal manually.

[Let's Sekuhara!]

Originally Posted by toptan

I use nohup for stuff like that.

nohup /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox -P "ProfileName"

The annoying thing is that you have to close terminal manually.

Thank you!

I'm looking into whether I can (if I use the AppleScript approach) have the script quit itself after sending the shell script...

[Let's Sekuhara!]

There is a command

tell me to quit

that is supposed to make the running AppleScript quit itself.
But I just tried writing it into my app and it doesn't work.

[talmy]

Originally Posted by toptan

I use nohup for stuff like that.

nohup /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox -P "ProfileName"

The annoying thing is that you have to close terminal manually.

You can also just put an ampersand (&) at the end of the line to run the process in the background. To close the terminal application you can execute killall Terminal assuming you have just one. Otherwise it's a fairly involved process -- get the process id of the bash shell, find it's parent process (a login process), and find the parent process of the login, which is the Terminal, which can then be killed.

[Let's Sekuhara!]

Originally Posted by talmy

You can also just put an ampersand (&) at the end of the line to run the process in the background. To close the terminal application you can execute killall Terminal assuming you have just one. Otherwise it's a fairly involved process -- get the process id of the bash shell, find it's parent process (a login process), and find the parent process of the login, which is the Terminal, which can then be killed.

If I want the process to run the same as a regular instance of Firefox (a process under my user, I suppose) then what would I type?

[talmy]

Well I just realized that when you close the Terminal application it kills the login and the copy of Firefox goes away (hence the suggestion to use nohup).
However if you run Firefox from an xterm window (which doesn't do a login) or from an Automator Shell Script then using & works fine and the bash shell can exit with no problems.

Also, you can run Firefox using the Open command: "open /Applications/Firefox.app &"

[Let's Sekuhara!]

Originally Posted by talmy

However if you run Firefox from an xterm window (which doesn't do a login) or from an Automator Shell Script then using & works fine and the bash shell can exit with no problems.

Problem is, then the Automator script app has to remain open for the duration of the session. And that's almost equally annoying as having to keep Terminal open.

[pitaya]

Try setting the Terminal.app preference "When the shell exits:" to "Close the window" or "close if the shell exited cleanly". It's under the shell tab in settings.

[talmy]

I just discovered that the Terminal app can bypass the login process (it's a preference selection -- just have it run bash directly). Putting all of this together:
1. Change Terminal app preferences to start bash and not do a login.
2. Change Terminal app preferences to close the window when the shell exits.
3. Run Firefox: "open /Applications/Firefox.app &"
4. Exit the terminal window ("exit" command or Control-D).

Firefox will continue to run and Terminal window closes.

BTW, I just double-checked and when run from an Automator script automator will exit when the script is run.

[chown33]

Originally Posted by talmy

I just discovered that the Terminal app can bypass the login process (it's a preference selection -- just have it run bash directly). Putting all of this together:
1. Change Terminal app preferences to start bash and not do a login.
2. Change Terminal app preferences to close the window when the shell exits.
3. Run Firefox: "open /Applications/Firefox.app &"
4. Exit the terminal window ("exit" command or Control-D).

Firefox will continue to run and Terminal window closes.

BTW, I just double-checked and when run from an Automator script automator will exit when the script is run.

No trailing '&' should be needed. The 'open' command isn't the parent process of the app it opens. The per-user launchd process is. You can use Activity Monitor to show this: select the program in the list, click Info, observe the parent process.

Also, the Automator example shown shouldn't need any Terminal preferences changes, because it's not running the shell script in Terminal. Even if Terminal is running, it doesn't run the shell script through Terminal. I don't question that the Terminal preferences changes affect Terminal windows. I only question the relevance of those changes to a Run Shell Script action in Automator. The Automator script shown should run Firefox without needing any Terminal preferences changes at all.

When referring to an app to open, using a bundle-name is better than using an absolute path, because it doesn't require the app to be installed at a specific location. The bundle-name string is identical to the CFBundleName item in the app's Info.plist. The option for 'open' is -b. The bundle-name of Firefox is org.mozilla.firefox. So a suitable command-line should be:

open -b org.mozilla.firefox

Read 'man open' for all command-line options.

Finally, the 'open' commands posted so far have neglected the -P "ProfileName". I presume this is a critical requirement, since otherwise simply double-clicking Firefox would have the same result. In other words, the OP wants to open Firefox with a specific profile, to do so by double-clicking a Finder icon (rather than needing a direct command-line), and to not need a Terminal window or other app to remain open to keep Firefox alive. Assuming those are the requirements, the following should work:

open -b org.mozilla.firefox --args -P "ProfileName"

This single line should be pasted into a Run Shell Script action in Automator, and saved as an Application. The Run Shell Script action is located under Utilities in the Library of Actions in Automator.

Once saved as an application in Automator, double-clicking it should launch Firefox with the named profile. It will NOT relaunch Firefox if it's already running, nor will it tell an already-running Firefox to change its profile.

I don't have Firefox, so I can't test this completely. However, I tested the above with Safari's bundle name and it worked. It's not necessary to change Terminal preferences, to use nohup, or to use a trailing &.

[Let's Sekuhara!]

Originally Posted by chown33

...In other words, the OP wants to open Firefox with a specific profile, to do so by double-clicking a Finder icon (rather than needing a direct command-line), and to not need a Terminal window or other app to remain open to keep Firefox alive. Assuming those are the requirements, the following should work:

open -b org.mozilla.firefox --args -P "ProfileName"

This single line should be pasted into a Run Shell Script action in Automator, and saved as an Application. The Run Shell Script action is located under Utilities in the Library of Actions in Automator.

Thank you for the detailed info!
I did everything you described and it works to launch the correct profile, but only if Firefox is not already open (as you stated)...
The majority of the time I want to launch FF with a secondary profile, it's when I currently have my primary one open. So I'm back to square one.

However, I had a thought: What does FF Profile Manager do differently that allows it to launch a secondary instance of FF? And how can I trigger the same process through command line? Hmmm...

[Let's Sekuhara!]

Got it!!! This works:

/Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox-bin -P PrimaryProfile

And the additional profiles should have -no-remote at the end. I don't know why, but I read this somewhere.

/Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox-bin -P SecondaryProfile -no-remote

[talmy]

Looks like you could also do:

open -n -b org.mozilla.firefox --args -P "ProfileName"

which will open a new instance of the application.

[Let's Sekuhara!]

Originally Posted by talmy

Looks like you could also do:

open -n -b org.mozilla.firefox --args -P "ProfileName"

which will open a new instance of the application.

Good to know. Thanks.

On another topic, I want to know if the application icon can somehow be changed (in order to differentiate when tabbing through apps).
If anyone has made this work on a Mac I'd love to hear how.
Duplicating Firefox.app and changing the icon of one is not a solution. The two copies conflict and cause a crash.