run-in-gui 0.0.1

Tools to run (possibly graphical) programs in logged-in user sessions on modern Linux distributions

Run in GUI (run-in-gui)
============================

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This project contains two programs that assist you in executing programs
in a separate desktop session (defined by the environment variables of any
program executing in that session), and then switching to the session in
real-time as the program executes. It's useful to start GUI programs from
cron that need a graphical display and/or audio access.

Why is this useful? Because of the way that Linux has evolved, nowadays
it's very hard to get certain computer programs to do things that were
trivial in the past. For example: getting your music player to play a list
of songs to wake you up -- unless you're running the program straight from
the GUI, it won't actually work; either the program just won't run, or the
audio will be corked.

Caveat: this program still requires you to be logged in.

Tools included in this set
--------------------------

This package contains several tools:

1. `run-in-env-of`: a tool that runs the command of your choice in the
environment of the PID of your choice. If run as root, it can
`setuid()` to the user and group of that PID.
2. `run-in-gui`: a tool that sorts out a desktop session you're running
then uses run-in-env-of to execute the command on your choice under
that desktop session. Prior to the execution of that program, it
switches to the selected desktop session, to enable hardware access
to devices that would otherwise be blocked (e.g. audio).

What you need to have before using this package
-----------------------------------------------

* Python 2.7 on your local machine
* `loginctl` fully operational
* `/proc` mounted

Installation
------------

You will need to install this package on your local machine.

You can install this package directly from PyPI using pip::

pip install run-in-gui

If you are on an RPM-based distribution, build an RPM from the source package
and install the resulting RPM::

python setup.py bdist_rpm

Otherwise, just use the standard Python installation system::

python setup.py install

You can also run it directly from the unpacked source directory::

export PYTHONPATH="$PWD"/src
./<program> <parameters>

Usage
-----

Say, for example, you want to run Amarok from a crontab, but you want Amarok
to start on your logged-in desktop session. No problem: you can stick this
into your crontab:

20 4 * * * /usr/local/run-in-gui/bin/run-in-gui amarok -p Toke\ up.m3u

As you can see, at exactly 4:20 AM, Amarok will be executed in your desktop
session, and will start playing the playlist `Toke up.m3u` in your home
directory.

You can also do the exact same thing from an `at` job:

echo /path/to/run-in-gui amarok -p Matanga.m3u | at 5:45

If, for some reason, the program won't start, check your mail folder in
`/var/mail/$USERNAME`, where cron traditionally deposits crontab output.