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user61928
Asked: 2012-05-19 04:37:28 +0800 CST

How to execute a script just by double clicking like .EXE files in Windows?

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How can I make a bash script executable by double clicking just like .exe files in Windows? I tried creating a launcher and assigning the script to it, but there are two consequences:

  1. the terminal twinkles, disappears, and nothing is done.
  2. you must specify to run in terminal in order to work.

I have a script that installs tomcat on an offline PC, including all dependencies of tomcat in the script. I need to make the script work on double clicking like windows since most who use the script will not be familiar with Ubuntu.

Forget the above explanation. I want to make a script that can be run by double-clicking on it, without using the terminal. Anybody knows how?

scripts launcher executable

12 Answers

  1. I tested this and it worked fine. Ensure your script begins with the correct shebang, e.g. #!/usr/bin/env bash .

    Then follow these steps:

    • Hit Alt+F2 to run a command.
    • Type dconf-editor and hit Enter.
    • In dconfg-editor go to: org ➤ gnome ➤ nautilus ➤ preferences

    • Click on executable-text-activation and from drop down menu select:

      launch: to launch scripts as programs.
      OR
      ask: to ask what to do via a dialog.

      screenshot

    • Close dconf-editor. Thats it!

    Alternative way, using terminal: Run:

    gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.preferences executable-text-activation 'launch'

    Note: The file should be executable. You may also need to change permission of file. Right click and set "Allow executing file as program"

    screenshot

    Source.

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  2. On Nautilus (AKA Files)

    1. Go to Files (Edit on Unity (17.04 or below)) > Preferences > Behavior tab

      screenshot

    2. Change the settings for executable text file.

      screenshot

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  3. I think creating a *.desktop file is missing here:

    $ cat shortcut-for-my-script.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Terminal=true
Name=Click-Script
Icon=utilities-terminal
Exec=gnome-terminal -e "bash -c './script.sh;$SHELL'"
Categories=Application;

    If you create more than one *.desktop file for one script you are able to create multiple configurations by passing different parameters, which is a very comfortable and user-friendly way.

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  4. In Ubuntu and all Unix based OSes, afaik, nothing is set as executable by default. There are two ways of doing this.

    1. Right click on the script or file you want to execute. Go to Properties then to the Permissions Tab. Click the check box that says Execute.

    2. Open a Terminal cd into the directory where the file is found. Type chmod ugo+x filename. This will set the file to execute.

    Now your users can double click to their hearts content.

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  5. For Ubuntu 20.04:

    1. Open Files (Nautilus is called Files now), click on the hamburger menu and select Preferences.

    enter image description here

    1. Go to the Behaviour tab and select what's suitable from the Executable Text Files section

    enter image description here

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  6. If you're using XFce then you can make script executed in Thunar by executing this command:

    xfconf-query --channel thunar --property /misc-exec-shell-scripts-by-default \
             --create --type bool --set true

    or by using gui xfce4-settings-editor and creating the same properties.

    Run xfce4-settings-editor, then enter:

    • /misc-exec-shell-scripts-by-default

    • Boolean

    • TRUE

    picture of xfce4-settings-editor

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  7. You have to check 3 points :

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  8. When you create a launch in Desktop to a SHEL script or Whatever, in command line, don't forget to signal the script, to be executed in background.

    The script will die when he finished is job.

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  9. Based on umask defualt value, you haven't execute permissions for files by default and must change mod to gain execute permissions, something like this:

    chmod u+x filename
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  10. As a complement to the answer about Thunar: that answer would re-enable a previous feature of Thunar to execute scripts on double click. But that feature was considered a security risk.

    To avoid that, maybe the most elegant solution is to get a pop-up window with a question like "What do you want to with that file: Run or edit?" (similar to what you have in other file managers like PCManFM and Nemo) when clicking that file - by using Zenity: here.

    An alternative would be custom actions, perhaps the best feature Thunar has.

    The command that I use for running an executable text file is sh -c %f, for a custom action called "Run/Execute script".

    enter image description here

    The appearance conditions are simply "text":

    enter image description here

    A similar command can be used for running in terminal a such script ("Run in terminal"), while keeping the Xfce4 terminal open:

    xfce4-terminal -H -x %f

    enter image description here

    Optionally, and maybe preferably, in order to hide such options for all text files except the executable ones, a way is to restrict appearance use to .sh files (or .py files if the case, etc), under "Appearance conditions":

    enter image description here

    -- before renaming the executable files accordingly.

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