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Bash: check if process is running

Hi!

I'm trying to make a bash script to check if Firefox is running. If not, then I would like to start it.

So far, I have the following:

APP1="firefox"
APPCHK=$(ps aux | grep -c $APP1)

But I'm not sure about the return codes. I'd be grateful if someone could help.

The command /usb/bin/firefox will start Fx the way I want, but I think I also need to export the DISPLAY variable before hand. How do I do that in bash? This is how I'd do it from the command line:

$ export DISPALY=:0

Also, do I need to exit the bash script once Firefox is running, because normally, if I start Fx from command line I need do use something like following so that I can close my terminal session without shutting down Fx again:

$ ssh user@localhost -f -X firefox

Julian Matz

ASKER

I think I've figured it out. My code is below. Would still appreciate comments. Does it look ok?

The ampersand in /usr/bin/firefox & is to return control to the terminal if the bash script is run from the command line.

#!/bin/sh
APP1="firefox"

if ps ax | grep -v grep | grep $APP1 > /dev/null
then
        echo "$APP1 is running, everything is fine."
else
        echo "$APP1 is not running. Attempting to start..."
        DISPLAY=":0" ; export DISPLAY
        /usr/bin/firefox &
fi

exit

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