Question

I would like to write the a startup script in bash to make an ubuntu box more grandpa-friendly.

The script should:

open chrome
wait until chrome is closed
turn computer off

so far I have

#!/bin/bash
if [ -z "$1" ]; then
    address="http:\\www.google.co.uk"
else
    address=$1
fi

echo starting the internet
google-chrome $address

while [ 1=1 ];
do
   grep_resp=$(ps aux | grep chrome)
   if [ -z "$grep_resp" ]; then
       echo turning computer off 
   else
       echo chrome still running
   fi
   sleep 5
done 

but the grep for “chrome” is in the process list

Any aid?

Answer 1

You’re getting that error because $grep_resp in this…

if [ -z $grep_resp ]; then

…probably expands into a string containing whitespace. If you put quotes around it:

  if [ -z "$grep_resp" ]; then

It will do what you expect. However, I think all of that may be unnecessary. Chrome doesn’t automatically background or anything when it runs, so you should be able to do this:

google-chrome $address
echo turning computer off
...