How can I make a programme start routine with a command line argument?

Question

Morgy Author

Level 1

34 points

How can I make a programme start routine with a command line argument?

Hello everyone

I would like to have the programme Gimp start on OSX Sierra with the command line argument

-f, --no-fonts: Do not load any fonts. This is useful to load GIMP faster for scripts that do not use fonts, or to find problems related to malformed fonts that hang GIMP.

(Found here: https://docs.gimp.org/en/gimp-fire-up.html).

Even though I am not very familiar with Terminal, I suppose this would be done there by typing stuff. However, I would like to have a start routine (script) that sits on my desktop or in my dock starting Gimp with that argument. Thanks for help or hints for doing this.

Morgy

iMac with Retina 5K display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.2)

Posted on Jan 20, 2017 3:14 AM

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Answer 1

dialabrain

Level 10

135,671 points

Jan 24, 2017 2:02 AM in response to Morgy

Open Script Editor

paste or type do shell script "open -a gimp --args --no-fonts &"

hit return

Select Application from the "File Format" drop down menu in File > Save…

Will look like this…

You can choose your own name of course.

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Answer 2

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,188 points

Jan 20, 2017 6:42 AM in response to BobHarris

Bob,

Direct accessing the GIMP binary will launch the application, but drag & drop of images does not open the image properly, regardless of image type.

The following does work properly when an image is dropped on the Automator application.

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Answer 3

a brody

Level 10

85,296 points

Jan 20, 2017 5:33 AM in response to Morgy

This is the typical AppleScript for running a Terminal command

try

do shell script "my terminal command"

on error error_message

beep
display dialog error_message buttons {"OK"} default button 1

end try

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Answer 4

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,188 points

Jan 20, 2017 6:25 AM in response to Morgy

The following AppleScript will open GIMP without fonts. See man -t open | open -a preview -f . If you have additional startup arguments, the follow the --args command line usage where anything afterward is deemed program arguments.

The following was tested on El Capitan 10.11.6, and dramatically reduces the GIMP startup time.

do shell script "open -a gimp --args --no-fonts &"

Unlike Linux, and other UNIX implementations, GIMP on OS X/macOS Sierra is an application bundle, and not a single, direct command-line executable application. You can save this AppleScript as a Desktop application for a one-button launch of GIMP without fonts.

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Answer 5

dialabrain

Level 10

135,671 points

Jan 20, 2017 7:14 AM in response to VikingOSX

VikingOSX wrote:

The following was tested on El Capitan 10.11.6, and dramatically reduces the GIMP startup time.

do shell script "open -a gimp --args --no-fonts &"

Thanks for this. I had gotten away from using GIMP because it took so long to open. Maybe I'll get back to using it more.

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Answer 6

Morgy Author

Level 1

34 points

Jan 24, 2017 12:49 AM in response to VikingOSX

Hello again

The script

open -a gimp --args --no-fonts &

indeed does its job from Terminal and opens Gimp in a few second without fonts on Sierra. Great!

However, I haven't figured out yet the work flow (with Automator?) to get a "Gimp-script-start-icon" including the above command sitting on my desktop that can be click-started by the user.

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