[GRASS-dev] [GRASS GIS] #3295: GRASS GIS fails to start without terminal

[GRASS GIS]

#3295: GRASS GIS fails to start without terminal
-------------------------------------------------+-------------------------
 Reporter:  wenzeslaus                           |      Owner:  grass-dev@…
     Type:  defect                               |     Status:  new
 Priority:  normal                               |  Milestone:  7.4.0
Component:  Startup                              |    Version:  unspecified
 Keywords:  gisset, wxGUI, init, grass.py,       |        CPU:  Unspecified
  nohup, terminal, shell, GUI, CLI, exec, g.gui  |
 Platform:  Linux                                |
-------------------------------------------------+-------------------------
 On Ubuntu (16.04):

 * Do Ctrl+F2 (window to directly run commands - rather than desktop
 applications)
 * Type grass
 * Fill the startup screen
 * Start session
 * Start fails

 In 7.2 you get error about g.extension (#3253) and trunk you don't get
 anything (it fails later on).

 It is reproducible with nohup:

 {{{
 nohup grass
 }}}

 Using `less nohup.out` you can get the output which mainly reveals:

 {{{
 ERROR: Variable 'LOCATION_NAME' not set
 }}}

 followed by

 {{{
 Traceback (most recent call last):
   File "/usr/lib/grass72/gui/wxpython/wxgui.py", line 158, in <module>
     sys.exit(main())
   File "/usr/lib/grass72/gui/wxpython/wxgui.py", line 145, in main
     app = GMApp(workspaceFile)
   File "/usr/lib/grass72/gui/wxpython/wxgui.py", line 48, in __init__
 ...
 grass.exceptions.CalledModuleError: [it depends]
 Traceback (most recent call last):
   File "/usr/lib/python2.7/atexit.py", line 24, in _run_exitfuncs
     func(*targs, **kargs)
 PyAssertionError: C++ assertion "GetEventHandler() == this" failed at
 ../src/common/wincmn.cpp(478) in ~wxWindowBase(): any pushed event
 handlers must have been removed
 Error in sys.exitfunc:
 Traceback (most recent call last):
   File "/usr/lib/python2.7/atexit.py", line 24, in _run_exitfuncs
     func(*targs, **kargs)
 wx._core.PyAssertionError: C++ assertion "GetEventHandler() == this"
 failed at ../src/common/wincmn.cpp(478) in ~wxWindowBase(): any pushed
 event handlers must have been removed
 }}}

 Workaround which assumes you have some default mapset already:

 {{{
 grass --exec g.gui
 }}}

 Answer to the "What did you expect to happen?" question:

 * GRASS GIS should start using this method as other applications do (e.g.
 QGIS or Gimp).

 Other possible improvements:

 * Message saying that the session is not started instead of "Variable
 'LOCATION_NAME' not set"
 * Some temporary location generated for the case where there is not 'last
 location used' so that `grass --exec g.gui` (or `grass --tmp-loc --exec
 g.gui`) works on a fresh machine (it seems that the demolocation is not
 part of the Ubuntu distribution)
 * The above point and code packed into just `grass`. This comes to the
 discussion about role of location at startup from different side. However,
 it is pretty far from the core of this ticket which deals with GRASS GIS
 running without terminal.

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.osgeo.org/grass/ticket/3295>
GRASS GIS <https://grass.osgeo.org>