Using GNU screen with gnome-terminal's custom shell command

GNU screen is a nice tool. It becomes more valuable when it's omnipresent, but until today I've been too lazy to get configured the way I want it:

1. I want screen started within every new gnome-terminal.
2. When a new terminal starts, I want a fresh screen window with a fresh shell.
3. When I close a terminal window, my screen session should persist.

The first ups screen's usefulness since its capabilities are now always a keystroke away. The second mimics my new-terminal-window-is-a-new-task mentality. The third keeps me from accidentally losing work when I close a terminal window.

First, I needed to add several options to my ~/.screenrc:

# Useful settings (among many others)
autodetach on
multiuser on
startup_message off
# Startup commands for a new session
chdir
screen -t local
select local

Next, because gnome-terminal's custom command facility doesn't allow anything too fancy (e.g. multiple commands, variable expansion), I had to create a small bash script called gnome-terminal-command.sh:

#!/bin/bash -i
# First, construct a new window identifier
WIN_ID=`date +%R:%S`
# Second, start a new window in the screen session using that identifier
screen -xRR -X screen -t "${WIN_ID}"
# Third, prevent existing terminals from switching to the new session
# Thanks to nassrat for this tip
screen -xRR -X other
# Now, use screen to connect to the new window within this process
exec screen -xRR -p "${WIN_ID}"

Lastly, I told gnome-terminal to use gnome-terminal-command.sh under Edit -> Current Profile -> Title and Command . Check "Run a custom command instead of my shell" and give gnome-terminal-command.sh in the Custom command input box. Older versions of gnome-terminal (e.g. version 2.18.1) allow the script to be somewhere in your path. Newer versions (e.g. 2.22.1) seem to require a full path to the script. This is puzzling.

Testing it out...

1. Start gnome-terminal and you get a screen session with one window called 'local'.
2. Open a second gnome-terminal and you get a new screen window whose title is the current time.
3. Close the second window and you see two screen windows persisting in the first gnome-terminal.
4. Open a third gnome-terminal and you get yet another new screen window.
5. Hit Control-D three times in the third window to end each of the screen windows. All of your gnome-terminals will simultaneously close.

During testing, it'll help if you have an informative screen status line. Should you run into serious troubles, you can undo the changes by using gconf-editor to tweak use_custom_command and custom_command under apps/gnome-terminal/profiles/Default.