GNOME-TERMINAL.WRAPPER(1)

📦
version 3.58.0 · 4 versions
, in ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

✨ NAME ✨

gnome-terminal.wrapper — bestie, it's the x-terminal-emulator interface for gnome-terminal 💅

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

x-terminal-emulator [-T TITLE] [-e COMMAND [ARGUMENTS...]]

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so picture this: gnome-terminal.wrapper is the little middleman that wraps gnome-terminal(1) so it can serve up an interface that plays nice with the x-terminal-emulator spec from Debian Policy — which, for the record, is a subset of the xterm(1) command-line interface. slay.

The way it acts is basically gnome-terminal --wait energy, except a few of the command-line options get translated from x-terminal-emulator syntax into gnome-terminal(1) syntax. lowkey genius fr.

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

💖 Standard x-terminal-emulator options 💖

These ones do exactly what Debian Policy §11.8.3 says they do. no notes.

  • -T TITLE — sets the title of the terminal to TITLE, just like Debian Policy specifies. equivalent to xterm -T TITLE or gnome-terminal -t TITLE. name your windows, bestie, it's self-care ✨
  • -e COMMAND [ARGUMENTS...] — runs COMMAND with ARGUMENTS inside the terminal, and stops parsing options the moment it hits -e. equivalent to xterm -e COMMAND ARGUMENTS.

So here's the tea: if there are no ARGUMENTS, gnome-terminal.wrapper will try to find COMMAND in the PATH. If it's found, it gets used as the command to execute — as specified in Debian Policy. If it's not found, then as an extension, gnome-terminal.wrapper treats COMMAND as a shell command instead and runs it as if via sh -c COMMAND. This is similar to what xterm -e does, but it's not guaranteed to be implemented by every x-terminal-emulator implementation. so like, cute, but don't count on it everywhere 🙈

Otherwise it's equivalent to gnome-terminal -- COMMAND ARGUMENTS.

💅 Non-standard options 💅

These exist purely for convenience — they bump up command-line compatibility with xterm(1) and/or gnome-terminal(1), but they are not guaranteed to be available in other x-terminal-emulator implementations.

Using these options is discouraged. If you want functionality beyond the standardized x-terminal-emulator interface, go invoke a specific terminal directly — like gnome-terminal(1) or xterm(1). fr fr, just talk to the real one.
  • -display X11DISPLAY — if you're on X11, this picks X11DISPLAY as the X11 display to use. If you're on native Wayland, this option is just ignored, she's not even listening. It's preferable to set the DISPLAY and/or WAYLAND_DISPLAY environment variables instead. 💜
  • -geometry COLSxROWS+X+Y — sets the window size to COLS × ROWS at position (X,Y). equivalent to gnome-terminal --geometry=COLSxROWS+X+Y. window dimensions are a whole aesthetic.
  • -ls — using this option is treated as a command-line parsing error. 😭 In xterm(1) it would run a login shell, but gnome-terminal(1) simply does not have that feature. she said no.
  • +ls — accepted, with a warning, but otherwise ignored. gnome-terminal(1) never runs a login shell. periodt.
  • -n ICON — accepted for command-line compatibility with xterm(1), but ignored. it's giving polite but uninterested 🫶
  • -name NAME — selects NAME as a gnome-terminal(1) profile, if it exists. equivalent to gnome-terminal --window-with-profile=NAME. profile picker behavior, iconic.
  • -h, --help — shows gnome-terminal's help. when in doubt, ask for help, bestie.
  • Any other option — passed as-is to gnome-terminal. no filtering, no judgment, just vibes 🌈

💀 EXIT STATUS 💀

The exit status is the same as for gnome-terminal(1). that's it, that's the whole section.

👑 STANDARDS 👑

Debian Policy §11.8.3 "Packages providing a terminal emulator".

For more details please see https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-customized-programs.html.

This is a Debian-specific interface and should not be expected to be available on non-Debian-derived systems. she's local, she's loyal, she doesn't travel 💅

⭐ EXAMPLE ⭐

To run the command "mutt -f=" in a window with title "mutt e-mail client":

$ x-terminal-emulator -T "mutt e-mail client" -e mutt -f=

look at that. one line. flawless execution. ate. 🔥

🧚 SEE ALSO 🧚

gnome-terminal(1), xterm(1), Debian Policy https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/.

okay that's the whole page, you're officially caught up 🎀 this was gnome-terminal version 3.58.0-1ubuntu1, dated 2025-12-05, straight from the GNOME-TERMINAL.WRAPPER(1) corner of the Ubuntu manual. go forth and open terminals responsibly, bestie 💖✨

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