Why is it that Cygwin can run .bat scripts? - windows

When I execute a .bat script from bash in Cygwin, by what mechanism is it running? I understand that if I run a .EXE it will launch, regardless of whether the .EXE is from Cygwin or from a more traditional environment. I understand that when I execute an executable script with #! at the beginning that Cygwin supplies the magic for it to run.
But why does a .bat script work? Is there some component inside of Cygwin that is aware of what a Windows .bat script is and what to do with it? Or is it that it is somehow impossible under Windows to execute a call to launch a .EXE file that won't automatically also work for a .bat script instead?

Running
./test.bat params
from bash seems to be equivalent to
cmd /c test.bat params

I believe that bash in cygwin sees the bat extension as being flagged executable (a cygwin hit-tip to windows convention). As such it loads and executes the file with it's associated interpreter (cmd.exe, per os configuration), much as it creates a new instance of bash to run your #! scripts (per posix standard).

And if you want to fork an *.cmd file execution like a ShellScript process and append his log to an file:
cmd /c test.bat > nohup.out &
Enjoy!

Related

Is there a command in Shell scripting for executing .exe file and running commands automatically inside of it? replacing the user interaction

I have a .sh script file that I'm modifying which runs an .EXE file that opens the Windows command line prompt automatically.
This .exe asks the user for an input (name of the file in the folder workspace that it will read)
I want to automate this step in my shell script so my user doesn't have to interact with this, and run the commands automatically
I read a bit about the expect command but I think that is for Linux only.
Can someone help me, I'm pretty new to Shell scripting and I couldn't find any useful information elsewhere.
I'm assuming that your executable accepts command-line arguments. So, here we go.
You can use the "start" command in Windows Shell. For example:
start C:\path\to\program.exe -argument
If you want to make the script wait until the .exe file finishes running before continuing, you can use the "/wait" command:
start /wait C:\path\to\program.exe -argument
IF all of that doesn't work, please try:
start myprogram.exe /command1 /command2 /command3
Hope it helps,

How to create a .bat file which execute python file

I'm new to bat file and started to implementing it. I have a list of linux application commands which starts my application. I have a windows system to deploy, used to git bash to execute those commands, but in every system restart have to start the application manually so I started implementing bat file which mapped in system start up
#echo off
title ML_autostart_API
start "" "C:\Program Files\Git\git-bash.exe"
using the above script I've opened the git bash. In further need to perform below commands
# To activate python Environment
source E:/ML_APIs/Python_Environment/python3.8.10/Scripts/activate
# To navigate the project dir
cd E:/ML_APIs/API/Call_SessionV1
# To set the environment variables
source config/config.sh
# To run python application
python application.py
have to execute the above using git bash since it is open source commands and doesn't execute in windows. git bash is opening and further commands is not working.
You will need to make 2 files, one for the windows command line (.bat) another for the bash script (.sh). The reason being, after you start the bash console, it will work on different window and it has no idea what your .bat contains. We shall call our scripts as boot.bat and start.sh respectively.
boot.bat
#echo off
title ML_autostart_API
start "C:\Program Files\Git\git-bash.exe" start.sh
Notice the start.sh is added at the end of the start command as parameter.
start.sh
# To activate python Environment
source E:/ML_APIs/Python_Environment/python3.8.10/Scripts/activate
# To navigate the project dir
cd E:/ML_APIs/API/Call_SessionV1
# To set the environment variables
source config/config.sh
# To run python application
python application.py
Note
Both scripts are in the same directory.
This answer assumes python is actually recognized in git-bash paths.
Should this is not the case, you can just use the full path to the executable to call it.
A better alternative would be to just execute the bash script directly on start up (using that start "C:\Program Files\Git\git-bash.exe" start.sh), no mixing stuff.

How do I write a batch file that opens a msys shell and then run commands in the shell?

I'm trying to automate the process of building ffmpeg on Windows 10. I'm following the guide here: https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/CompilationGuide/MSVC
Everything works fine when I do it manually, however I want to write a batch file that I can run to go through the entire process automatically.
Building requires me to set up the Visual Studio environment and the MSYS environment. This is where I'm having trouble, since running the MSYS environment opens up a new shell. I want to pass the configure/make/make install commands to the MSYS shell after it is opened.
I've tried the solution here: How to open a new shell in cmd,then run script in a new shell?
The problem they had looks similar to mine, but the solutions posted there didn't work for me.
Here is the bat file currently:
call "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\bin\amd64\vcvars64.bat"
call "C:\workspace\windows\mingw-get\msys\1.0\msys.bat" start cmd.exe /k bscript
pause
and bscript:
./configure --enable-shared --toolchain=msvc --arch=amd64
make
make install
I've tried all sorts of variations like:
call "C:\workspace\windows\mingw-get\msys\1.0\msys.bat" /k bscript
call "C:\workspace\windows\mingw-get\msys\1.0\msys.bat" bscript
start "C:\workspace\windows\mingw-get\msys\1.0\msys.bat" /k bscript
start "C:\workspace\windows\mingw-get\msys\1.0\msys.bat" bscript
And I've also tried leaving the bscript code in the original batch file.
The configure/make commands will either run in the original cmd window, a new cmd window or wont run at all.
Is there a way to pass commands to the MSYS shell like that?
This might be considered somewhat of a late answer but in the spirit of helping out those who come along here in the future:
The MSYS2 documentation contains a page specific to launching MSYS2: https://www.msys2.org/wiki/Launchers/
From there, we learn that one can launch an MSYS2 environment from a Windows shell like this:
C:\\msys64\\usr\\bin\\env MSYSTEM=MSYS /usr/bin/bash -li
If you place this in a *.bat file and execute the script, a new terminal window will spawn with bash running under the MSYS2 environment.
The documentation further illustrates how to run something within that bash shell:
C:\\msys64\\usr\\bin\\env MSYSTEM=MSYS /usr/bin/bash -lc python
The above would again spawn a new terminal window, load the MSYS2 environment, launch bash and then run the python executable in that bash instance.
From here, either directly run the program you want to (instead of python) or create a bash script and pass the parameter to that script to the bash invocation to execute a regular bash script within the MSYS2 environment from a Windows Batch file :)
I'm not sure if you get the result.
you can run command in windows console:
"C:\msys64\msys2_shell.cmd -mingw32 -shell test-script"
Command & paramerter comment:
C:\msys64\msys2_shell.cmd : msys launching bat
-mingw32 : arch, I use the 32bit
test-script : the startup script in /usr/bin
And you need to set the $PATH in startup script to launch your command

bash -c from bat file spawned from exe not a command

When I run a batch file that runs bash -c (part of windows subsystem for linux/Bash on ubuntu on windows) as a child process of an exe (pidgin), even if the exe is elevated/administrator in Windows the batch file errors:
'bash' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
The .bat file that I am running is:
bash -c "curl --silent -u '''my api key'':' -d type='note' -d body='My Message' -d title='My Subject' 'https://api.pushbullet.com/v2/pushes'"
pause #disable after debugging
What I intend to do is have it as a 'buddy pounce' in pidgin so that when I get a message from Nickserv, it will notify me everywhere.
I also tried to execute the command from pidgin directly rather than running as a bash file, but the curl never happens, and I don't get a notification through pushbullet. But if I run the exact same command in CMD or in Run, it will use bash and execute the curl successfully.
I also found this question: Calling Windows subsystem for Linux apps through PowerShell/cmd but I'm not sure if it answers that this cannot be done because you clearly can put a bash command in a bat file.
Have you tried fully specifying the path to the bash shell in your batch file?
If you replace the bash command in your curl.bat file with c:\Windows\System32\bash.exe things may work a little better. Seems like pidgin doesn't have your full path environment variable available to the process it spawns.
Change the path to C:\Windows\sysnative\bash.exe. Pidgin is 32-bit so it aliases C:\Windows\System32 to C:\Windows\SysWOW64 and C:\Windows\sysnative to C:\Windows\System32. It would probably make sense for MS to symlink a bash.exe in SysWOW64 to the real one.

Run Cygwin script on shutdown or startup

I'm extremely new to Cygwin but I am somewhat comfortable in Linux (I can read man files fine).
I want to create a BASH script using Cygwin that deletes the files in a folder on the shutdown signal given by Windows. If this can't be done, I also could try deleting the files in the same folder on startup. I installed CRON but does CRON only works for scheduled tasks, rather than on 'signals'? Answers would be nice but a general idea of how to proceed would be even better!
I can write the script. I just don't know exactly how Cywgin interacts with the Windows OS in order to perform these procedures.
Another question, how do I run CRON on Windows startup?
If it matters, my O.S. is Windows 10 x64 running Cygwin.
Cygwin.bat, a batch file which was installed under cygwin installation folder will give you hint of how to run cygwin script.
The script contains just:
C:
chdir C:\cygwin64\bin
bash --login -i
to run the bash shell interactive.
Make a copy of Cygwin.bat with another name (Startup ?) and change last line in
bash --login path_to_your_script_here
Put the bat file or a link to in in the Startup folder.
Great thread over here: https://serverfault.com/questions/245945/autostart-cygwin-on-windows-boot-and-run-a-cygwin-command
tl;dr
you can put command directly:
#echo off
C:
chdir C:\cygwin64\bin
bash -c "/usr/bin/whatever"

Resources