Is this a simple and good way to execute a Shell command via Java?
Runtime.getRuntime().exec( some command );
Or is this bad practice?
It depends.
The original purpose and basic functionality of a Unix shell is to let you run programs, optionally passing them arguments. For example the command ls runs the ls program, and the command grep foo bar runs the grep program with the arguments foo and bar. If your command only runs a (fixed) program with fixed if any arguments, Runtime.exec can do it. There are two subcases:
the overloads taking a String parse the line into 'words' (program name and arguments) using any whitespace; this is essentially the same as the default parsing (with no quoting) done by standard shells.
if you need any different parsing, for example if your command would use any quoting in shell, you must do that parsing yourself and pass the results to one of the overloads taking a String[].
But note that when you run a program from an interactive shell -- one using a terminal or equivalent (sometimes called a console) for input and output -- the program's input and output default to that terminal. The I/O for a program run by Runtime.exec is always pipes from and to the Java process, and some programs behave differently when their input and/or output is/are pipe(s) -- or file(s) -- instead of a terminal. Plus you must write code to send (write) any desired input and receive (read) any output. Of course, shells can be and sometimes are run without a terminal too.
However, shells can be and routinely are used to do much much more than the basics:
shell can execute commands with contents different from the input by variable (formally parameter) substitution (possibly with modification/editing), command substitution, process substitution, special notations like squiggle and bang, and filename expansion aka 'globbing' (so called because in the early versions of Unix it was done by a separate program named glob). Runtime.exec doesn't do these, although you can write Java code to produce the same resulting command execution by very different means.
shell executes some commands directly in the shell rather than by running a program, because these commands affect the shell process itself,
like cd umask ulimit exec source/. eval exit alias/unalias, or variables in the shell like set shift unset export local readonly declare typeset let read readarray/mapfile,
or child process like jobs fg bg, or special parsing like [[ ]] and (( )) (in some shells). These are called 'builtin' and Runtime.exec can't do them,
with two partial exceptions: it can run a program with a different working directory and/or env var settings, equivalent to having previously executed cd or export or equivalent.
Shell also often has builtins that duplicate, or modify, a 'normal' program; these commonly include test/[ echo printf kill time. Runtime.exec can only do the program version, not the builtin version.
shell has control structures (compound commands) like if/then/else/elif/fi and while/for/do/done and trap && || ( ) { }. Runtime.exec can't do these, although in some cases you could use Java logic to produce the same results.
shell can also have user-defined functions and aliases that can be used as commands; Runtime.exec does not.
shell can redirect the I/O of programs it runs, including forming pipes. Runtime.exec can't do these, but see below.
Since 1.5, Java also has ProcessBuilder, which provides the same functionality and more, in a more flexible and arguably clearer API, and thus is generally recommended instead. ProcessBuilder does support redirecting I/O for the program it runs, including using the terminal/console if the JVM was run on/from one (which is not always the case), and since 9 it can build a pipeline. It does not have the word-splitting functionality of Runtime.exec(String) but you can easily get the same result with string.split("[ \t]+") or in most cases just " +".
Note shell is itself a program, so you can use either Runtime.exec or ProcessBuilder to run a shell and pass it a command, either as an argument using option -c (on standard shells at least) or as input, and unsurprisingly this shell command can do anything a shell command can do.
But this can be a portability issue because different systems may have different shells, although any system claiming Unix certification or POSIX conformance must have a shell named sh that meets certain minimum requirements.
The actual shell used on different systems might be any of bash dash ksh ash or even more. OTOH this is true for other programs as well; some programs that typically differ significantly on different systems are awk sed grep and anything to do with administration like netstat.
A few of the existing Qs that show shell commands that don't work in Runtime.exec at least as-is:
a command for sherlock.py is interpreted differently from linux command line and java process api
Execute shell script multiple commands in one line using Process Builder in Java (Unix)
Check in Java if a certain application is in focus
Problem in executing command on AIX through Java
ProcessBuilder doesn't recognise embedded command
File not Found when executing a python scipt from java
Java system command to load sqlite3 db from file fails
Curl To Download Image In JAVA
Keytool command does not work when invoked with Java
use javap from within a java program on all the files
Using SSMTP and ProcessBuilder
Process Builder Arguments
Whitespace in bash path with java
java.lang.Runtime exception "Cannot run program"
Why does Runtime.exec(String) work for some but not all commands?
How to save Top command output in a text or csv file in java?
Execute bash-command in Java won't give a return
Using Java's Runtime.getRuntime().exec I get error with some commands, success with others -- how can this be determined?
Java and exec command - pipe multiple commands
Java exec() does not return expected result of pipes' connected commands
How to make pipes work with Runtime.exec()?
How to use Pipe Symbol through exec in Java
In Runtime.getRuntime().exec() getting error: /bin/bash: No such file or directory
Java exec linux command
How to use pipes in a java Runtime.exec
Java Runtime.getRuntime().exec and the vertical bar
Whenever I execute terminal command from code it gives "cannot run program" error=2 No such file or directory
Command line proccess read linux in java
Java Command line system call does not work properly
Related
I have a powershell script that is working and runs a java executable. Before I was generating a bunch of powershell script files that were run through the command prompt. Now I want to make it so there does not need to be file creation.
Here is what the line looks like from the working (.ps1) file:
java <mem opts here> "-Doption1=3" "-Doption2=`` ` ``"true`` ` ``" jar.exe
I want to be able to do something like this in command prompt:
Powershell -Command "java <mem opts here> "-Doption1=3" "-Doption2=`` ` ``"true`` ` ``" jar.exe"
Even just asking this question I am having problems with the escape characters. What is the proper way to handle escape characters when you have quotes in quotes in quotes when calling java through powershell through command prompt? (I understand it is a bit messy)
You can lessen the quoting headaches if you focus just on the parts that require quoting (assuming that option value true truly needs quoting):
REM From cmd.exe
C:\> powershell -Command java -Doption1=3 -Doption2="'\"true\"'" jar.exe
The above will make java.exe see:
java -Doption1=3 -Doption2="true" jar.exe
As you can see, even this simple case of the desired resultant quoting is quite obscure, because you're dealing with 3 layers of interpretation:
cmd.exe's own interpretation of the initial command line
PowerShell's interpretation of the arguments it receives.
How PowerShell's translates the arguments into a call to an external program (java.exe).
In any event, the final layer of interpretation is how the target program (java.exe) parses the command line.
That said, in order to call java.exe, i.e. an external program, you don't need PowerShell at all; invoke it directly:
REM From cmd.exe
C:\> java -Doption1=3 -Doption2="true" jar.exe
I'm trying to restart process when OOME happens. Java binary is launched using two shell scripts, one of them imports other. I don't have any control of the first one but can modify the second one as I want.
This is a prototype what I'm trying to do:
First shell script test.sh:
#!/bin/sh
JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS -Xmx10m"
. test1.sh
echo $JAVA_OPTS
java $JAVA_OPTS $es_params TestMemory
Second shell script test1.sh:
#!/bin/sh
pidfile="test.pid"
touch $pidfile
params="$parms -Dpidfile=$pidfile"
kill_command="kill -9 \$(cat $pidfile)"
dir=$( cd $(dirname $0) ; pwd -P )
path="$dir/$(basename $0)"
start_command="$path $#"
restart_command="$kill_command;sleep 2;$start_command"
JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS -XX:OnOutOfMemoryError=\"$restart_command\""
Generally what it does is JAVA_OPTS is constructed inside test1.sh and then used to run Java binary, which just writes PID in pidfile and then creates OOME.
Problem happens during execution, java can't understand what is a parameter and what is a class to run. I think it might be a problem of quoting, I tried different ways to escape JAVA_OPTS, but without any result. I'm either getting:
Unrecognized option: -9
Error: Could not create the Java Virtual Machine.
Error: A fatal exception has occurred. Program will exit.
Or
Error: Could not find or load main class "-XX:OnOutOfMemoryError=kill
If I just take a value of JAVA_OPTS and put it manually in test.sh it runs perfectly.
Any ideas how can I change test1.sh to make it work? I think I tried almost every possible way of putting double and single quotes, but without any success. Also if I put restart_command in restart.sh file and use it instead of the variable, it works fine.
After running set -x I saw that shell modifies every single space character to ' ' - adds ' on both sides. Escaping doesn't gives any result. Any idea how to avoid this? So final commend is:
+ java -Xmx10m '"-XX:OnOutOfMemoryError=kill' '$(cat' 'test.pid);sleep' '2;/Users/davidt/test/TestMemory/bin/test.sh' '")' -Des.pidfile=test.pid TestMemory
Update
I can run simplified command successfully
java "-XX:OnOutOfMemoryError=echo 'Ups'" $es_params TestMemory
But it seems a general problem, shell just hates spaces into variables I guess:
JAVA_OPTS="\"-XX:OnOutOfMemoryError=echo 'Ups'\""
set -x
java $JAVA_OPTS TestMemory
This script fails and the last line is interpreted as:
java '"-XX:OnOutOfMemoryError=echo' ''\''Ups'\''"' TestMemory
I tried different options to escape
This is a shell problem. Based on the evidence, I'd say that one of the ; characters ... and possibly some why space ... is being interpretted by the shell when you don't want / need this to happen.
If you run set -x in the shell before running the command that is trying to start the JVM, you will see the actual command that is being used.
It seems shell translates every single space to ' ',
Not exactly. The single quotes are inserted by the shell into the output you are getting from set -x. They simply indicating where the argument boundaries are. They are not really there ... and they are certainly NOT being passed to the java command.
Any idea how to [a]void it?
What you need to do is start from the (final) command that you are trying execute ...
java -Xmx10m -XX:OnOutOfMemoryError="kill NNNN;sleep 2;/Users/davidt/test/TestMemory/bin/test.sh" -Des.pidfile=test.pid TestMemory
... and work backwards, so that the shell variables, expansions and escaping give you what you need.
The other thing to note is that this:
java -Xmx10m -XX:OnOutOfMemoryError="kill $(cat test.pid); ..."
probably won't work. The kill $(cat test.pid) command is using shell syntax and requires shell functionality to interpolate the contents of the PID file. I doubt that the JVM is going to know what to do with that. (Or more accurately. It will do what you have literally told it to do, but that will not be what you want ...)
If you really need to interpolate the pid file content when the restart command is run as you appear to be trying to do, then suggest that turn the restart command into a free-standing shell script, and set the file mode so that it is executable. It will be simpler and a lot easier to get working.
As a general piece of advice, is is a bad idea to be too clever with shell scripts. The exact semantics of variable expansion and command parsing are rather tricky, and it is easy to get yourself really confused ... if you are trying to do this at multiple levels.
I ended up put the script I wanted to execute in a separate file and gave it as a parameter to JVM to execute when OOME happens.
echo "echo 'UPS'" >> oome_happened.sh
JAVA_OPTS="\"-XX:OnOutOfMemoryError='oome_happened.sh'\""
set -x
java $JAVA_OPTS TestMemory
Like #DaTval said, you should put the command in a script. The script should be someting like.
#!/bin/bash
kill -9 $PPID
Kill the caller of scripts.
I am trying to convert various xls files into csv. when I execute the following command in the terminal it works fine
libreoffice --headless --convert-to csv --outdir
/Data/edennis/ /Data/edennis/2013-10/*.xls
but when I try with runtime exec it does not.
Research I've done:
According to this thread Java Runtime exec() behavior cannot execute system commands like echo, but libreoffice is not a system command, isn't it an executable program ?
Java runtime execThis thread recommends to use processBuilder, but not sure if this is what I would need to do in my case.
According to the Java Doc:
EXEC:
Executes the specified string command in a separate process with the
specified environment.
First, there is no reason why Runtime.exec should not be able to run /bin/echo (if available).
Second, yes, use ProcessBuilder.
Third, your problems stem from using shell syntax for file patterns like *.xls. Runtime.exec calls the program you specify, not a shell that would do filename expansion. If you need to do filename expansion, run a shell like:
"sh -c libreoffice --blabla *.xls"
I am trying to execute in linux:
command[0] = "~/test/bin/runScript_sh";
Runtime.getRuntime().exec(command);
But get an exception
java.io.IOException: Cannot run program
error=2, No such file or directory
Probably because it can not evaluate tilde.
What can be done?
I would replace it myself.
if(path.s.substring(0,1).contains("~"))
path = path.replaceFirst("~",System.getProperty("user.home"));
Which gets you the string you want.
You can get the user's home directory with System.getProperty:
command[0] = System.getProperty("user.home") + "/test/bin/runScript_sh";
When you run a command at the shell command prompt, things like ~ expansion, quote handling, globbing, $variable expansion, input/output redirection and piping and son on are all handled by the shell ... before it asks the operating system to run the program(s) for you.
When you run a command using Runtime.exec, you have three choices:
write the command without any shell "funky stuff"
replicate what the shell would do in Java; e.g. replace leading tildes with the appropriate stuff1, or
use exec to launch a child shell to run the command; e.g.
Runtime.getRuntime().exec("/bin/sh", "-c", "~/test/bin/runScript_sh");
That is possibly overkill in a simple case like this. But if you are trying to do more complicated things then a child shell can really simplify things.
1 - In fact fully shell compatible handing of tildes is fairly complicated.
Items such as ~ and $HOME are shell expansions
You have to expand these items in your program and then replace them (hint: get them from the os properties, see this page)
I'm trying to write Java code that executes some terminal commands. The code should execute this command sudo mount -o loop system.img system. But there are several problems. First, to execute this command I have to be root. I know that I can be by sudo su, but how can I stay as root when I close the terminal window? If I use the command sudo mount -o loop system.img system how can I provide the password in the Java code?
The second issue is: can I execute the command as below?
File f2 = new File("/home/user1/Desktop/aDirectory");
String[] commands = new String[]{"sudo mount", "-o", "loop", "/home/user1/Desktop/aDirectory/system.img"};
Runtime.getRuntime().exec(commands, null, f2);
I think I can't. So how can I do it? Any ideas?
Notes: system.img is a compiled Android os file. and the system is an empty directory. The thing I'm trying to do is mount the system.img file into the system directory.
Programs like sudo read the password directly from the terminal device, not from stdin, so this is unfortunately not a trivial thing to do. I'm not sure if this is realistic for Android or not, but on a general UNIX system the easiest solution is to use expect, which is a library for simulating a terminal and thereby automating these kinds of interactions. It's often used as a standalone program embedded in Tcl, and I've thrown together systems in which Java launched expect to talk to tools like sudo, and it works fine.
expect includes a sort of declarative scripting language that tells it how to run another program and how to react to that program's output.
What you would do is use Runtime.exec() to execute the expect program, supplying a script that just runs "sudo mount", watches for the password prompt, and provides the password. The script would probably just look something like (G4rb4geB4rg3 is the password):
spawn sudo mount -o loop /home/user1/Desktop/aDirectory/system.img
expect "password:"
send "G4rb4geB4rg3\r"
expect eof
The problem was solved, by using shell script.
I wrote a script includes just this line :
echo myPassword | sudo -S mount -o loop system.img system
then I run it in my java code, such :
Runtime.getRuntime().exec("sh 1.sh");
I'm pretty sure 'sudo' and 'mount' would be separate, since it's not a single executable you're invoking. Also, if you start sudo with the -S command line switch it can take the password directly from stdin, so you just need to start the process and pass in whatever the password's configured as to the input stream.