[SOLVED] Bash script that will survive disconnection, but not user break

Issue

I want to write a bash script that will continue to run if the user is disconnected, but can be aborted if the user presses Ctrl+C.

I can solve the first part of it like this:

#!/bin/bash
cmd='
#commands here, avoiding single quotes...
'
nohup bash -c "$cmd" &
tail -f nohup.out

But pressing Ctrl+C obviously just kills the tail process, not the main body. Can I have both? Maybe using Screen?

Solution

I want to write a bash script that will continue to run if the user is disconnected, but can be aborted if the user presses Ctrl+C.

I think this is exactly the answer on the question you formulated, this one without screen:

#!/bin/bash
cmd=`cat <<EOF
# commands here
EOF
`
nohup bash -c "$cmd" &

# store the process id of the nohup process in a variable
CHPID=$!        

# whenever ctrl-c is pressed, kill the nohup process before exiting
trap "kill -9 $CHPID" INT

tail -f nohup.out

Note however that nohup is not reliable. When the invoking user logs out, chances are that nohup also quits immediately. In that case disown works better.

bash -c "$cmd" &
CHPID=$!
disown

Answered By - thom

Answer Checked By - Willingham (WPSolving Volunteer)