Do your ‘screen’ sessions last for a week or a month? Do you like to start your X applications from the command line? You might need txvars.
This article requires fluency with command line interface.
Problem
Graphical user interface (GUI) applications fail to start from the command line, when you have run ‘screen’ for a long time.
$ gedit stackhay-web.py (gedit:7693): EggSMClient-WARNING **: Failed to connect to the session manager: Could not open network socket ** (gedit:7693): WARNING **: Could not connect to session bus
The problem happens only after running screen for an extended period. Closing the screen session and starting a new one usually fixes the problem.
Useful X Applications to Start from Command Line
Running X apps from the command line can save some typing. For example
$ thunar . & $ nautilus --no-desktop . & $ gedit foo.py & $ firefox index.html &
Solution: txvars
Txvars stores session variables from your X desktop session. You can then bring the session variables to your screen session, so that you can start X applications from the command line.
Install
Install the shell script anywhere in your $PATH
$ sudo cp txvars /usr/local/bin/ $ sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/txvars
Usage
In your graphical X desktop session, run txvars. For example in XFCE (Xubuntu), press Alt-F2 and type ‘txvars’. This collects your X session variables.
In your command line ‘screen’ session, bring in the saved session variables
$ source $HOME/.txvars
You can now start graphical user interface (X) commands from your screen session. For example, give the command ‘gedit’ and see that a window opens.
Source Code
# Save X variables for use in screen
# Copyright 2012 Tero Karvinen http://TeroKarvinen.com
# Essential ones are DISPLAY, SESSION_MANAGER and DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS
set|grep -P '^(DISPLAY|SESSION_MANAGER|DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS|SSH_AGENT_PID|SSH_AUTH_SOCK)=' \
|xargs -n1 echo "export" > $HOME/.txvars
# Fix for bug:
# "Cannot open display:" # DISPLAY
# "Warning: Tried to connect to session manager, Could not open network socket" # SESSION_MANAGER
# "Could not connect to session bus" # DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS
# See also:
# http://alan.lamielle.net/2009/03/09/environment-variables-and-gnu-screen
# http://samrowe.com/wordpress/ssh-agent-and-gnu-screen/
# http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/devel/2007-October/111589.html
Administrivia
Tested on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS.
Edits: typos
Update 2015: Works on Xubuntu 14.04 LTS amd64, too.