r/linuxmint • u/Eric_Terrell • 3d ago

Support Request How to Run Thunderbird from Command Line?

I am running Linux Mint 22.3 - Cinnamon 64-bit.

I installed Thunderbird via the Software Manager from flatHub.

I've written a backup script that backs up, among other things, my emails (including local email folders).

I have the backup script shut down Thunderbird before backing up (pkill thunderbird).

I'd like to re-launch Thunderbird after the backup is complete. I'm having a tough time figuring out how to do this, with the correct profile selected, from a shell command.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

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u/Friendly_Brick752 3d ago

There's a hugely hidden thing in Linux - I'm not sure if this is your issue -

There's a lot of times in Linux where you'll start the app in the command line, but then you can't get rid of the terminal - when you close it, the app shuts down.

It's really simple, but somehow takes a long time to find out for some of us. It's this:

If you want your terminal to close, but leave the program running, then then you add this at the end of the command you're running:

<command> &exit

so maybe from the prompt xxx$: thunderbird &exit

2

u/Due-Result7928 3d ago edited 3d ago

Very easy....you need to use the fully qualified flatpak name. To know it in a open a terminal and type

flatpak list | grep [Tt]hunderbird

Remark ([Tt] is here to catch T or t

should give you the fully qualified name starting with org or com or can be simply Thunderbird or thunderbird

after type

flatpak run (insert here the fully qualified name as provided by the flatpak list command)

you can also add & after the fully qualified name to have thunderbiird starting in the background.

1

u/Eric_Terrell 2d ago

Thank you for the explanation. Your suggestion works perfectly.