Command line

termina [options] [-e command [args...]]

  -h, --help                     Show this help and exit
  -v, --version                  Show the version and exit
  -d, --working-directory=DIR    Start the shell in DIR
  -T, --title=TITLE              Name the first tab TITLE
  -e, --command CMD [args...]    Run CMD instead of the shell; must come last
      --config-dir=DIR           Read and write settings in DIR

The option names follow the terminals people already have: -e and -T are xterm’s and GNOME Terminal’s, --working-directory and --title are GNOME Terminal’s spelling.

The options

• -h, --help prints the usage and exits.
• -v, -V, --version prints Termina 0.13.0 and exits.
• -d DIR, --working-directory DIR (or --working-directory=DIR) starts the shell in DIR. It wins over a profile’s own starting directory. A directory that does not exist falls back to your home directory rather than failing, since the argument usually comes from another program.
• -T TITLE, --title TITLE (or --title=TITLE) names the first tab, as a double-click rename would: the name stays when a program sets a title of its own. Debian asks this of every x-terminal-emulator, alongside -e.
• -e CMD [args...], --command CMD [args...] runs CMD instead of your shell.
• --config-dir DIR (or --config-dir=DIR) reads and writes the settings in DIR instead of ~/.termina. The TERMINA_CONFIG_DIR environment variable does the same; the option wins when both are given.

How it behaves

• --help and --version work without a display. They are answered before the toolkit starts, so they work over SSH and in scripts. --version is the line to paste into a bug report.
• An unknown option is refused, not ignored, with a message and exit status 2. A positional argument is refused the same way, with a hint to use -e. An option that is silently dropped looks exactly like one that exists and does nothing.
• -e takes the rest of the line, which is why it must come last: termina -e ls -l passes -l to ls rather than rejecting it.
• The command replaces the shell rather than running inside one, so termina -e vim notes.txt is vim, and its tab closes when vim exits.
• It applies to the first tab of the first window only. Every later tab and window opens your default profile as usual. A second tab re-running -e vim, or opening in a directory you have since left, is not what anybody means by it.

The command line sets up a launch and nothing else. The shell, colors, fonts and the rest are configured in Settings.

Where the launcher is

The Linux packages install /usr/bin/termina, a link to the launcher. On macOS and Windows there is no termina command; link or alias the launcher to call it that way.

What the Linux packages install

Besides the application under /opt/termina and the termina command, the .deb and .rpm install:

• A desktop entry, described below.
• AppStream metadata, so GNOME Software and KDE Discover list Termina with its description.
• An x-terminal-emulator alternative (the .deb only). Termina is offered as a choice without taking over: its priority is below GNOME Terminal’s and Konsole’s. To make it the default, run sudo update-alternatives --config x-terminal-emulator.

The desktop entry

It has:

• Categories=System;TerminalEmulator;, so desktops and file managers that look for a terminal can offer Termina. That works because Termina accepts -e command, which is the interface they expect of a terminal.
• StartupWMClass=com.termina.App, the window class JavaFX derives from the main class. It lets the desktop match a running window to its launcher, so the dock highlights the entry rather than showing a second, generic icon beside it.
• Keywords=shell;prompt;command line;console;, so searching the application menu for any of them finds it.
• X-TerminalArgExec=-e, which tells xdg-terminal-exec how to hand Termina a command.