shell commands can now be handled optionally as pimatic expressions. child processes are now kill after a given timeout as part of the plugin config (15 secs by default).

pimatic/pimatic#980

Author: mwittig

README.md

@@ -13,7 +13,10 @@ You can load the plugin by editing your `config.json` to include:
        "plugin": "shell-execute"
     }
 
-Commands are executed parallel by default. With the optional boolean attribute `sequential`set to `true`shell commands are executed sequentially.
+Commands are executed parallel by default. With the optional boolean attribute 
+`sequential`set to `true` all shell commands are executed sequentially. This option 
+should be used mindfully it can dramatically slow down the execution of command and
+yield other side effects like execution timeouts. 
 
     { 
        "plugin": "shell-execute",
@@ -146,3 +149,18 @@ automatically reset to "absent" after some time. For this you can set to `autoRe
     }
 
 For device configuration options see the [device-config-schema](device-config-schema.coffee) file.
+
+Troubleshooting
+-------
+
+### Execution of Long Running Commands
+
+Long running commands should be avoided as they may block pimatic or yield errors when the `timeout` value
+in the plugin configuration is set to kill pending processes. If you want to execute a long running command 
+though, write a wrapper script which send the command to the background. You can also use a wrapper
+ command which detaches the process from the controlling terminal and send it to the background. 
+  * Linux: `nohup <command> &` or `nohup bash -c "<command1>; <command2>" &` 
+    if you need to execute multiple commands
+  * Windows: `start -b <command>`. 
+  
+  

device-config-schema.coffee

@@ -32,6 +32,12 @@ module.exports = {
         "
         type: "boolean"
         default: false
+      evaluateCommandStrings:
+        description: "
+            treat commands strings as pimatic expressions
+          "
+        type: "boolean"
+        default: false
   }
   ShellButtons: {
     title: "ShellButtons config options"
@@ -62,6 +68,12 @@ module.exports = {
               description: "Ask the user to confirm the button press"
               type: "boolean"
               default: false
+      evaluateCommandStrings:
+        description: "
+            treat commands strings as pimatic expressions
+          "
+        type: "boolean"
+        default: false
   }
   ShellSensor: {
     title: "ShellSensor config options"
@@ -98,6 +110,12 @@ module.exports = {
         description: "the time in ms, the command gets executed to get a new sensor value"
         type: "integer"
         default: 5000
+      evaluateCommandStrings:
+        description: "
+            treat commands strings as pimatic expressions
+          "
+        type: "boolean"
+        default: false
   }
   ShellPresenceSensor: {
     title: "ShellPresenceSensor config options"
@@ -132,6 +150,12 @@ module.exports = {
         "
         type: "integer"
         default: 10000
+      evaluateCommandStrings:
+        description: "
+            treat commands strings as pimatic expressions
+          "
+        type: "boolean"
+        default: false
   }
   ShellShutterController: {
     title: "ShellShutterController config options"
@@ -161,5 +185,11 @@ module.exports = {
         "
         type: "integer"
         default: 0
+      evaluateCommandStrings:
+        description: "
+            treat commands strings as pimatic expressions
+          "
+        type: "boolean"
+        default: false
   }
 }

shell-execute-config-schema.coffee

@@ -2,10 +2,14 @@ module.exports = {
   title: "shell execute config options"
   type: "object"
   properties:
+    debug:
+      description: "Debug mode. Writes debug messages to the pimatic log, if set to true."
+      type: "boolean"
+      default: false
     sequential:
       description: "
-        Run all shell commands sequential (not in parallel). Enable
-        this if you have commands that should not be execute in parallel
+        Run all shell commands sequentially (not in parallel). Enable
+        this if you have commands that should not be executed in parallel
       "
       type: "boolean"
       default: false
@@ -20,4 +24,8 @@ module.exports = {
       description: "Current working directory of the child process"
       type: "string"
       required: false
+    timeout:
+      description: "child process will be killed if it runs longer than timeout milliseconds"
+      type: "integer"
+      default: 15000
 }