I have an old application I've been using on Linux for a quite a while that I like very much, and I'd like to use it on macOS sometimes.
It's called hcm, and it lives at https://stromberg.dnsalias.org/~strombrg/hcm/
It's mostly about running commands on remote hosts (mostly X11 graphical applications, but some interactive shells), a little like putty, but with predefined hosts and commands.
I mostly use it to start terminal emulators that'll do a script(1)-like tty log locally, while giving interactive access to a remote host over ssh. Each new tab from a given terminal emulator gives a new tty logfile, and a new shell on the remote host again over ssh.
Is there a macOS terminal emulator, preferably an opensource one, that will respect $SHELL on each invocation? I gave iTerm2 and kitty a try, but they seem to ignore a test $SHELL. Alacritty wouldn't even run, with or without a test $SHELL, saying "Alacritty cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified."
Suggestions please?
Thanks!
Best Answer
This answer is not using $SHELL, but achieves the same result and more easily.
iTerm2 profiles, as well as setting colour scheme, can use a specific shell for each profile.
As an example I have set the builtin Red Sands profile to bash and not the default login shell (zsh).
In the menu choose Profiles -> Open Profiles.
Add profiles or modify them with "Edit Profiles...". Here is Red Sands with a custom shell.
Now return to the main iTerm2 window and, in the menu bar, choose Profiles -> Red Sands. This opens a new tab running bash.
Taking this a step further (you want to run ssh for remote access) you can run a command when starting the shell/tab. Here I have added an ssh command to my Red Sands profile.
So setup however many profiles you want for the different shells and actions you need.
Note: My iTerm2 expertise is at the beginner level. I am sure you can do much better than me and, if not, someone else will have a better answer.