Ubuntu – How to see terminal commands generated by GUI actions

dir and ls are part of coreutils and dir is almost the same as ls, just with different default options.

The GNU Core Utilities are the basic file, shell and text manipulation utilities of the GNU operating system. These are the core utilities which are expected to exist on every operating system.

info dir says:

dir is equivalent to ls -C -b; that is, by default files are listed in columns, sorted vertically, and special characters are represented by backslash escape sequences.

Oh and there is also vdir! info vdir says:

vdir is equivalent to ls -l -b; that is, by default files are listed in long format and special characters are represented by backslash escape sequences.

Most likely dir exists for backwards compatibility or due to historical reasons.

Introduction

While it's not possible to log all GUI actions, such things as logging commands that correspond to open windows can be done. Below is the simple python script that does the job. It's still in development, but does 90% of the required task.

Source code

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import gi
gi.require_version('Gtk', '3.0')
gi.require_version('Gdk', '3.0')
from gi.repository import Gdk,Gtk
import time
import os
import subprocess

def run_cmd(cmdlist):
    """ Reusable function for running external commands """
    new_env = dict(os.environ)
    new_env['LC_ALL'] = 'C'
    try:
        stdout = subprocess.check_output(cmdlist, env=new_env)
    except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
        pass
    else:
        if stdout:
            return stdout
def print_info(stack,event):
    base_xprop = ['xprop','-notype']
    for xid in stack:
        pid = None
        check_pid = run_cmd(base_xprop + [ '_NET_WM_PID', '-id',str(xid)])
        if check_pid:
            pid = check_pid.decode().split('=')[1].strip()
        with open('/proc/'+pid+'/cmdline') as fd:
            command = fd.read()
        print(time.strftime("%D %H:%M:%S" + " "*3) + event + pid + " " + command)

def main():
    sc = Gdk.Screen.get_default()
    old_stack = None

    while True:
        stack = [ win.get_xid() for win in sc.get_window_stack() ]
        if old_stack:
            # Difference between current and old stack will show new programs
            diff = set(stack) - set(old_stack)
            if diff:
                print_info(diff," 'New window open' ")
        else:
            print_info(stack," 'Script Started' ")

        old_stack = stack
        time.sleep(2)

if __name__ == '__main__': main()

Test run:

$ ./log_open_windows.py                                                                                                
01/25/17 15:33:13    'Script Started' 2915 nautilus-n
01/25/17 15:33:13    'Script Started' 3408 /opt/google/chrome/chrome
01/25/17 15:33:13    'Script Started' 12540 /usr/bin/python/usr/bin/x-terminal-emulator
01/25/17 15:33:13    'Script Started' 2454 compiz
01/25/17 15:33:13    'Script Started' 2454 compiz
01/25/17 15:33:13    'Script Started' 2454 compiz
01/25/17 15:33:13    'Script Started' 2454 compiz
01/25/17 15:33:13    'Script Started' 2454 compiz
01/25/17 15:33:21    'New window open' 15143 /usr/lib/firefox/firefox-new-window
01/25/17 15:33:27    'New window open' 15196 unity-control-center

The script shows timestamp, event type, the window PID, and the corresponding command.

How to use

The standard rules of any script apply. Make sure you store the script in ~/bin directory. If you don't have ~/bin directory , then create one. Save script file there and ensure it is executable with chmod +x ~/bin/log_open_windows.py. After than you can run it from command line at any time you wish by calling ~/log_open_windows.py in command-line.