Bash – redirecting output of running background job in bash

background-processbashio-redirectionoutput

in bash I have some jobs running, in background. They are always producing random irrelevant error messages that pollute the terminal. I am not always so prompt to start them with the 2>&1 > /dev/null redirect. How can I redirect the output when they are already running?

Best Answer

Bash can't modify the file descriptors of a running process.

See answers for How to change the output redirection of a running process? (or a similar thread on stackoverflow)

The easiest and only current tool seems to be reredirect:

reredirect is a utility for taking an existing running program and attaching its outputs (standard output and error output) to files or another process. (quoting project homepage)

reredirect -m /dev/null <PID>

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How to redirect output of a running program to /dev/null

You can also launch the browser with nohup and then close the terminal window with the following:

nohup chromium-browser &

This way, the browser will launch and detach from the console, that can then be closed quietly.

Linux Bash – How to Change Output Redirection of a Running Process

You can do it using reredirect (https://github.com/jerome-pouiller/reredirect/).

reredirect -m /dev/null <PID>

You can restore initial output of your process later using something like:

reredirect -N -O <M> -E <N> <PID>

(<M> and <N> are provided by previous launch of reredirect).

reredirect README also explains how to redirect to another command or to redirect only stdout or stderr.

Best Answer

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How to redirect output of a running program to /dev/null

Linux Bash – How to Change Output Redirection of a Running Process

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