Re: [Help-smalltalk] call shell commands; synchronous return

[Stephen]

> shellOut := Smalltalk system: 'sleep 5 && ls -l /etc && sleep 10'.
> Transcript showCr: shellOut printString.
>
> That worked a treat.
>
> Is there anything one should be aware of when choosing between the two
> ways of calling shell commands? The system: call above appeals since it
> is synchronous and provides the shell output, but just wondering if
> there is a situation when it is better to use the "Filestream popen:
> dir" command.

Then found that Smalltalk system: returns an integer rather than the 
shell output.

So here is what I wanted to do:

" Part 1: shut down running VMWare VMs"
shellCmd := '/usr/bin/vmrun list'.
pipe := FileStream popen: shellCmd dir: FileStream read.
pipe linesDo: [: vmName |
   shellCmd2 := '/usr/bin/vmware-cmd %1 stop' bindWith: vmName.
   pipe2 := FileStream popen: shellCmd2 dir: FileStream read.     ]

Hence the need for a synchronous call so that the script waits until 
each machine is shut down.


Thanks
Stephen