Konsole does not open in current directory (pwd)

Question

Some file managers, such as pcmanfm or pcmanfm-qt, open terminals in the current directory by setting $PWD before opening the terminal. Most terminals behave as expected. This includes xterm, gnome-terminal, and xfce4-terminal. However, konsole always opens in a pre-specified directory (usually $HOME).

How can konsole be made to respect $PWD as other terminals do?

This is a long-standing issue that has been around since at least 2010.

• pcmanfm: opens Terminal in wrong folder

• #991 'Open in terminal ' got wrong when using 2 panels

• How do I change the "default working" directory of terminal applications in RHEL6?

Previous solutions required patching the source code. Apparently a patch was submitted, but never accepted.

• When no working directory is specified, use the $PWD of konsole itself instead of $HOME

Answer 1

For several years, there has been no setting to make konsole respect $PWD. However, there is a command-line option --workdir that can be exploited by a script to make konsole function as desired.

1. Check the path to locate a user-accessible location that takes precedence over /usr/bin by examining the output of echo $PATH. Typical options include ~/bin/ and ~/.local/bin/.

2. Create a file named ~/bin/konsole (or ~/.local/bin/konsole) with the following contents:

   #!/usr/bin/env bash
   # make konsole respect $PWD, as other terminals do
   # save as ~/bin/konsole or ~/.local/bin/konsole
   
   # catch unset or mis-set PWD
   [[ -z $PWD ]] && PWD="$HOME"
   [[ "$PWD" == '/' ]] && PWD="$HOME"
   
   term_cls='konsole'      # window class needed for xdotool to activate window
   term_bin=`type -a -p konsole | tail -n 1`    # location of original `konsole`
   term_cmd=( "$term_bin" )
   
   [[ $PWD ]] && term_cmd+=( --workdir "$PWD" )
   term_tab=( "${term_cmd[@]}" --new-tab )
   
   case $1 in
     -h|--help|-v|--version|--author|--license|--list-profiles|--list-profile-properties)
       "$term_bin" "$1"
       ;;
     -p)
       echo 'cannot change profile properties at this time'
       ;;
     *)
       find_app=( xdotool search --onlyvisible --class "$term_cls" windowactivate exec "${term_tab[@]}" )
       "${find_app[@]}" || xdotool exec "${term_cmd[@]}"
       ;;
   esac
   

3. Give the new script execute permissions.

   chmod +x ~/bin/konsole
   

Now, whenever this script is run, it will process $PWD and execute /usr/bin/konsole --workdir "$PWD". If put in the right folder, it will have priority over the real konsole and usage will be transparent. Similar scripts can be created for other programs that do not behave as desired.