gnome-terminal -- $SHELL fails to execute the simplest commands

Question

gnome-terminal -v -- $SHELL launches a new bash shell just as expected.

gnome-terminal -v -- $SHELL -c 'cd /' does nothing at all. A window briefly flashes, and that's it. Tried many other commands, like echo with the same result.

journalctl -f reveals Failed to start VTE child process 11350 launched by gnome-terminal-server process 7182. and that's it.

How do I debug this further?

Answer 1

this may not be the exact solution you need, but if you make a new profile for the terminal, and change the property "when command exits" to "hold terminal open" then include the following argument:

gnome-terminal --window-with-profile=[new profile name here]

the new window will not briefly flash, and may allow more detailed debugging from whatever processes are called in the new window