xterm -e forAndExecXterm.sh

Thanks both for the point; I had seen this thread before: system("xterm -e yourchatprogram") is OK for a program --like a chat client-- that remains running. But what I want is firing up the terminal, runnig a single command (like ls) that outputs to the terminal and ends, and then the shell/terminal staying alive and processing CLI input till the user close it explicitely. When the single command ends the terminal closes, comes it from system, fork/exec or backtics.

I'm working in Ubuntu/Debian boxes, and have tried tweaking xterm and gnome-terminal options, combined with exec, system, fork... but the best I get is a flashing process that goes away.

Then you need to find the correct invocation :) on win32 its  cmd /x /k the /k means remain open

Yes, I've tried every combination, 'xterm -e' , 'gnome-terminal --execute' , 'gnome-terminal --command' ... and sequences including 'xterm -e somecommand; read -p' , "gnome-terminal --command 'somecommand; bash'"... , but can not find it out. Thanks.

Maybe the -i switch (force interactive) to the shell helps (xterm -e "sh -i -c yourcommand"). If not, I'd put your command into a (temporary) .bashrc or similar. The third option might be starting a new shell after the command: fork() or exec("xterm", "-e", "sh -c 'somecommand; sh'");

(Of course, you should find out the user's preferred shell instead of just using /bin/sh or similar)

Hey! it works!

The third option you suggested does the job, using as well sh or bash as xterm or gnome-terminal. I include the code:

...
$tks->signal_connect( 'clicked' => sub {
    my $command = "tw pro:$currproj";
    my $ret = fork();
    if($ret == 0) {
        # this is the fork: become $command and go away.
        exec("gnome-terminal", "-e", "bash -c '$command; bash'");
    }
    else { # this is the parent: do nothing and go ahead. }
    return FALSE;
} );
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I detect zombie processes remaining in my ps -e:

 2504 ?        00:00:01 perl
 2509 ?        00:00:01 gnome-terminal <defunct>
 2573 ?        00:00:01 gnome-terminal <defunct>
 2638 ?        00:00:01 gnome-terminal <defunct>
 2702 ?        00:00:01 gnome-terminal <defunct>
 2767 ?        00:00:00 gnome-terminal
 2773 ?        00:00:00 gnome-pty-helpe
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that dissapear when the perl script comes to en end. Thank you very much, Anonymous Wisdom.

You can get rid of the defunct processes by setting $SIG{CHLD} = 'IGNORE' in the parent. Also, you should use sh -c instead of bash -c in "bash -c '$command; bash'", since only sh is guaranteed to exist.

And the user's shell can be found with this piece of code:

my ($shell, $uid);
while (($uid, $shell) = (getpwent)[2,8]) {
    last if $uid == $<;
}
say $shell;
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