Embedding gnome-terminal in QWidget

Question

I wrote the following code adapting this.

It is started using: python3 embed.py gnome-terminal

import time
import re
import subprocess
import sys, os, shutil
from PySide2.QtCore import (Qt, QProcess,)
from PySide2.QtGui import (QWindow,)
from PySide2.QtWidgets import (QApplication, QWidget, QVBoxLayout, QMessageBox,)

class Window(QWidget):
    def __init__(self, program, arguments):
        super().__init__()
        layout = QVBoxLayout()
        layout.setContentsMargins(0, 0, 0, 0)
        self.setLayout(layout)
        self.external = QProcess(self)
        self.external.start(program, arguments)
        time.sleep(1)
        p = subprocess.run(['xprop', '-root'], stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
        for line in p.stdout.decode().splitlines():
            m = re.fullmatch(r'^_NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW.*[)].*window id # (0x[0-9a-f]+)', line)
            if m:
                self.embedWindow(int(m.group(1), 16))

                # this is where the magic happens...
                self.external.finished.connect(self.close_maybe)
                break
        else:
            QMessageBox.warning(self, 'Error',  'Could not find WID for curreent Window')

    def close_maybe(self):
        pass

    def closeEvent(self, event):
        self.external.terminate()
        self.external.waitForFinished(1000)

    def embedWindow(self, wid):
        window = QWindow.fromWinId(wid)
        # window.setFlag(Qt.FramelessWindowHint, True)
        widget = QWidget.createWindowContainer(
            window, self, Qt.FramelessWindowHint)
        self.layout().addWidget(widget)


if __name__ == '__main__':

    if len(sys.argv) > 1:
        if shutil.which(sys.argv[1]):
            app = QApplication(sys.argv)
            window = Window(sys.argv[1], sys.argv[2:])
            window.setGeometry(100, 100, 800, 600)
            window.show()
            sys.exit(app.exec_())
        else:
            print('could not find program: %r' % sys.argv[1])
    else:
        print('usage: python %s <external-program-name> [args]' %
              os.path.basename(__file__))

The completely equivalent PyQt5 version (just cosmetic variations and attempts to pass more Flags):

import os
import re
import shutil
import subprocess
import sys
import time
from PyQt5.QtCore import QProcess, Qt
from PyQt5.QtGui import QWindow
from PyQt5.QtWidgets import QWidget, QVBoxLayout, QMessageBox, QApplication


class Window(QWidget):
    def __init__(self, program, arguments):
        super().__init__()
        layout = QVBoxLayout()
        layout.setContentsMargins(0, 0, 0, 0)
        self.setLayout(layout)
        self.external = QProcess(self)
        self.external.start(program, arguments)
        time.sleep(1)
        p = subprocess.run(['xprop', '-root'], stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
        for line in p.stdout.decode().splitlines():
            m = re.fullmatch(r'^_NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW.*[)].*window id # (0x[0-9a-f]+)', line)
            if m:
                win = QWindow.fromWinId(int(m.group(1), 16))
                win.setFlag(Qt.ForeignWindow, True)
                win.setFlag(Qt.FramelessWindowHint, True)
                win.setFlag(Qt.BypassGraphicsProxyWidget, True)
                wid = QWidget.createWindowContainer(win, self, Qt.FramelessWindowHint)
                self.layout().addWidget(wid)

                # this is where the magic happens...
                self.external.finished.connect(self.close_maybe)
                break
        else:
            QMessageBox.warning(self, 'Error',  'Could not find WID for curreent Window')

    def close_maybe(self):
        pass

    def closeEvent(self, event):
        self.external.terminate()
        self.external.waitForFinished(1000)


if __name__ == '__main__':

    if len(sys.argv) > 1:
        if shutil.which(sys.argv[1]):
            app = QApplication(sys.argv)
            window = Window(sys.argv[1], sys.argv[2:])
            window.setGeometry(100, 100, 800, 600)
            window.show()
            sys.exit(app.exec_())
        else:
            print('could not find program: %r' % sys.argv[1])
    else:
        print('usage: python %s <external-program-name> [args]' %
              os.path.basename(__file__))

behaves in the same (wrong) way. I want to have both versions to reach a larger amount of developers as I suspect this is a rather corner case and not many programmers have the needed expertise.

This code has two problems:

1. [unimportant] Closing check (self.external.finished.connect(self.close)) does not work because gnome-terminal actually communicates with underlying gnome-terminal-server, requests a new window and then exits immediately.
2. [question topic] Embedding doe not take place. I end up with two different windows (original gnome-terminal is resized and moved over MainWindow, but remains distinct). gnome-terminal is closed at application shutdown as expected.

Uncommenting window.setFlag(Qt.FramelessWindowHint, True) embedding does happen, but there's no redraw and I get a pretty useless movable/resizable window with static background content. The underlying gnome-terminal is functional: blindly typing commands in the "frozen" window *will * execute them.

Setting win.setFlag(Qt.ForeignWindow, True) has no visible effect.

Note also "a certain degree" of embedding is achieved because resizing application window will also resize gnome-terminal window and will move it at top left of screen (0, 0).

This must be something with underlying Qt5 libraries because I get the exactly identical behavior also with PyQt5.

What should I try?