What is nohup.out and why does positron always create it?

[Aariq]

Is it safe to add nohup.out to a global .gitignore? Is there a way to get positron to not create this file? Is this a bug?

[samclark2015]

Hi @Aariq, can you provide some more info on this:

• What operating system are you on?
• What Positron version are you running?
• What languages are you using - Python, R or both?
• Do you notice any particular action that generates this file (e.g., starting a console session, running a script, etc.)?

[Aariq]

System info:

Positron Version: 2025.04.0 (Universal) build 250
Code - OSS Version: 1.98.0
Commit: 627b3d7
Date: 2025-04-03T16:31:38.728Z
Electron: 34.2.0
Chromium: 132.0.6834.196
Node.js: 20.18.2
V8: 13.2.152.36-electron.0
OS: Darwin x64 24.4.0

It seems like nohup.out is created any time I open a project in Positron using R. I believe this may be related to changes that introduced multiple console sessions

[samclark2015]

Thanks! Can I get one more piece of info? In Positron settings, search for kernelSupervisor.shutdownTimeout and let me know what that value is.

For now, it's safe to add that file to your gitignore but it'd be great if we can prevent this issue for others!

[Aariq]

Ah yes, that's it. I've set the shutdown timeout to "when idle". I only need that for a particular project, but I had it set for the user settings. I'll switch it to only apply to the projects I need it for. Thanks.

[samclark2015]

Awesome, glad that did it. FYI, I created an issue #7215 to track this for a future fix. Feel free to give it a 👍!