Commit: runtime(open): Use job_start() on Linux

[Christian Brabandt]

runtime(open): Use job_start() on Linux

Commit: https://github.com/vim/vim/commit/71fd19d7ac9e83bf63d7bad337f43cd830a5b5bd
Author: Christian Brabandt <c...@256bit.org>
Date: Tue Mar 10 20:42:43 2026 +0000

runtime(open): Use job_start() on Linux

Problem: With zsh, executing :!nohup xdg-open url >/dev/null 2>&1 &
does not launch the browser. This occurs presumably because
gvim/zsh cleans up background processes in a non-interactive
session too quickly.
Solution: Use job_start() with "stoponexit" set to an empty string.
This bypasses the shell entirely (fixing the zsh issue)
and ensures the browser process is not killed when Vim exits.
On Linux, shellescape() is removed as job_start() in list
mode handles special characters natively.

fixes: #19594

Signed-off-by: Christian Brabandt <c...@256bit.org>

diff --git a/runtime/autoload/dist/vim9.vim b/runtime/autoload/dist/vim9.vim
index ece21db65..87b3dbb87 100644
--- a/runtime/autoload/dist/vim9.vim
+++ b/runtime/autoload/dist/vim9.vim
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ vim9script
# Vim runtime support library
#
# Maintainer: The Vim Project <https://github.com/vim/vim>
-# Last Change: 2026 Jan 31
+# Last Change: 2026 Mar 10

export def IsSafeExecutable(filetype: string, executable: string): bool
if empty(exepath(executable))
@@ -60,7 +60,9 @@ if has('unix')
enddef
else
export def Launch(args: string)
- execute $':silent ! nohup {args} {Redir()} &' | redraw!
+ # Use job_start, because using !xdg-open is known not to work with zsh
+ # ignore signals on exit
+ job_start(split(args), {'stoponexit': ''})
enddef
endif
elseif has('win32')
@@ -137,7 +139,13 @@ export def Open(file: string)
setlocal shell&
defer setbufvar('%', '&shell', shell)
endif
- Launch($"{Viewer()} {shellescape(file, 1)}")
+ if has('unix') && !has('win32unix') && !exists('$WSL_DISTRO_NAME')
+ # Linux: using job_start, so do not use shellescape.
+ Launch($"{Viewer()} {file}")
+ else
+ # Windows/WSL/Cygwin: NEEDS shellescape because Launch uses '!'
+ Launch($"{Viewer()} {shellescape(file, 1)}")
+ endif
enddef

# Uncomment this line to check for compilation errors early