shell programming challenge

[Don Wilde]

Hey, folks -

I need to find a way to kick off an xterm running BASH and then execute 
a program within that xterm, but NOT close the new xterm after the 
program finishes. Another desirable thing would be to also be able to 
'source in' a file of shell environment that would affect the new window 
  and shell.

Here's what I've found out so far:

Assume we have an executable test file 'ticktock':

#!/bin/sh
for n in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
do
   echo "$n MYVAR=$MYVAR"
   sleep 1
   echo -n "continue? "
   read reply
done
# end of ticktock

I want to do something like:

xterm -e bash <(echo ./ticktock) &

When I do this, the program works & interacts, but the xterm dies upon 
completion of ticktock or INT. I also do not seem to be able to use the 
--rcfile switch as a bash option, although I can add KEY=VALUE pairs 
before the xterm launch.

Ideas? Please respond to me directly.
-- 
Don Wilde  ---------> Silver Lynx <----------
  Raising the Trajectory of Human Development
---------------------------------------------
          http://www.Silver-Lynx.com