How to open the "Run Application" dialog from a terminal?

How can I open a dialog box as below from a terminal?

Solution 1:

Install the X11 keyboard/mouse input simulator xdotool and run xdotool key Alt+F2.

You can add this alias to your ~/.bashrc file to make typing easier:

alias rd="xdotool key Alt+F2"

Now all you need to do is type rd.

Hacky, but works.

Solution 2:

Two options:

1. Install gmrun from Software Center or with sudo apt-get install gmrun then use command gmrun from the terminal
2. Compile gnome-run from source and run gnome-run from the terminal. Instructions here. [Editor's note: instruction page contains dead links.]

Unfortunately this is harder than it should be.