Gfilui

This is my first question with Ask Ubuntu, so I'd like to thank you in advance for your patience.

My situation is this:
I have a *.desktop file (which I wrote) that is supposed to execute a shell script. My initial intent was to place this file in ~/.config/autostart so that it would run automatically at startup; however, this causes Ubuntu to flash the desktop for a split second, then log me back out. I can double click the file on my desktop and it will launch the script like it's supposed to. If I take the *.desktop file out of the ~/Desktop directory and put it literally anywhere else, double clicking it in Nautilus will also result in me being logged out immediately.

The *.desktop file is set to execute a shell script which starts bash in gnome-terminal. My reasons for doing this are not necessarily important, so please assume that that's the way I need it to be. If I add sleep 10 to the beginning of the first shell script, I am logged out 10 seconds after starting the *.desktop file, regardless of how it is started. It seems like the problem is in the fact that a new gnome-terminal window is started from the second script, but I don't understand how or why this would be.
Desktop entry:

[Desktop entry]
Name=Autocapture
Comment=Starts autocap program
Exec=/Autocapture/Startup/InitSystem
Terminal=false
Type=Application

InitSystem:

#!/bin/bash
nohup gnome-terminal --title=Autocapture --maximize -e "bash -c 'bash /Autocapture/Startup/StartAutocap.sh';bash"
wmctrl -a "Autocapture" # Give focus to new terminal window
kill -9 $PPID # Close this terminal

StartAutocap.sh:

#!/bin/bash
source /usr/local/bin/virtualenvwrapper.sh
workon Autocap
python /path/to/python/module.py

This is supposed to (and successfully does, if launched from desktop) start a fullscreen gnome-terminal window running bash and launch the "module.py" program in that bash session. It also closes the first gnome-terminal window that started and detached the child process.

Sorry for the incredibly long first post. I just want to understand what is going wrong here and how I might be able to fix it. Any help is greatly appreciated!

While I have my theories, I am afraid to proclaim that I know exactly (or even remotely) how or why this works. I would imagine that it has something to do with the way a *.desktop launcher executes its target. Perhaps I was trying to kill the gnome-terminal window after it had already been closed at the end of the script's execution and ended up killing my session? Maybe vice versa? I don't claim to know, but I would invite anyone who does to please answer this question with your explanation so that others may learn from my mistake.

Removing the line kill -9 $PPID solved the problem

If the script is executed from the *.desktop launcher, the initial gnome-terminal window will close, leaving the second. If the script is executed from the command line (for example, $ bash InitSystem), the initial gnome-terminal window does not close.