mjhjmtu

To set the stage, I have this 2 equivalent and working 'xargs' composed commands, in this sample echo scenario:

// ok
$ echo org.cinnamon.desktop.keybindings.wm move-to-workspace-5 | xargs echo
org.cinnamon.desktop.keybindings.wm move-to-workspace-5

// ok
$ echo org.cinnamon.desktop.keybindings.wm move-to-workspace-5 | xargs -I '' echo ''
org.cinnamon.desktop.keybindings.wm move-to-workspace-5

Now, when I replace the 'echo' command with 'gsettings get' the second case fails:

// ok
$ echo org.cinnamon.desktop.keybindings.wm move-to-workspace-5 | xargs gsettings get
['<Alt>F4']

// fails
$ echo org.cinnamon.desktop.keybindings.wm move-to-workspace-5 | xargs -I '' gsettings get ''
Usage:
 gsettings [--schemadir SCHEMADIR] get SCHEMA[:PATH] KEY

 Get the value of KEY

 Arguments:
 SCHEMADIR A directory to search for additional schemas
 SCHEMA The name of the schema
 PATH The path, for relocatable schemas
 KEY The key within the schema

What is going on and how can I get more visibility in the issue?

The -I options of xargs will cause it to pass a whole line from the input as a single argument.

This is what the manpage says:

-I replace-str

Replace occurrences of replace-str in the initial-arguments with
names read from standard input. Also, unquoted blanks do not
terminate input items; instead the separator is the newline
character. Implies -x and -L 1.