dwmblocks2

Fork of dwmblocks. It is not a drop-in replacement.

Usage

dwmblocks2 & # put this line in your xinitrc

Configuration

Edit blocks.h. By default it uses all blocks in blocks/ directory, plus the clock block. You can use external programs or C functions of prototype void function_name(int, Block *), defined in block_functions.c and declared in block_functions.h. Checkout the clock block for an example.

Notes

• Each command specificed on blocks.h is not interpreted by the shell, since it is probably itself a script, so the overhead and the loss of readability is not worth the "flexibility"
• A signal number, specified through an environmental variable, is mandatory for each block.
  • You can set the same signal for multiple blocks
  • It must be a number between 1 and SIGRTMAX - SIGRTMIN
• Blocks whose interval is set to 0 will only be updated through signals, (including those send by dwm through clicks).

Clicks

• You need to apply the patch dwm-statuscmd.diff on dwm for mouse clicks to work.
• The button number will be passed as the first argument.
• dwmblocks2 will update the block with the output.

case $1 in
    0) echo "no click (other signal/interval)" ;;
    1) echo "clicked left button" ;;
    2) echo "clicked middle button" ;;
    3) echo "clicked right button" ;;
    4) echo "scroll up" ;;
    5) echo "scroll down" ;;
    6) echo "shift + left button" ;;
    7) echo "control + left button" ;;
esac

Differences from original dwmblocks

• It's much lighter, since the shell is avoided on every command spawned.
• A hard to reproduce bug in which dwmblocks would freeze has been fixed.
• Blocks are updated independently (a slow block will not block others).
• Clicks are passed through the first argument, not the BLOCK_BUTTON environment variable, which makes it easier to debug scripts.
• Signals are mandatory and set through environment variables, so one can more easily keep dwmblocks signals in sync with scripts which update the contents of the bar.
• There is the possibility of using C functions as blocks, which is useful for the included clock block, which runs every second, avoiding the overhead of forking and executing a new process.

Instalation

$ git clone https://github.com/lucas-mior/dwmblocks2
$ cd dwmblocks2
$ make
$ sudo make install

In order to use the blocks, you have to put them in your PATH and also set the environmental variables (see blocks.h).

License

dwmblocks2 is licensed under GPLv2, block scripts in blocks/ are licensed under AGPL.