dwmblocks

Modular, asynchronous status bar for dwm. A small, async, clickable implementation, with name based control built in.

Features

• Asynchronous blocks: each block forks independently. A slow one never freezes the rest of the bar.
• Clickable blocks: with dwm patched for statuscmd, BLOCK_BUTTON is set in the script's environment on click.
• Built-in CLI client: update, restart, or list blocks by name, no separate control binary, no memorizing signal numbers.
• Shell completions: bash, zsh, fish.

Why not the alternatives?

dwmblocks, the original, runs every block synchronously through popen() - one slow block freezes the whole bar - and has no click support.

dwmblocks-async fixes that (non-blocking, clickable). This project converges on much the same core design independently. What it doesn't have: a CLI to address blocks by name (only raw signal numbers), shell completions and some other QOL improvements.

Build / install

Edit config.h to match your setup, then:

sudo make clean install

Installs the binary, man page, and shell completions (bash, zsh, fish).

Dependencies

• C compiler (gcc/clang)
• make
• Xlib headers (Arch: libx11)

Configuration

Blocks are defined in config.h:

const Block blocks[] = {
	/*Command                  Update Interval   Update Signal */
	{ "/path/to/script",       10,                10 },
};

• Update interval, in seconds. 0 disables automatic updates.
• Update signal, an offset from SIGRTMIN. Must be unique per block. 0 makes the block unclickable and unreachable by name.

CLICKABLE_BLOCKS, LEADING_DELIMITER, DELIMITER, and TRIM_TRAILING_SPACES are also set here. Rebuild after any change; there is no runtime reload.

Usage

Behavior is configured via flags (see dwmblocks --help or the man page).

Quick examples:

dwmblocks &                 # start the daemon
dwmblocks --update volume   # update one block by name
pkill -RTMIN+10 dwmblocks   # ...or by raw signal
dwmblocks --all             # update all blocks
dwmblocks --restart         # restart the daemon

Running at startup

Add to your ~/.xinitrc or window manager's autostart:

dwmblocks &

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3. See the LICENSE file for details.

© 2022-2024 Dimitris Gerasimou

See Also

• dwm - the window manager this bar is built for
• dwmblocks - the original, synchronous implementation
• dwmblocks-async - async fork, similar with this project