Initial configuration

2025-09-25 15:42:25 -04:00
parent fe538a7a2f
commit 853324c8e3
2 changed files with 8 additions and 162 deletions
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,164 +1,19 @@
-# dwmblocks-async
+# dwmblocks-async - mike's build
-A [`dwm`](https://dwm.suckless.org) status bar that has a modular, async
+This is a build/configuration of [dwmblocks-async](https://github.com/UtkarshVerma/dwmblocks-async). Vanilla [dwmblocks](https://github.com/torrinfail/dwmblocks) runs blocks sequentially, which means if one block freezes or simply takes a long time to load (for example, a weather block trying to pull from the internet when you don't have connection), all subsequent blocks have to wait on it.
 design, so it is always responsive. Imagine `i3blocks`, but for `dwm`.
 ![A lean config of dwmblocks-async.](preview.png)
 ## Features
 - [Modular](#modifying-the-blocks)
 - Lightweight
 - [Suckless](https://suckless.org/philosophy)
 - Blocks:
  - [Clickable](#clickable-blocks)
  - Loaded asynchronously
  - [Updates can be externally triggered](#signalling-changes)
 - Compatible with `i3blocks` scripts
 > Additionally, this build of `dwmblocks` is more optimized and fixes the
 > flickering of the status bar when scrolling.
 ## Why `dwmblocks`?
 In `dwm`, you have to set the status bar through an infinite loop, like so:
 ```sh
 while :; do
    xsetroot -name "$(date)"
    sleep 30
 done
 ```
 This is inefficient when running multiple commands that need to be updated at
 different frequencies. For example, to display an unread mail count and a clock
 in the status bar:
 ```sh
 while :; do
    xsetroot -name "$(mailCount) $(date)"
    sleep 60
 done
 ```
 Both are executed at the same rate, which is wasteful. Ideally, the mail
 counter would be updated every thirty minutes, since there's a limit to the
 number of requests I can make using Gmail's APIs (as a free user).
 `dwmblocks` allows you to divide the status bar into multiple blocks, each of
 which can be updated at its own interval. This effectively addresses the
 previous issue, because the commands in a block are only executed once within
 that time frame.
 ## Why `dwmblocks-async`?
 The magic of `dwmblocks-async` is in the `async` part. Since vanilla
 `dwmblocks` executes the commands of each block sequentially, it leads to
 annoying freezes. In cases where one block takes several seconds to execute,
 like in the mail and date blocks example from above, the delay is clearly
 visible. Fire up a new instance of `dwmblocks` and you'll see!
 With `dwmblocks-async`, the computer executes each block asynchronously
 (simultaneously).
 ## Installation
 Clone this repository, modify `config.h` appropriately, then compile the
 program:
 ```sh
-git clone https://github.com/UtkarshVerma/dwmblocks-async.git
+git clone https://git.mjwilson.org/mike/dwmblocks-async.git
 cd dwmblocks-async
-vi config.h
+sudo make clean install
 sudo make install
 ```
 ## Usage
-To set `dwmblocks-async` as your status bar, you need to run it as a background
+Add dwmblocks (the binary is still called dwmblocks, **not** dwmblocks-async) to your ~/.xinitrc to run in the background at login/startup:
-process on startup. One way is to add the following to `~/.xinitrc`:
+```sh ~/.xinitrc
 ```sh
 # The binary of `dwmblocks-async` is named `dwmblocks`
 dwmblocks &
 exec dwm
 ```
 ### Modifying the blocks
 You can define your status bar blocks in `config.h`:
 ```c
 #define BLOCKS(X) \
    ...
    X(" ", "wpctl get-volume @DEFAULT_AUDIO_SINK@ | cut -d' ' -f2", 0, 5) \
    X("󰥔 ", "date '+%H:%M:%S'", 1, 1) \
    ...
 ```
 Each block has the following properties:
 | Property        | Description                                                                                                                                        |
 | --------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
 | Icon            | An icon you wish to prepend to your block output.                                                                                                  |
 | Command         | The command you wish to execute in your block.                                                                                                     |
 | Update interval | Time in seconds, after which you want the block to update. If `0`, the block will never be updated.                                                |
 | Update signal   | Signal to be used for triggering the block. Must be a positive integer. If `0`, a signal won't be set up for the block and it will be unclickable. |
 Apart from defining the blocks, features can be toggled through `config.h`:
 ```c
 // String used to delimit block outputs in the status.
 #define DELIMITER "  "
 // Maximum number of Unicode characters that a block can output.
 #define MAX_BLOCK_OUTPUT_LENGTH 45
 // Control whether blocks are clickable.
 #define CLICKABLE_BLOCKS 1
 // Control whether a leading delimiter should be prepended to the status.
 #define LEADING_DELIMITER 0
 // Control whether a trailing delimiter should be appended to the status.
 #define TRAILING_DELIMITER 0
 ```
 ### Signalling changes
 Most status bars constantly rerun all scripts every few seconds. This is an
 option here, but a superior choice is to give your block a signal through which
 you can indicate it to update on relevant event, rather than have it rerun
 idly.
 For example, the volume block has the update signal `5` by default. I run
 `kill -39 $(pidof dwmblocks)` alongside my volume shortcuts in `dwm` to only
 update it when relevant. Just add `34` to your signal number! You could also
 run `pkill -RTMIN+5 dwmblocks`, but it's slower.
 To refresh all the blocks, run `kill -10 $(pidof dwmblocks)` or
 `pkill -SIGUSR1 dwmblocks`.
 > All blocks must have different signal numbers!
 ### Clickable blocks
 Like `i3blocks`, this build allows you to build in additional actions into your
 scripts in response to click events. You can check out
 [my status bar scripts](https://github.com/UtkarshVerma/dotfiles/tree/main/.local/bin/statusbar)
 as references for using the `$BLOCK_BUTTON` variable.
 To use this feature, define the `CLICKABLE_BLOCKS` feature macro in your
 `config.h`:
 ```c
 #define CLICKABLE_BLOCKS 1
 ```
 Apart from that, you need `dwm` to be patched with
 [statuscmd](https://dwm.suckless.org/patches/statuscmd/).
 ## Credits
 This work would not have been possible without
 [Luke's build of dwmblocks](https://github.com/LukeSmithxyz/dwmblocks) and
 [Daniel Bylinka's statuscmd patch](https://dwm.suckless.org/patches/statuscmd/).
--- a/config.h
+++ b/config.h
@@ -18,15 +18,6 @@
 // Define blocks for the status feed as X(icon, cmd, interval, signal).
 #define BLOCKS(X)             \
-    X("", "sb-mail", 600, 1)  \
+    X("", "date '+%H:%M:%S'", 1, 10)
    X("", "sb-music", 0, 2)   \
    X("", "sb-disk", 1800, 3) \
    X("", "sb-memory", 10, 4) \
    X("", "sb-loadavg", 5, 5) \
    X("", "sb-mic", 0, 6)     \
    X("", "sb-record", 0, 7)  \
    X("", "sb-volume", 0, 8)  \
    X("", "sb-battery", 5, 9) \
    X("", "sb-date", 1, 10)
 #endif  // CONFIG_H