POLYBAR

PRIMARY CATEGORY → DESKTOP SETUP

POLYBAR → Highly Customizable Status Bars

Each bar has its own modules and It is executed as a daemon

$ pgrep --list-full --exact polybar
1631 polybar log -c /home/al3xbb/.config/polybar/current.ini
1632 polybar ethernet_bar -c /home/al3xbb/.config/polybar/current.ini
1633 polybar vpn_bar -c /home/al3xbb/.config/polybar/current.ini

INFO
In above command’s output, each process corresponds to a specific bar with its name and its configuration file where the bar and its module/s are declared
polybar log -c /home/al3xbb/.config/polybar/current.ini
         |                                   |
         +---> Bar's Name                    +---> Config File
-c FILE | --config=FILE → Path to the configuration file

A module can execute any action such as a command, scripts…

Each bar with its configuration file as an argument is launched by the below script

Polybar is executed by bspwm from the bspwmrc script through the polybar’s launcher script → ~/.config/polybar/launch.sh

~/.config/bspwm/bspwmrc

# Polybar Launch
checkProcess polybar || { launchProcess "$_pbl" ; unset -v -- _pbl ; }

INFO
Note that checkProcess and launchProcess are shell functions declared in the ~/.config/bspwm/src/bspwmrc.sh source file

The $_pbl parameter is also declared in that file being the Polybar Launcher Path

Above implementation would be something similar to the usual approach through pgrep --exact process_name || binary|script_path &
#!/usr/bin/env sh
pgrep --exact polybar > /dev/null 2>&1 || ~/.config/polybar/launch.sh &

Configuration File → Any file which a .ini extension

Launcher File → ~/.config/polybar/launch.sh

More information here

Polybar Site

Installation

CAUTION

First, see the bspwm, sxhkd and kitty installations before proceeding with this one related to polybar

There are some dependencies that are needed in the following installation steps

In addition, the above setup components’ installation facilitates the ZSH Configuration

apt install -y -- polybar

That’s it!

$ command -V polybar
polybar is /usr/bin/polybar

IMPORTANT

Installation can be done either through the OS package manager or via the git clone command

Note that the default OS repositories listed in /etc/apt/sources.list file and in /etc/apt/sources.list.d directory may have older versions unlike the polybar’s official Github repository

As It is always is desirable to have the latest versions of any package or binary installed, I’d recommend installing them via their Github Repositories

Although, in this case the package’s version installed from the apt Package Manager differs only slightly from the github one

As a base for the configuration file’s structure, clone the following Github Repository

Reference

git clone https://github.com/VaughnValle/blue-sky ~/Downloads/blue-sky

Then, recursively copy the polybar’s content into ~/.config/polybar →

cd !$
bash -c "shopt -sq dotglob && cp -rv -- ./polybar/* ~/.config/polybar"

INFO

In the above command, bash -c is used to run the inner commands inside a bash

This is done in order to to be able to use the shopt shell builtin, and then enable the dotglob shell extension to expand also the hidden files through globbing

Note that prior action can also be performed in this way

Once the above is done, insert the following line in the bspwmrc file related to the Polybar’s Launch →

As already stated, these functions check polybar’s status and launch it

~/.config/bspwm/bspwmrc

checkProcess polybar || { launchProcess "$_pbl" ; unset -v -- _pbl ; }

Lastly, copy the polybar’s fonts (i.e. the .ttf Files) into the system TrueType Fonts directory and reset the _ system’s fonts cache_ →

cp ~/.config/polybar/fonts/* /usr/share/fonts/truetype/
fs-cache -v # Reset the System Fonts Cache

Configuration File

Current.ini

See here

Most of the Bars and their Modules are defined in this Configuration File

Workspace.ini

See here

This Configuration File contains the Main Bar’s definition related to the Windows Manager Workspaces

Launcher File

Launch.sh

See here

This shell script launchs all the Bars defined in the above configuration files

Bars

A bar can contain one or several modules

There is a distinction between the position of the Top Bars →

Left Bar
Center Bar
Right Bar

Left

os_icon

It is launched from the launch.sh script as follows →

~/.config/polybar/launch.sh

polybar os_icon -c ~/.config/polybar/current.ini &

Module processed within the bar → my-text-label

~/.config/polybar/current.ini

modules-center = my-text-label # Module Loaded

ethernet_bar

It is launched from the launch.sh script as follows →

~/.config/polybar/launch.sh

polybar ethernet_bar -c ~/.config/polybar/current.ini &

Module processed within the bar → ethernet_status

~/.config/polybar/current.ini

modules-center = ethernet_status # Module Loaded

vpn_bar

It is launched from the launch.sh script as follows →

~/.config/polybar/launch.sh

polybar vpn_bar -c ~/.config/polybar/current.ini &

Module processed within the bar → vpn_status

~/.config/polybar/current.ini

modules-center = vpn_status # Module Loaded

Center

primary

It is launched from the launch.sh script as follows →

~/.config/polybar/launch.sh

polybar primary -c ~/.config/polybar/workspace.ini &

Module processed within the bar → workspaces

~/.config/polybar/workspace.ini

modules-center = workspaces # Module Loaded

Right

target_to_hack

It is launched from the launch.sh script as follows →

~/.config/polybar/launch.sh

polybar target_to_hack -c ~/.config/polybar/current.ini &

Module processed within the bar → target_to_hack

~/.config/polybar/current.ini

modules-center = target_to_hack # Module Loaded

primary

It is launched from the launch.sh script as follows →

~/.config/polybar/launch.sh

polybar primary -c ~/.config/polybar/current.ini &

Module processed within the bar → sysmenu

~/.config/polybar/current.ini

modules-center = sysmenu # Module Loaded

Modules

A module is a execution unit that can perform a specific action within a bar, such as run a script

One or several modules can be processed in the same bar

my-text-label

It simply displays the icon specified in the content parameter

Associated Bar → os_icon

Module definition →

~/.config/polybar/current.ini

[module/my-text-label]
type = custom/text
content = %{T7}

Font

See here to install the Hack Nerd Fonts

The content parameter above uses the T7 Font Type

This Font Type is not declared by default

Chosen Font → Hack Nerd Font

To declare it and set the size and position of the OS Icon →

~/.config/polybar/current.ini

font-7 = "Hack Nerd Font Mono:size=20;6" # Filter by 'font-' in the above file

INFO
Note that the size parameter sets both the OS Icon’s size and position
size=SIZE;POSITION

ethernet_status

This module executes the specified script through the exec parameter every two seconds

Associated Bar → ethernet_bar

Module definition →

~/.config/polybar/current.ini

[module/ethernet_status]
type = custom/script
interval = 2
exec = ~/.config/bspwm/bin/ethernet_status.sh

modules/ethernet_status.sh

Reference

It displays the IP Address assigned to a specific Network Interface

ethernet_status.sh

Delete Backslashes hiding the % characters

#!/usr/bin/env bash
 
printf "\%\%{F#2495e7}󰈀 \%\%{F#ffffff}$( /usr/sbin/ifconfig ens33 | awk '/inet\s/ { print $2 }' )\%\%{u-}\n"

vpn_status

This module executes the specified script through the exec parameter every two seconds

Associated Bar → vpn_bar

Module definition →

~/.config/polybar/current.ini

[module/vpn_status]
type = custom/script
interval = 2
exec = ~/.config/bspwm/bin/vpn_status.sh

modules/vpn_status.sh

Reference

It displays the IP Address assigned to the VPN Network Interface (Tun0)

vpn_status.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash
 
checkVPNiface ()
{
  local -- _vpnIface=$( /usr/sbin/ifconfig tun0 2> /dev/null )
 
  if [[ -n $_vpnIface ]] ; then
    printf "{F#ffffff}$( /usr/sbin/ifconfig tun0 | awk '/inet\s/ { print $2 }' ){F#1bbf3e}󰆧 {F#e51d0b}󰓾 {F#ffffff} No target\n"
  }
 
  while IFS=: read -r _IP _machineName
  do
    printf "{F#ffffff}%s%%{u-} - %s\n" "$_machineName" "$_IP"
 
  done < "$_targetFile"
}
 
extractData

Shell Functions

The following shell functions performs the following actions to the above file (target) →

setTarget → Prints the IP Address and Hostname of the target

clearTarget → Empties the file

sysmenu

This module performs the following actions →

Icon Display via the content parameter
Executes the specified script in the click-left parameter

Associated Bar → primary

Module definition →

~/.config/polybar/current.ini

[module/sysmenu]
type = custom/text
content = 襤
click-left = ~/.config/polybar/scripts/powermenu_alt

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POLYBAR

PRIMARY CATEGORY → DESKTOP SETUP

Installation

Configuration File

Current.ini

Workspace.ini

Launcher File

Launch.sh

Bars

Left

os_icon

ethernet_bar

vpn_bar

Center

primary

Right

target_to_hack

primary

Modules

my-text-label

Font

ethernet_status

modules/ethernet_status.sh

vpn_status

modules/vpn_status.sh

Shell Functions

sysmenu

Graph View

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