gBar/README.md
2023-01-29 17:49:36 +01:00

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# gBar
My personal blazingly fast and efficient status bar + widgets, in case anyone finds a use for it.
*gBar: **G**TK **Bar***
## Prerequisites
*If you don't have the optional dependencies, some features are not available and you must manually disable them.*
- wayland
- Hyprland(Optional -> For workspaces widget)
- nvidia-utils(Optional -> For GPU status)
- bluez(Optional -> For Bluetooth status)
- GTK 3.0
- gtk-layer-shell
- PulseAudio server (PipeWire works too!)
- meson, gcc/clang, ninja
## Building and installation
1. Configure with meson
*All optional dependencies enabled*
```
meson build --buildtype=release
```
*All optional dependencies are disabled*
```
meson build --buildtype=release -DHasHyprland=false -DHasNvidia=false -DHasBlueZ=false
```
4. Build and install
```
ninja -C build && sudo ninja -C build install
```
## Running gBar
*Open bar on monitor 0*
```
gBar bar 0
```
*Open audio flyin (either on current monitor or on the specified monitor)*
```
gBar audio [monitor]
```
*Open bluetooth widget*
```
gBar bluetooth [monitor]
```
## Gallery
![The bar with default css](/assets/bar.png)
*Bar with default css*
![The audio flyin with default css](/assets/audioflyin.png)
*Audio widget with default css*
![The bluetooth widget with default css](/assets/bt.png)
*Bluetooth widget with default css*
## Features / Widgets
Bar:
- Workspaces (Hyprland only)
- Time
- Bluetooth (BlueZ only)
- Audio control
- Power control
- Shutdown
- Restart
- Suspend
- Lock (Requires manual setup, see FAQ)
- Exit/Logout (Hyprland only)
- Battery: Capacity
- CPU stats: Utilisation, temperature (Temperature requires manual setup, see FAQ)
- RAM: Utilisation
- GPU stats (Nvidia only): Utilisation, temperature, VRAM
- Disk: Free/Total
Bluetooth:
- Scanning of nearby bluetooth devices
- Pairing and connecting
Audio Flyin:
- Audio control
## Configuration for your system
Copy the example config (found under data/config) into ~/.config/gBar/config and modify it to your needs.
## Plugins
gBar utilizes a plugin system for custom widgets anyone can create without modifying the source code.
Plugins are native shared-libraries, which need to be placed inside ```~/.local/lib/gBar```, ```/usr/lib/gBar``` or ```/usr/local/lib/gBar```.
Inside example/ there is an example plugin setup. To build and run it, run the following commands inside the example directory:
```
meson setup build -Dprefix=~/.local
```
for the local user
OR
```
meson setup build
```
for all users
```
ninja -C build install
gBar gBarHelloWorld
```
The second argument is the name of the shared library (without 'lib' and '.so').
## FAQ
### There are already many GTK bars out there, why not use them?
- Waybar:
Great performance, though limited styling(Almost no dynamic sliders, revealers, ...) and (at least for me) buggy css.
- eww:
Really solid project with many great customization options. There is one problem though: Performance.\
Due to the way eww configuration is set up, for each dynamic variable (the number of them quickly grows) you need a shell command which opens a process.
This became quickly a bottleneck, where the bar took up 10% of the CPU-time due to the creation of many processes all the time (without even considering the workspace widget).
gBar implements all of the information gathering(CPU, RAM, GPU, Disk, ...) in native C++ code, which is WAY faster. In fact, gBar was meant to be a fast replacement/alternative for eww for me.
And lastly: Implementing it myself is fun and a great excuse to learn something new!
### What scheme are you using?
The colors are from the Dracula theme: https://draculatheme.com
### I want to customize the colors
First, find where the data is located for gBar. Possible locations:
- /usr/share/gBar
- /usr/local/share/gBar
- ~/.local/share/gBar
- If you cloned this repository locally: Inside css/
Copy the scss and css files from within the data direction into ~/.config/gBar. e.g.:
```
mkdir ~/.config/gBar/
cp /usr/local/share/gBar/* ~/.config/gBar/
```
This will override the default behaviour. If you have sass installed, you can modify the scss file and then regenerate the css file accordingly. Else modify the css file directly.
### The Audio widget doesn't open
Delete /tmp/gBar__audio.
This happens, when you kill the widget before it closes automatically after a few seconds.
### CPU Temperature is wrong / Lock doesn't work / Exiting WM does not work
See *Configuration for your system*
### The icons are not showing!
Please install a Nerd Font from https://www.nerdfonts.com (I use Caskaydia Cove NF), and change style.css/style.scss accordingly (Refer to 'I want to customize the colors' for that)