A lightweight configurable overlay volume/backlight/progress/anything bar for the X Window System (and Wayland compositors with XWayland). Each time a new value is read on the standard input, it is displayed as a tv-like bar over other windows. It then vanishes after a configurable amount of time. A value followed by a bang '!' is displayed using an alternate color to account for special states (e.g. muted audio). There is also support for overflows (when the value exceeds the maximum).
xob depends on libx11, libxrender (for optional transparency support) and libconfig.
make
make install
To build xob without transparency support and rely only on libx11 and libconfig: make enable_alpha=no.
Packages are available in the following repositories:
xob [-m maximum] [-t timeout] [-c configfile] [-s style]
- maximum Maximum value/number of steps in the bar (default: 100). 0 is always the minimum.
- timeout Duration in milliseconds the bar remains on-screen after an update (default: 1000). 0 means the bar is never hidden.
- configfile Path to a file that specifies styles (appearances).
- style Chosen style from the configuration (default: the style named "default").
Launch xob in a terminal, enter a value (positive integer), press return. Suffix a value with '!' for alternate color. Use a value above the maximum (default: 100) to see how overflows are displayed.
The ideal way to use xob is to have a program (see example scripts below) that listens to events (such as a change in audio volume levels) and issues new values on the standard output automatically. Launch the_listener_program | xob and everything works out of the box.
If you are using pulseaudio, save the following Python script (depends on the pulsectl python library) and simply pipe it in xob! ./pulse-volume-watcher.py | xob
#!/usr/bin/env python3
from pulsectl import Pulse, PulseLoopStop
import sys
with Pulse() as pulse:
def callback(ev):
if ev.index == sink_index: raise PulseLoopStop
def current_status(sink):
return round(sink.volume.value_flat * 100), sink.mute == 1
try:
sinks = {s.index:s for s in pulse.sink_list()}
if len(sys.argv) > 1:
# Sink index from command line argument if provided
sink_index = int(sys.argv[1])
if not sink_index in sinks:
raise KeyError(f"Sink index {sink_index} not found in list of sinks.")
else:
# Automatic determination of default sink otherwise
default_sink_name = pulse.server_info().default_sink_name
try:
sink_index = next(index for index, sink in sinks.items()
if sink.name == default_sink_name)
except StopIteration: raise StopIteration("No default sink was found.")
pulse.event_mask_set('sink')
pulse.event_callback_set(callback)
last_value, last_mute = current_status(sinks[sink_index])
while True:
pulse.event_listen()
sinks = {s.index:s for s in pulse.sink_list()}
value, mute = current_status(sinks[sink_index])
if value != last_value or mute != last_mute:
print(str(value) + ('!' if mute else ''))
last_value, last_mute = value, mute
sys.stdout.flush()
except Exception as e:
print(f"ERROR: {e}", file=sys.stderr)This script listens to volume and mute events. No matter how the volume changes (keybindings, pulse control panel, headphones plugged-in), it will instantly show up the volume bar. It should work out of the box but you can optionally pass the index of a sink on the command line, as given by pacmd list-sinks.
One can access the brightness value from /sys/class/backlight/video_backlight/brightness (where video is your video device). The following script watches for modifications on that file using the watchdog python library. No matter how the brightness changes, this script will return the new brightness value. You may have to change the path of brightness_file if you are not using an Intel device. Simply pipe it in xob and you are ready to go. ./brightness-watcher.py | xob.
#!/usr/bin/env python3
from watchdog.observers import Observer
from watchdog.events import FileSystemEventHandler, FileModifiedEvent
import sys
import time
brightness_file = '/sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/brightness'
max_brightness_file ='/sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/max_brightness'
with open(max_brightness_file, 'r') as f:
maxvalue = int(f.read())
def notify(file_path):
with open(file_path, 'r') as f:
value = int(int(f.read())/maxvalue*100)
print(value)
class Handler(FileSystemEventHandler):
def on_modified(self, event):
if isinstance(event, FileModifiedEvent):
notify(event.src_path)
handler = Handler()
observer = Observer()
observer.schedule(handler, path=brightness_file)
observer.start()
try:
while True:
sys.stdout.flush()
time.sleep(1)
except KeyboardInterrupt:
observer.stop()
observer.join()In case no input program fits your needs, you may trigger changes manually. Append new values in a named pipe (a pipe that persists as a special file on the filesystem) and have xob consume them as they arrive. Warning! This method should be considered as fallback: it is more cumbersome to set up and likely to miss changes you would like displayed on the bar.
Create a named pipe, e.g. /tmp/xobpipe, on your filesystem.
mkfifo /tmp/xobpipe
Have xob consume new values as they arrive on the pipe.
tail -f /tmp/xobpipe | xob
Write values to the pipe when you deem it relevant. In the classic audio volume bar example, that would be after the user has pressed a button and you changed the volume (usually set up as a keybinding in your window manager or desktop environment).
command_that_outputs_a_value >> /tmp/xobpipe
To try it manually, issue a test value such as echo 43 >> /tmp/xobpipe.
When starting, xob looks for the configuration file in the following order:
- The path specified as the -c argument.
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME$/xob/styles.cfg(if$XDG_CONFIG_HOME$is set)~/.config/xob/styles.cfg- Under the system configuration directory (determined during build process): e.g. /etc/xob/styles.cfg or /usr/local/etc/xob/styles.cfg
Consult the man page for detailed information about the configuration file and the available options. The following styles.cfg defines a single style called "default" that showcases all the possible options set to the default values. The configuration file may contain additional styles to choose among using the -s argument.
default = {
monitor = "combined";
x = {relative = 1; offset = -48;};
y = {relative = 0.5; offset = 0;};
length = {relative = 0.3; offset = 0;};
thickness = 24;
outline = 3;
border = 4;
padding = 3;
orientation = "vertical";
overflow = "proportional";
color = {
normal = {
fg = "#ffffff";
bg = "#00000090";
border = "#ffffff";
};
alt = {
fg = "#555555";
bg = "#00000090";
border = "#555555";
};
overflow = {
fg = "#ff0000";
bg = "#00000090";
border = "#ff0000";
};
altoverflow = {
fg = "#550000";
bg = "#00000090";
border = "#550000";
};
};
};
The bar can be horizontal (it fills up from left to right) or vertical (it fills up from bottom to top) depending on option orientation. The default value is "vertical".
The horizontal x and vertical y position of the bar is determined by a relative position on the screen (0.0 and 1.0 on the edges, 0.5 in the middle) and an offset in pixels from that relative position. Likewise, the length of the bar has a relative component (1.0 all available space, 0.0 collapsed) and an offset in pixels. Here are some examples.
| Illustration | Relative x |
Offset x |
Relative y |
Offset y |
Relative length |
Offset length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
0.5 | 0 | 0.75 | 0 | 0.3 | 0 |
 |
0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.3 | 0 |
 |
1.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.3 | 0 |
 |
0.5 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.3 | 0 |
 |
0.5 | 0 | 1.0 | 0 | 0.3 | 0 |
 |
1.0 | -10 | 1.0 | -10 | 0.3 | 0 |
 |
0.5 | 0 | 0.75 | 0 | 0.5 | 0 |
 |
0.5 | 0 | 0.75 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
 |
0.5 | 0 | 0.75 | 0 | 1 | -20 |
 |
0.0 | +110 | 0.0 | +135 | 0.0 | +126 |
The values for thickness, padding, border, and outline are a number of pixels.
There are three colors: foreground, background, and border. They change depending on the displayed value. Also, there are two ways to display overflows: use the overflow color with no feedback on how much it overflows ("hidden" mode), or use the overflow color on part of the bar only proportionally to how much the value overflows ("proportional" mode).
| Illustration | Display mode | Overflow type |
|---|---|---|
 |
Normal | No overflow (empty) |
 |
Normal | No overflow (quarter-full) |
 |
Alternate (e.g. mute) | No overflow (quarter-full) |
 |
Normal | No overflow (full) |
 |
Normal | Overflow in "hidden" mode |
 |
Normal | Overflow in "proportional" mode |
 |
Alternate | Overflow in "hidden" mode |
 |
Alternate | Overflow in "proportional" mode |
Here is a style that integrates well into default i3wm. Add it to your styles.cfg
i3 = {
padding = 0;
border = 1;
outline = 0;
thickness = 24;
color = {
normal = {
fg = "#285577";
bg = "#222222";
border = "#4c7899";
};
alt = {
fg = "#333333";
bg = "#222222";
border = "#444444";
};
overflow = {
fg = "#900000";
bg = "#222222";
border = "#933333";
};
altoverflow = {
fg = "#900000";
bg = "#222222";
border = "#444444";
};
};
};
"How should I display different sources of information (e.g. volume and brightness)?"
"What happens if several bars are displayed at the same time?"
You can run and distinguish two or more instances of xob with different styles (including color, position, extreme values, etc.). To do so, specify and use different styles from your configuration file (or use different configuration files). To prevent the bars from overlapping, make use of the offset options. For instance, in horizontal mode, you can offset a bar to the top or bottom (see the following example configuration file).
volume = {
thickness = 24;
outline = 1;
border = 2;
padding = 0;
y = {
relative = 0.9;
offset = 0;
};
orientation = "horizontal";
};
backlight = {
thickness = 24;
outline = 1;
border = 2;
padding = 0;
y = {
relative = 0.9;
# To prevent overlap with the volume bar if displayed at the same time
offset = -30;
};
orientation = "horizontal";
color = {
normal = {
fg = "#0000ff";
bg = "#000000";
border = "#0000ff";
};
};
};
"Can I integrate xob in a panel of my desktop environment or window manager?"
There is no support for panel integration. You can however use absolute positioning and no timeout (-t 0) to mimic this behaviour in simple situations.
"How about multiple monitors?"
xob works well under multihead setups. The default orientation of bar is vertical and is positioned at the right edge of the screen surface. By default, x, y, and length style options refer to the combined screen surface, but you can specify a monitor for the bar, for example you can set option monitor = "HDMI-1" to show the bar only on HDMI-1 (use xrandr command to get monitors names). In vertical layouts, you may prefer to switch the bar to horizontal mode as follows to avoid splits.
horizontal = {
monitor = "combined";
x = {relative = 0.5; offset = 0;};
y = {relative = 1; offset = -48;};
orientation = "horizontal";
};
GPL3, see LICENSE.