autorunner

Install | Uninstall | Features | TL;DR | Configure | Logging | Requirements | Desktop Tools | License

autorunner is a resource-mild autostart helper for all your required desktop services and tools, intended to be used on a very light-weight window manager.

Commands can be started and/or restarted (when already running), while offering desktop notifications on these event as well as separated logs for stdout and stderr on each of your configured tools. By having log files available for commands that usually don't log, you can always check if everything runs as expected or if problems might be present.

🎉 Install

sudo make install

🚫 Uninstall

sudo make uninstall

⭐ Features

• Suckless and leight-weight autostart manager
• Desktop notifications
• Full customization
• Logging

☕ TL;DR

1. Set up services

$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/autorunner/config:

# Autorunner configuration file
#
# Usage: execute "<restart>" "<notify>" "<command>"
#
#   <restart>    1: Kill the process and restart it
#                0: Only start when it is not running
#
#   <notify>     1: Notify via notifications when started/restarted
#                0: Do not notify
#   <command>    Full command (including arguments) to run

# Start clipmenud when it is not running (never restart it) and notify
execute "0" "1" "clipmenud"

# Run thunar --daemon, always restart it and notify
execute "1" "1" "thunar --daemon"

2. Hook autorunner into any startup

Example for i3-wm

Put the following line into your i3 config ($XDG_CONFIG_HOME/i3/config):

exec_always --no-startup-id sh /usr/local/bin/autorunner

Example to manually start it:

You can always run it manually as often as you want:

$ /usr/local/bin/autorunner

🔧 Configure

$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/autorunner/config

Configuration to autorunner is in an xdg-compliant path which is: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/autorunner/config. XDG_CONFIG_HOME is usually $HOME/.config/ if not otherwise overwritten by the user. If no configuration file exists an empty one will be created in that path.

Command or services to start up are configured in the following form:

execute "<restart>" "<notify>" "<command>"

<restart>

• Can take a value of 0 or 1
• 0: Only start when it is not running, but never restart it
• 1: If it is running, stop it and then start it again. If it is not running, start it

<notify>

• Can take a value of 0 or 1
• 0: Do not send any notifications
• 1: Send notifications to the running notification service about stop and start events (requires notify-send)

<command>

This can be an absolute or relative path including arguments of any command. Commands can be foreground or background daemons as well as one-shots such as setting your wallpaper via feh

Examples

execute "0" "1" "dunst"

execute "0" "1" "nm-applet"

execute "1" "1" "thunar --daemon"

execute "0" "1" "xss-lock -v -n \"notify-send --urgency=critical --icon=/usr/share/icons/Adwaita/48x48/actions/system-lock-screen.png -- 'Auto-lock in 30 sec.'\" -- /usr/local/bin/xlock"

📂 Logging

$XDG_DATA_HOME/autorunner/log/

Log files are in an xdg-compliant path which is: $XDG_DATA_HOME/autorunner/log/. XDG_DATA_HOME is usually $HOME/.local/share/ if not otherwise overwritten by the user.

There are three different types of logs:

Log file	Description
autorunner.log	autorunners own log file keeping track of all events
<command>.out	stdout of the started command
<command>.err	stderr of the started command

Examples

log directory

$ ls -l
-rw-r--r-- 1 cytopia 39496 Jan 16 06:42 autorunner.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 cytopia   659 Jan 16 06:49 compton.err
-rw-r--r-- 1 cytopia 12288 Jan 15 11:31 compton.out
-rw-r--r-- 1 cytopia  1906 Jan 16 05:39 thunar_--daemon.err
-rw-r--r-- 1 cytopia     0 Jan 15 08:03 thunar_--daemon.out
-rw-r--r-- 1 cytopia     0 Jan 15 08:03 xset_b_off.err
-rw-r--r-- 1 cytopia     0 Jan 15 08:03 xset_b_off.out
-rw-r--r-- 1 cytopia     0 Jan 15 08:03 xset_dpms_0_0_300.err
-rw-r--r-- 1 cytopia     0 Jan 15 08:03 xset_dpms_0_0_300.out
-rw-r--r-- 1 cytopia     0 Jan 15 08:03 xset_r_rate_250_40.err
-rw-r--r-- 1 cytopia     0 Jan 15 08:03 xset_r_rate_250_40.out
-rw-r--r-- 1 cytopia     0 Jan 15 08:03 xset_s_600_30.err
-rw-r--r-- 1 cytopia     0 Jan 15 08:03 xset_s_600_30.out
-rw-r--r-- 1 cytopia  1178 Jan 16 06:42 xss-lock_-v_-n_notif.err
-rw-r--r-- 1 cytopia     0 Jan 15 08:03 xss-lock_-v_-n_notif.out

autorunner.log

[2018-01-15  14:46:21] [INFO]:    ==================== autorunner triggered ====================
[2018-01-15  14:46:21] [INFO]:    (clipmenud) already running with pid: '11192'
[2018-01-15  14:46:21] [INFO]:    (xset) started with pid '23325'
[2018-01-15  14:46:21] [INFO]:    (xss-lock) started with pid '23356'
[2018-01-15  14:46:21] [INFO]:    (nm-applet) already running with pid: '7270'
[2018-01-15  14:46:21] [INFO]:    (thunar) restart required
[2018-01-15  14:46:21] [INFO]:    (thunar) trying to kill
[2018-01-15  14:46:21] [INFO]:    (thunar) running with pid '16303'
[2018-01-15  14:46:21] [INFO]:    (thunar) killed pid: '16303'
[2018-01-15  14:46:21] [INFO]:    (thunar) started with pid '23438'
[2018-01-15  14:46:21] [INFO]:    (compton) restart required
[2018-01-15  14:46:21] [INFO]:    (compton) trying to kill
[2018-01-15  14:46:21] [INFO]:    (compton) running with pid '16357'
[2018-01-15  14:46:21] [INFO]:    (compton) killed pid: '16357'
[2018-01-15  14:46:21] [INFO]:    (compton) started with pid '23493'
[2018-01-15  14:46:21] [INFO]:    (dunst) already running with pid: '28225'

compton.err

glx_bind_pixmap(0x02a1405f): Failed to query Pixmap info.
win_paint_win(0x01600001): Failed to bind texture. Expect troubles.
win_paint_win(0x01600001): Missing painting data. This is a bad sign.

❗ Requirements

• bash (required)
• pgrep (required)
• notify-send (optional)

cytopia desktop tools

Below is a list of Linux command line tools and configurations that I am using and maintaining for everyday usage on a desktop system.

Name	GitHub	Category	Description
linux-timemachine		Backup	MacOS-like time machine for Linux, MacOS and BSD
mysqldump-secure		Backup	Encrypted mysqldumps
autorunner		Desktop	Minimalistic autostart manager
i3blocks-modules		Desktop	Conditional i3blocks modules
i3-utils-bin		Desktop	Binary utilities for a minimalistic i3 setup
i3-utils-systemd		Desktop	Systemd utilities for a minimalistic i3 setup
thunar-custom-actions		Desktop	Thunar custom actions
ffscreencast		Multimedia	CLI screen casting
dotfiles		Setup	My personal dotfiles
dotfiles-kali		Setup	My personal dotfiles for Kali Linux
ansible-debian		Setup	Ansible provisioner for Debian/i3wm

📄 License

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2017 cytopia