============== notify-send.py

A python script for sending desktop notifications from the shell.

About

Libnotify is part of many scripts in the Linux world. It utilizes many of the specified features of the Desktop Notifications Specification and makes them accessible to shell-scripts. It does not however allow to replace an existing notification with the replaces-id. This is a known bug since 2008 and has a patch since 2012. The patch is still not upstream though (2018).

.. _bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libnotify/+bug/257135

.. _patch: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libnotify/+bug/257135/comments/10

This python script utilizes the notify2 package and exposes the functionality to the shell.

Differences between notify-send.py and notify-send

• In notify-send.py -h shows help instead of being the parameter for hints. For hints use --hint.
• In notify-send.py -r ID and notify-send.py --replaces-id ID exists. In order to replace a notification call notify-send.py with the ID that was returned by the notification to be replaced.
• notify-send.py returns the ID of the newly created notification.
• notify-send.py --replaces-process NAME exists. Every notification that gets created with the same NAME will replace every notification before it with the same NAME. If called with this parameter notify-send.py might block, best to be called with a trailing &.
• notify-send.py has action-support (buttons). Try notify-send.py "Yes or no?" --action ok:OK cancel:Cancel

Installation

Requires python 3.

From PyPI:

.. code:: bash

pip install notify-send.py

From repo:

.. code:: bash

git clone https://github.com/phuhl/notify-send.py cd notify-send.py pip install .

Usage

.. code:: console

$ notify-send.py -h

::

usage: notify-send.py [-h] [-u LEVEL] [-t TIME] [-a APP_NAME] [-i ICON[,ICON...]] [-c TYPE[,TYPE...]] [--hint [TYPE:NAME:VALUE ...]] [-r ID] [--replaces-process NAME] [--action [KEY:NAME ...]] [--dontQuitOnAction] SUMMARY [BODY]

positional arguments: SUMMARY Summary of the notification. Usage of \n and \t is possible. BODY Body of the notification. Usage of \n and \t is possible.

optional arguments: -h, --help show this help message and exit -u LEVEL, --urgency LEVEL Specifies the urgency level (low, normal, critical). -t TIME, --expire-time TIME Specifies the timeout in milliseconds at which to expire the notification. -a APP_NAME, --app-name APP_NAME Specifies the app name for the icon -i ICON[,ICON...], --icon ICON[,ICON...] Specifies an icon filename or stock icon to display. -c TYPE[,TYPE...], --category TYPE[,TYPE...] Specifies the notification category. --hint [TYPE:NAME:VALUE ...] Specifies basic extra data to pass. Valid types are int, double, string, boolean and byte. -r ID, --replaces-id ID Specifies the id of the notification that should be replaced. --replaces-process NAME Specifies the name of a notification. Every notification that gets created with the same NAME will replace every notification before it with the same NAME. --action [KEY:NAME ...] Specifies actions for the notification. The action with the key "default" will be dispatched on click of the notification. Key is the return value, name is the display-name on the button. --dontQuitOnAction Keeps running until the notification has been closed, instead of stopping after the first action was received.

notify-send[.py] as root user

In order to display notifications, even if libnotify or notify-send.py is used from the root user this script is helpful. You need to customize it with your username and userid (which probably is 1000 but can be found out by running cat /etc/passwd | grep <username>).

notify-send-from-root.sh:

.. code:: bash

!/bin/bash

USERNAME= USERID=1000

export XAUTHORITY=/home/$USERNAME/.Xauthority export DISPLAY=:0 export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=unix:path=/run/user/$USERID/bus

if [ "$(/usr/bin/id -u)" != "$USERID" ] ; then sudo -u $USERNAME XAUTHORITY=/home/$USERNAME/.Xauthority DISPLAY=:0 DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=unix:path=/run/user/$USERID/bus /usr/bin/notify-send.py "$@" else /usr/bin/notify-send.py "$@" fi

Examples (Volume and Brightness pop-ups)

• Volume control-pop-ups: https://github.com/phuhl/linux_notification_center#example-volume-indicator
• Brightness control-pop-ups: https://github.com/phuhl/linux_notification_center#example-brightness-indicator

See also

Also take a look at my notification-daemon inspired by Dunst, but with several improvements, including the possibility of a transparent background and a notification center that stores notifications.

.. _notification-daemon: https://github.com/phuhl/linux_notification_center

.. _Dunst: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dunst