Simple pop-up notifications

posted Sep 3rd 2009 3:24pm by
filed under: linux hacks

simple_linux_notifications

[Kristofer] shares a tip on a simple way to add pop-up notifications to Linux scripts. The package libnotify allows you to use the command “notify-send” to pop up a message when you need it. The syntax is simple enough, just place your message in quotes after the command like so:

notify-send "Go read hackaday.com"

There are a lot of other options that go along with this command such as adding an icon and setting how long the message will be displayed. This would be great for projects that interface through scripts, displaying messages as events happen. For Ubuntu, installing this package was as simple as “sudo apt-get install libnotify-bin”.



23 Responses to Simple pop-up notifications

  • DarwinSurvivor says:
    September 3, 2009 at 3:42 pm

    How is this a hack? This is a simple command line utility that has been around for years doing exactly what it was meant to do.

    This is the GUI version of “print ” for linux.

    Reply Report comment
  • Dan Fekete says:
    September 3, 2009 at 3:44 pm

    For ubuntu, install the libnotify-bin package.

    sudo aptitude install libnotify-bin

    Reply Report comment
  • xiao_haozi says:
    September 3, 2009 at 3:54 pm

    Yeah agree with darwinsurvivor… this isn’t a hack but, rather, a way to use the libnotify package. There are many ways to do so including pynotify (for use in python) and other tools like zenity and so forth.

    Handy tip though… and if anyone is looking to use this for scripts, I would recommend wrapping everything in some python and just using pynotify for the notification portion.

    Reply Report comment
  • MrX says:
    September 3, 2009 at 4:14 pm

    It is indeed simple and obvious for long time GNU/Linux users but it is still a good tip for new
    users. Also it is hardly a hack.

    Just my 2 cents: If you want to write text on your screen like a OSD, try the osd_cat command provided by the libxosd package.

    Reply Report comment
  • octelcogopod says:
    September 3, 2009 at 4:24 pm

    not to be a a macfag, but growl has been around since 2004

    Reply Report comment
  • Terry says:
    September 3, 2009 at 4:36 pm

    macfag, how do you do this in a shell script in OSX? I’m making the switch from Ubuntu to OS X.

    Reply Report comment
  • Matthew says:
    September 3, 2009 at 4:40 pm

    I have been popping notifications up for a while, with xmessage. Does this package offer any sort of advantage, such as, for example, console notifications? That would be news to me.

    Reply Report comment
  • D1g1talDragon says:
    September 3, 2009 at 5:14 pm

    Thumbs up from me. Even if the package has been around a while, it’s always nice to have attention called to something I don’t specifically search for. I’ll be playing with it alongside pynotify for my next project.

    Reply Report comment
  • ak77 says:
    September 3, 2009 at 5:24 pm

    terry,

    http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20070602201030683

    http://blog.wi.id.au/2008/07/07/os-x-command-line-fun-with-growl/

    Reply Report comment
  • jojo says:
    September 3, 2009 at 6:11 pm

    Good to see that a windows utility I’ve had since 1996 is available on linux and mac (since 2004).

    Reply Report comment
  • xiao_haozi says:
    September 3, 2009 at 6:41 pm

    “Good to see that a windows utility I’ve had since 1996 is available on linux and mac (since 2004).”

    …. just because you are seeing someone post about a tip from linuxjournal now, does not mean it is a new utility.

    Reply Report comment
  • FiveseveN says:
    September 3, 2009 at 7:00 pm

    Hey Mike, what theme are you using :) That taskbar looks mighty smooth.

    Reply Report comment
  • Mike Szczys says:
    September 3, 2009 at 7:15 pm

    @fiveseven: I’m using the “New Wave” theme. I believe it comes standard with Ubuntu 9.04

    Reply Report comment
  • simonvc says:
    September 4, 2009 at 1:01 am

    What _is_ a hack is this little script that lets root send messages to the current logged in users X session.

    simonvc@katana:~$ cat /usr/local/bin/root-notify-send
    #!/bin/sh

    #find out who is running X by looking for the screensaver

    UU=$(ps -ef | grep gnome-screensaver | grep -v grep |awk ‘{print $2}’)
    US=$(ps -ef | grep gnome-screensaver | grep -v grep |awk ‘{print $1}’)
    ESS=$(iwconfig eth1 | grep ESS | awk ‘{print $4}’ | sed s/ESSID:// | sed s/\”//g )

    DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=$(grep -z DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS /proc/$UU/environ | sed s/DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=//)

    sudo -u $US DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=$DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS /usr/bin/notify-send “$*”

    Reply Report comment
  • somehelp says:
    September 4, 2009 at 3:07 am

    I agree, not a hack. For brevity I have clipped the most relevant definition:

    * Main Entry: hack (2)

    6 : a usually creative solution to a computer hardware or programming problem or limitation

    Now if there is an official definition that applies, by all means let me know.

    Reply Report comment
  • matschi says:
    September 4, 2009 at 3:27 am

    A nice hack would be to write a dbus library for arduino. It is possible to connect dbus via tcp/ip. Authentication is still a task though..

    Reply Report comment
  • chango says:
    September 4, 2009 at 7:38 am

    Hey kids, did you know you can write messages to the system log with the “logger” command?

    It’s true!

    Reply Report comment
  • Sariel says:
    September 4, 2009 at 8:57 am

    I have to agree that this isn’t a hack, but it really keeps you up to date on things going on with your server. so its more of a production utility than a hack.

    Reply Report comment
  • Eraser says:
    September 4, 2009 at 9:00 am

    Thats the thing guys, like D1g1talDragon said,
    “Even if the package has been around a while, it’s always nice to have attention called to something I don’t specifically search for.”
    Who cares if there is something older or newer. Thats not why I visit Hackaday ever day. So I wasn’t thinking about my particular scripts giving feedback with popups, but than I saw this article, and although I had prior knowledge of other ways of creating popups, it was the injection of the idea that helped me out. So stop your flippin whining about this not being up to your standard.
    Hackaday: Keep up the good work.

    Reply Report comment
  • MrX says:
    September 4, 2009 at 11:17 am

    @jojo
    And which utility is that? You are full of shit.

    Since you first started the “we had it first” flame war, take this dumbass:

    xmessage command which does the same is available since the early beginnings of X11 servers.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System

    “The current protocol version, X11, appeared in September 1987.”

    Good to see that a UNIX utility I’ve had since 1987 is available on windows (since 1996).

    Suck it, LOL.

    Reply Report comment
  • rofl says:
    September 5, 2009 at 3:17 am

    @jojo: pwnd! winfaggot

    Reply Report comment
  • spindizy says:
    September 8, 2009 at 8:40 pm

    Wow, now with e-dawg gone, this place is turning into /b/ for geeks.

    Reply Report comment
  • scenekid says:
    April 20, 2010 at 10:57 pm

    notify-send “hackaday.com publishes excellent posts”

    Reply Report comment

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