This is a plugin-based script that is designed to be used with setuptools for creating dzen2 status bars. It offers a flexible and easy-to-use framework, enabling users to create custom status bars that meet their specific needs.
Installing DzenStatus is quite easy using easy_install command: "easy_install DzenStatus". Alternatively, if you can’t or don’t want to use easy_install, you can download the egg-file, mark it executable, and run it directly (although it is not recommended). However, to run DzenStatus, you must have setuptools installed as it uses pkg_resources entry point tools to discover and load plugins.
After installing DzenStatus through easy_install, you should have access to two new commands - dzenstatus and dzenstatus_pipe. The dzenstatus command runs the configured statusbar program from the configuration file, typically dzen, and pipes the output to the standard input of that process. In comparison, dzenstatus_pipe is available for users who would like to pipe the output of dzenstatus to their destination manually.
DzenStatus has a single configuration file located in ~/.dzenstatus/config.in., which is formatted using the standard python ConfigParser format. While a well-documented example configuration file is available in the distribution, the source code also contains full documentation of each plugin.
Once you have a configuration you like, you can easily add it to your .xinitrc or .xsession file in several ways. For instance, you can invoke DzenStatus with "dzenstatus&" and let it take care of all the status bar startup without using a plugin that reads from standard input. Alternatively, you can capture useful information written to standard input by your window manager by configuring a plugin that reads standard input.
If you wish to have DzenStatus write its output directly to standard output instead of spawning the status bar program, you can use the command "/path/to/my/wm | dzenstatus_pipe | /path/to/my/statusbar_sink". You can also use a FIFO (named pipe) if you want to restart DzenStatus without restarting the window manager while still being able to read the output.
Overall, DzenStatus provides users with impressive flexibility when it comes to controlling status bars with the option to change configuration and install plugins to suit their needs - this could be exactly what you're looking for in a software program!
Version 0.1.2: N/A