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).

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:

pip install notify-send.py

From repo:

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

Usage

$ 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:

#!/bin/bash
USERNAME=<your username here>
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.