Table of Contents
You can compile Ironbar from source using cargo.
Just clone the repo and build:
git clone https://github.com/jakestanger/ironbar.git
cd ironbar
cargo build --release
# change path to wherever you want to install
install target/release/ironbar ~/.local/bin/ironbar
It is also recommended to install a Nerd Font for displaying symbols.
Build requirements
To build from source, you must have GTK (>= 3.22) and GTK Layer Shell installed. You also need rust; only the latest stable version is supported.
Arch
pacman -S gtk3 gtk-layer-shell
# for http support
pacman -S openssl
# for tray support
pacman -S libdbusmenu-gtk3
# for volume support
pacman -S libpulse
# for lua/cairo support
pacman -S luajit lua51-lgi
Ubuntu/Debian
apt install build-essential libgtk-3-dev libgtk-layer-shell-dev
# for http support
apt install libssl-dev
# for tray support
apt install libdbusmenu-gtk3-dev
# for volume support
apt install libpulse-dev
# for lua/cairo support
apt install luajit-dev lua-lgi
Fedora
dnf install gtk3-devel gtk-layer-shell-devel
# for http support
dnf install openssl-devel
# for tray support
dnf install libdbusmenu-gtk3-devel
# for volume support
dnf install pulseaudio-libs-devel
# for lua/cairo support
dnf install luajit-devel lua-lgi
Features
By default, all features are enabled for convenience. This can result in a significant compile time. If you know you are not going to need all the features, you can compile with only the features you need.
As of v0.15.0, compiling with no features is about 50% faster.
On a 3800X, it takes about 45 seconds for no features and 90 seconds for all.
This difference is expected to increase as the bar develops.
Features containing a + can be stacked, for example config+json and config+yaml could both be enabled.
To build using only specific features, disable default features and pass a comma separated list to cargo build:
cargo build --release --no-default-features \
--features http,config+json,clock
⚠ Make sure you enable at least one
configfeature otherwise you will not be able to start the bar!
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Core | |
| http | Enables HTTP features. Currently this includes the ability to load remote images. |
| ipc | Enables the IPC server. |
| cli | Enables the CLI. Will also enable ipc. |
| config+all | Enables support for all configuration languages. |
| config+json | Enables configuration support for JSON. |
| config+yaml | Enables configuration support for YAML. |
| config+toml | Enables configuration support for TOML. |
| config+corn | Enables configuration support for Corn. |
| config+ron | Enables configuration support for Ron. |
| Modules | |
| cairo | Enables the cairo module |
| clipboard | Enables the clipboard module. |
| clock | Enables the clock module. |
| focused | Enables the focused module. |
| launcher | Enables the launcher module. |
| music+all | Enables the music module with support for all player types. |
| music+mpris | Enables the music module with MPRIS support. |
| music+mpd | Enables the music module with MPD support. |
| network_manager | Enables the network_manager module. |
| notifications | Enables the notiications module. |
| sys_info | Enables the sys_info module. |
| tray | Enables the tray module. |
| upower | Enables the upower module. |
| volume | Enables the volume module. |
| workspaces+all | Enables the workspaces module with support for all compositors. |
| workspaces+sway | Enables the workspaces module with support for Sway. |
| workspaces+hyprland | Enables the workspaces module with support for Hyprland. |
| Other | |
| schema | Enables JSON schema support and the CLI --print-schema flag. |
Speeding up compiling
With the full feature set, Ironbar can take a good while to compile. There are a couple of tricks which can be used to improve compile times.
Linker
The default GCC linker is slow - it takes nearly half of the compile time. As an alternative, you can use mold.
Install the package for your distro, create/modify the .cargo/config.toml file inside the project dir,
then add the following:
[target.x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu]
rustflags = ["-C", "link-arg=-fuse-ld=mold"]
Caching
To speed up subsequent rebuilds, Mozilla's sccache tool can be used. This provides a cache of Rust modules which can be re-used when compiling any other crate.
Install the package for your distro, create/modify the .cargo/config.toml file inside the project dir,
then add the following:
[build]
rustc-wrapper = "/usr/bin/sccache"
Tip
To get the most of out
sccache, you can add this to$HOME/.cargo/config.tomlto enable caching for all Cargo builds.
Codegen Backend
Warning
The Cranelift backend is experimental and requires the use of the nightly compiler. It is designed for development builds only.
If working on the Ironbar codebase, you may see some benefit from using the Cranelift compiler backend. This is known to shave a further few seconds off the compile time (bringing down from 10 to 7-8 on my own hardware).
Firstly install the component:
rustup component add rustc-codegen-cranelift-preview --toolchain nightly
Then create/modify the .cargo/config.toml file inside the project dir, and add the following:
[unstable]
codegen-backend = true
[profile.dev]
codegen-backend = "cranelift"