screensaver vs dunst

This article will be about how I configured my screensaver script to disable dunst notification.

Initial setup

Please check the xautolock article I made.

Here is the screen lock script I was using for ~/bin/lockscreen.sh

#!/bin/sh set -e # enable the lock screen i3lock -c 272d2d -i ~/Documents/wallpaper-lockscreen.png 

Problem

When my computer is locked, because of a meeting or a lunch break, the notification are still received by the notifier, in my case dunst

Each notification has a short timeout, you are supposed to see them when working, but when your computer is locked you don't see them

so here is what to do

#!/bin/sh # pause notifications dunstctl set-paused true # enable the lock screen i3lock --nofork -c 272d2d -i ~/Documents/wallpaper-lockscreen.png # restore notifications dunstctl set-paused false 

Please note the usage of --nofork with i3lock. Without it, the script simply exits when i3lock is launched, so the notifications won't be paused.

Better implementation

I love using trap, it's a good way to avoid problem.

#!/bin/sh # using trap make sure to restore dunst even if something fails # restore notifications when script ends # this command is defered when the script ends trap "dunstctl set-paused false" EXIT # pause notifications dunstctl set-paused true # enable the lock screen i3lock --nofork -c 272d2d -i ~/Documents/wallpaper-lockscreen.png