taffybar-3.2.0: README.md
# Taffybar [](https://hackage.haskell.org/package/taffybar) [](https://github.com/taffybar/taffybar/compare/latest-release...master) [](https://travis-ci.org/taffybar/taffybar) [](https://github.com/taffybar/taffybar/labels/help%20wanted) [](https://gitter.im/taffybar/Lobby) [](https://github.com/taffybar/taffybar/blob/master/LICENSE)
Taffybar is a gtk+3 [(through gi-gtk)](https://github.com/taffybar/taffybar/issues/256) based desktop
information bar, intended primarily for use with XMonad, though it can also
function alongside other EWMH compliant window managers. It is similar in spirit
to xmobar, but it differs in that it gives up some simplicity for a reasonable
helping of eye candy.
Prerequisites
-------------
Taffybar has a number of non-haskell dependencies. It is recommended that you
follow the installation instructions for
[haskell-gi](https://github.com/haskell-gi/haskell-gi) before attempting to
install taffybar.
In addition the the dependencies needed by haskell-gi, taffybar also needs the
equivalent of `libdbusmenu-gtk3-dev` and `libgirepository1.0-dev` on Debian.
Installation
------------
Taffybar itself can be installed in a number of different ways:
### Stack
Though it is admittedly a bit complicated to set up properly, using stack is the
preferred approach for installing taffybar, because it makes the build process
stable and repeatable. Even if you are unfamiliar with stack, or even haskell in
general, you should be able to get things working by using the taffybar's
quick-start script:
```
curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/taffybar/taffybar/master/quick-start.sh | bash
```
This script will clone the taffybar repository into a subdirectory of the
default taffybar configuration directory, and copy the example cabal, stack and
taffybar.hs files into the same location. It will then install a binary
`my-taffybar` to `$HOME/.local/bin`, which can be executed to run taffybar. Note
that with this approach, running the `taffybar` binary WILL NOT work; you must
run the binary that is produced by the stack build in your local directory. The
name of the binary can be changed in the cabal file in the taffybar
configuration directory.
#### Running with stack
When you build with stack, it is recommended that you start taffybar with
`startTaffybar` rather than `dyreTaffybar`, and use
https://github.com/yamadapc/stack-run to execute the custom executable specified
by your cabal and stack files. The maintainers have plans for a better solution
(that does not require the user to use stack-run themselves) in [#158](https://github.com/taffybar/taffybar/issues/158).
### Cabal
Cabal installation is a simple matter of installing taffybar from hackage:
```
cabal install taffybar
```
Configuration
-------------
Like xmobar and XMonad, taffybar is configured in haskell. Taffybar depends on
dyre to automatically detect changes to its configuration file
(`$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/taffybar/taffybar.hs`) and recompile when appropriate.
For more details about how to configure taffybar, see the [full
documentation](https://hackage.haskell.org/package/taffybar). You can find a
list of available widgets
[here](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/taffybar-2.0.0/docs/System-Taffybar-Widget.html)
FAQ
---
For the time being, taffybar's frequently asked questions page lives in [this
github issue](https://github.com/taffybar/taffybar/issues/332).
Contributing
------------
Taffybar desperately needs contributors. If you want to help, but don't know
where to get started you can check out our "help wanted" and "easy" labels:
[](https://github.com/taffybar/taffybar/labels/help%20wanted)
[](https://github.com/taffybar/taffybar/labels/easy)