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.gitignore
vendored
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.gitignore
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# Ignore the HTML page exported from the org file
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/chat_shortcut.html
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# Ignore the unit files tangled from the org file
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/signal.service
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/element.service
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/element_fsu.service
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chat_shortcut.org
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chat_shortcut.org
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#+TITLE: XFCE4 Application Shortcut for Starting my Chat Clients
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#+AUTHOR: Philipp Matthias Schäfer
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#+HTML_DOCTYPE: html5
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#+OPTIONS: toc:nil
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I am using three chat clients on my personal laptop:
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[[https://signal.org/][Signal]] and two instances of [[https://element.io/][Element]],
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one with my personal account and one with my work account.
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Because I like to work on my computer without distractions,
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I do not have the clients running most of the time.
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To read new messages I start the clients and once I am done close them again.
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In the past I started each client from the command line.
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Then I wrote a function in [[https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/elisp.html][Emacs Lisp]] that I called using an [[https://docs.xfce.org/xfce/xfce4-settings/keyboard#application_shortcuts][XFCE4 Application Shortcut]].
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The function created three buffers,
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if they did not exist already,
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and started a process for each of the chat clients.
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This always opened a new [[https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Frames.html][Emacs frame]] in addition to the clients and three buffers that I never used.
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The was not a satisfying solution.
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My newest solution uses [[https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/latest/systemd.html][systemd]] user service units that are started and stopped via XFCE4 Application Shortcuts.
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This has the advantage that no Emacs frame is opened,
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no buffers clutter my Emacs session,
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and I can close all three clients with a single shortcut.
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What still irks me in the current setup are the long startup times of the Element clients.
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oBut turning of notification is not enough for me,
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There may be no vestiges of these processes left on my desktop when I want to focus.
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* systemd Unit Files
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:PROPERTIES:
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:CUSTOM_ID: systemd_unit_files
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:END:
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The three unit files are very similar.
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I give a full explanation for the first one and restrict the others to changes.
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** Signal
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:PROPERTIES:
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:header-args: :padline no :tangle "signal.service"
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:CUSTOM_ID: signal
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:END:
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The configuration file begins with the ~[Unit]~ block and a description.
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#+BEGIN_SRC systemd
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[Unit]
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Description=Signal chat client
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#+END_SRC
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In the ~[Service]~ block,
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I first give the command line to start the service.
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The argument is necessary,
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because without it Signal at some point stopped finding the credentials is stored during setup.
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#+BEGIN_SRC systemd :padline yes
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[Service]
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ExecStart=/usr/bin/signal-desktop --password-store=gnome-libsecret
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#+END_SRC
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Next I configure the ~LANGUAGE~ environment variable to be set to two languages,
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so that Signal’s spellchecker uses both dictionaries instead of just the one for the system language.
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#+BEGIN_SRC systemd
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Environment="LANGUAGE=en_US:de_DE"
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#+END_SRC
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I also want the process to be restarted on failure instead of not at all,
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as is the default,
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and store the standard output of the last session in a file,
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so I can debug any problems,
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when they arise.
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#+BEGIN_SRC systemd
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Restart=on-failure
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StandardOutput=file:%h/.cache/logs/signal.log
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#+END_SRC
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** Private Element
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:PROPERTIES:
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:header-args: :tangle "element.service"
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:CUSTOM_ID: element
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:END:
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The structure of the unit file for Element with my private profile is very similar.
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It obviously has a different command line,
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as it starts a different program.
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It also does not need any Environment variables.
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And the filename for the standard output is different.
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#+BEGIN_SRC systemd
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[Unit]
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Description=Element chat client (private)
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[Service]
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ExecStart=/usr/bin/element-desktop
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Restart=on-failure
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StandardOutput=file:%h/.cache/logs/element.log
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#+END_SRC
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** Work Element
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:PROPERTIES:
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:header-args: :tangle "element_fsu.service"
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:CUSTOM_ID: element_fsu
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:END:
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For the work account Element,
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the command line has an additional argument to select the profile.
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The profile name ~fsu~ stands for [[https://www.uni-jena.de/][Friedrich Schiller University]],
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which is my employer and the provider of the [[https://matrix.org/][Matrix]] server on which the account resides.
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Again, the file for the standard output is different.
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#+BEGIN_SRC systemd
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[Unit]
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Description=Element chat client (fsu)
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[Service]
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Type=simple
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ExecStart=/usr/bin/element-desktop --profile fsu
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Restart=on-failure
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StandardOutput=file:%h/.cache/logs/element_fsu.log
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#+END_SRC
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* Setup
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:PROPERTIES:
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:CUSTOM_ID: setup
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:END:
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Running ~org-babel-tangle~ (~C-c C-v t~) on this file creates all three unit files in the same directory.
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To let systemd now about the unit files,
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which are supposed to be only available to my user,
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I create symlinks to them in ~~/.config/systemd/user/~ (see man page [[https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/latest/systemd.unit.html][systemd.unit]]) by running
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#+BEGIN_SRC bash
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for unit in signal element element_fsu; do
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ln -s -t ~/.config/systemd/user $(realpath "${unit}.service");
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done
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#+END_SRC
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Afterwards I trigger a reload of the systemd configuration
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#+BEGIN_SRC bash
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systemctl daemon-reload
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#+END_SRC
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I also make sure that the directory for the log files exist,
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otherwise systemd will not be able start the processes:
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#+BEGIN_SRC bash
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mkdir -p ~/.cache/logs
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#+END_SRC
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To put it on an XFCE4 Application Shortcut,
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I open the settings (~xfce4-settings~),
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choose “Keyboard”,
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then the “Application Shortcuts” tab,
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and click “Add” to add first one,
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then another.
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In my case I configure ~Super+R~ to start the chat clients,
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running the command line
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#+BEGIN_SRC bash
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systemctl --user start signal element element_fsu
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#+END_SRC
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and ~Super+I~ (like ignore) to stop the chat clients,
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running the command line
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#+BEGIN_SRC bash
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systemctl --user stop signal element element_fsu
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#+END_SRC
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