Update Count Plugin

A compact Noctalia bar widget that periodically checks for available system updates and displays the current update count. Clicking the widget spawns a terminal to execute the configured system update command.

Features

• Periodic Update Checks: Polls at a configurable interval and updates the displayed count.
• Package Manager Detection: Supports common update-check/update flows for supported distros (see Requirements).
• Click to Update: Launches a terminal to execute the configured system update command.
• Custom Commands: Optional custom commands for both “get number of updates” and “do system update”.

Installation

This plugin is part of the noctalia-plugins repository.

Configuration

Configure the plugin in Noctalia settings:

• Hide on Zero Updates: Hides the widget when the available update count is 0.
• Update Check Interval: Polling interval used for update checks.
• Icon Identifier / Select Icon: View and change the currently used icon name.
• Custom Update Count Command: Shell command that must output a single integer.
• Custom System Update Command: Shell command used to perform the update.
• Terminal Emulator: Command used to spawn a terminal for the update action.
  • If the value contains {}, it will be replaced with the update command.
  • If {} is not present, the update command is appended.

Usage

• Display: Shows an icon and the current update count.
• Click: Spawns the configured terminal command and executes the system update command.
• Hover: Shows a tooltip indicating whether updates are available or not.

Requirements

• Noctalia Shell: 3.6.0 or later.
• Update backend: one of the supported package managers defined in updaterConfigs.json (recommended, but not required).
  • Paru/Yay: Default updaterConfigs.json requires checkupdates

Technical Details

• Updater selection:

  • Built-in update handling is driven by updaterConfigs.json, which defines the commands used to:
    • determine the number of available updates (cmdGetNumUpdates), and
    • perform the system update (cmdDoSystemUpdate).
  • At runtime, the plugin selects the first available updater whose required executable checks succeed.
  • If no updater matches, the plugin relies on the custom command settings.

• Supported package managers / tools:

  • Arch Linux: pacman; yay, paru (AUR helpers)
  • Fedora: dnf
  • Void Linux: xbps