Ubuntu Notify: notifies you of a new message in TB via notify-osd

**rubenverweij** · April 5th, 2009

Hello all,
I created this addon to notify the user of a new mail message in Thunderbird via notify-osd, but I don't know if I have done it right. It works all right, but I have a couple of issues: I use javascript to run a compiled C file, will that work on all different Ubuntu Jaunty computers or is there a better way to do it?
Also, in C I use the libnotify library, is this the correct library for the new notification system?
Your feedback is very welcome.
Cheers,
Ruben
P.S.: you can download the addon via: This link
To view the source of the C file use This link

**tbone7** · April 7th, 2009

Hi Ruben,

I grabbed your nifty little add-on via the Thunderbird add-ons-page, and added to ThunderBird v 2.0.0.21 in 64-bit Ubuntu 9.04. However, after installing it, no changes in notify-OSD is seen. It doesn't notify when new mails arrive. Perhaps we could figure out why?

If this code is programmed correctly it is bound to have a place in future versions of thunderbird, as this is on the to do-list for notify-OSD.

**rubenverweij** · April 8th, 2009

Thanks for your reply!
Well, I think I know exactly what the problem is

. You are using 64-bit Ubuntu, while I'm using 32-bit Ubuntu. And the application uses a compiled C program.
I'm not too sure how to fix this though - should I create separate 32 and 64 bit versions?

**tbone7** · April 8th, 2009

That sounds like the most probably cause, yes. I'm by all means not a programmer, however, I've seen several other add-ons and applications that come in separate 32-bit and 64-bit versions. This makes me think that the same solution would be appropriate for your add-on.

If you're able to create a 64-bit version, I hereby volunteer as a crash-test dummy

**rubenverweij** · April 10th, 2009

Could you help me in creating this 64-bit version then?
You have a 64-bit Ubuntu machine, so it will be easier for you to compile a 64-bit executable than it will be for me. I will attach a zipped c source file, and if you want to help, here is how to compile it:
Go to a terminal and type:

Code:

sudo apt-get install libnotify1

When it is installed, browse to the directory where you have saved my attachment (cd ~ if you have saved it in your home folder) and type the following in the terminal:

Code:

gcc -o ubuntu-notify-amd64 ubuntu-notify.c `pkg-config --libs libnotify --cflags gtk+-2.0`

Then please zip the resulting executable file and post it here as an attachment so I can include it in the addon.
Thanks in advance!

Ruben

**Joeb454** · April 10th, 2009

I'm hoping that the 64 bit version works because I'd love thunderbird to display it's notifications through libnotify

**tbone7** · April 10th, 2009

Ruben, please see the attached file.

The command you told me to run resulted in erroneous output:

Code:

Package libnotiy was not found in the pkg-config search path.
Perhaps you should add the directory containing `libnotiy'
to the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable
No package 'libnotiy' found
Package gtk+-2.0 was not found in the pkg-config search path.
Perhaps you should add the directory containing `gtk+-2.0.pc'
to the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable
No package 'gtk+-2.0' found

So I read the man pages for gcc, and then more importantly pkg-config, as well as searching the net for answers. I knew that I had both the required packages installed, but I thought that I was missing some other dependencies. Build-essentials was there, but not the development-packages. So I installed libnotify-dev and libgtk2.0-dev, and the gcc-cmd with the source code you provided worked out fine. It should be ok for build and install now. Hopefully