DISTRACTINATOR: The customizable, open source cubicle doorbell

Installation

pip install distractinator

Note: You may need to sudo pip install as this will attempt to write to /usr/local/bin/

SETUP

distractd

You will be walked through a few steps to ensure the script can communicate with your receiver. The setup process will also copy an example config file to your home directory, at ~/.distractinator.conf.

If You Encounter a Permissions Issue During setup###

The default permissions on the device may not allow for reading and writing. If the setup process asks you to check the permissions on the device, try the following:

$ sudo usermod -aG dialout $USER
$ newgrp dialout

After these commands have been run, call distractd once again.

Specifying a logfile:

By default, the log messages will print to stdout. You can specify a logfile location with the --log argument.

distractd --log /path/to/distractd.log

This is especially helpful when running as a background process, or under the supervision of a separate process.

HOW TO RUN

distractd works best when it runs any time your machine is on. Here are a few strategies for running it without too much hassle on Ubuntu.

Use a systemd unit file

Any systemd unit file placed in ~/.config/systemd/user/ can be managed by with normal user privileges. For example:

$ cat ~/.config/systemd/user/distractd.service
[Unit]
Description=Distractinator Service Daemon

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/python %h/.local/bin/distractd

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

Then to start:

systemctl --user start distractd.service

The above path to the distractd script in the ExecStart line assumes the package was installed with the --user flag. Update accordingly if you installed distractinator system-wide.

Add an entry to Startup Applications

/usr/local/bin/distractd --log /path/to/distractd.log

Run it under Supervisord

pip install supervisor

Example stanza for supervisord.conf:

[program:distractd]
command=/usr/local/bin/distractd
autostart=True
autorestart=unexpected
user=joe ; Replace with your user
exitcodes=0,2
redirect_stderr=True
stdout_logfile=/path/to/distractd.log

CUSTOM EVENTS

customevents.py

You should use one!

This repository comes with an example customevents.py file. Find its path on your system with:

distractd --example_custom_code

Copy that file to your desired location
Uncomment the custom_script variable in your config file
Point it to the absolute path of your customevents.py file

You will need to restart distractd to pick up changes to customevents.py.

metllord/distractinator