Conky Starts Without Errors but Doesn't Always Display #2208
Replies: 2 comments 8 replies
-
|
None of the arguments you mentioned are something that conky supports. See the manual and --help for a list of supported arguments. I know there's ’background’ setting that allows starting conky as a daemon. There's definitely an argument for it too, I just can't remember AFK. As for delaying the startup, it's a good idea but wouldn't work in a lot of cases where conky needs to start after a separate desktop application in order to be shown properly by Xorg. It's however something that definitely could and should be supported at some point. |
Beta Was this translation helpful? Give feedback.
-
|
I think it just depends on how it's implemented. It could still be optional, but I agree the PR could be very annoying. |
Beta Was this translation helpful? Give feedback.
-
|
conky does support the options i mentioned see: conky --help
Usage: conky [OPTION]...
conky is a system monitor that renders text on desktop or to own transparent
window. Command line options will override configurations defined in config
file.
-v, --version version with build details
-V, --short-version short version
-q, --quiet quiet mode
-D, --debug increase debugging output, ie. -DD for more debugging
-c, --config=FILE config file to load
-C, --print-config print the builtin default config to stdout
e.g. 'conky -C > ~/.conkyrc' will create a new default config
-d, --daemonize daemonize, fork to background
-h, --help help
-a, --alignment=ALIGNMENT text alignment on screen, {top,bottom,middle}_{left,right,middle}
-X, --display=DISPLAY X11 display to use
-m, --xinerama-head=N Xinerama monitor index (0=first)
-f, --font=FONT font to use
-o, --own-window create own window to draw
-b, --double-buffer double buffer (prevents flickering)
-w, --window-id=WIN_ID window id to draw
-x X x position
-y Y y position
-t, --text=TEXT text to render, remember single quotes, like -t '$uptime'
-u, --interval=SECS update interval
-i COUNT number of times to update conky (and quit)
-p, --pause=SECS pause for SECS seconds at startup before doing anything
-U, --unique only one conky process can be createdi think i ve solved my problem by using this
instead of
adding the |
Beta Was this translation helpful? Give feedback.
-
|
I was wrong—it didn't help at all. It's still random; sometimes Conky starts, and other times it won't start at all. |
Beta Was this translation helpful? Give feedback.
-
|
Even without autostart, Conky creates a process, but nothing shows up. It only works after I manually kill the process and run it again. The first time I try to launch it, it never works, so it seems like there's a bug. I'm on Ubuntu 25.04 with Kernel: 6.14.0-22-generic |
Beta Was this translation helpful? Give feedback.
-
|
What WM are you using? |
Beta Was this translation helpful? Give feedback.
-
|
ubuntu:GNOME |
Beta Was this translation helpful? Give feedback.
-
|
See wiki: https://github.com/brndnmtthws/conky/wiki/Window-Configuration#gnome-ubuntu Gnome has its own desktop window, anything other than |
Beta Was this translation helpful? Give feedback.
-
|
The provided settings for GNOME on Ubuntu did not resolve the issue. Sometimes Conky starts but doesn't render anything, even though the process is still running in the background with no error messages. Other times, it starts and displays correctly. I have no idea why the behavior is so inconsistent its absurd. here is the config and i am using Ubuntu 25.04 -> Kernel 6.14.0-32-generic |
Beta Was this translation helpful? Give feedback.
-
|
The provided guidance for GNOME under Wayland hasn’t resolved the issue. I'm using Ubuntu 25.04 with GNOME (Wayland session) and kernel 6.14.0-32-generic. Even when I run Conky using X11 fallback (out_to_x = true, out_to_wayland = false), the rendering behavior is inconsistent: Sometimes Conky renders perfectly. Other times, it starts (confirmed by ps and debug logs) but nothing is rendered on screen — no errors, no crashes, just... nothing. There’s no pattern. It's pure luck whether Conky shows up or not. Wayland fails due to Mutter: When trying to use Wayland directly (out_to_x = false, out_to_wayland = true), Conky fails with the following message: conky: Compositor doesn't support wlr-layer-shell-unstable-v1. Can't run conky. Which makes sense since GNOME (Mutter) doesn’t support wlr-layer-shell and that is marked as WONTFIX upstream, per your documentation. Here’s my config snippet: own_window = true, Conky debug logs show nothing suspicious: Even when it fails to render, Conky starts fine and logs appear normal, like this: conky: 'ubuntu' wayland session running 'ubuntu:GNOME' desktop Yet nothing is shown visually. Conclusion: It appears that Mutter + Wayland is hostile to anything relying on X11 fallback windows for background rendering, and Conky is caught in that gap. But the randomness of the rendering is the real blocker here. Any insights on what causes the rendering to randomly succeed or fail in this setup? |
Beta Was this translation helpful? Give feedback.
Uh oh!
There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.
Uh oh!
There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.
-
Hi,
I dont understand why the application cant wait until a dekstop is availbale like why do i need to pause it manually? i have a entry in my autostart like this:
conky --daemonize --pause=300the process started but conky doesnt show up? why ?
I've googled this issue and people say create a shell script etc. but nothing worked like why does this simple error persist over a decade and nobody can fix it?
Beta Was this translation helpful? Give feedback.
All reactions