Discord Butler 🤖

A smart auto-updater for Discord on Linux that checks for updates and seamlessly installs them when available. Now supports first-time Discord installation!

How it works

The script will:

1. Check if Discord is installed - if not, automatically install it
2. Check your current Discord version
3. Compare with the latest available version
4. If an update is available, download and prompt for sudo password to install
5. Launch Discord

Requirements

• Debian/Ubuntu-based Linux system with dpkg package manager
• Python 3.8+
• Python packages: requests, packaging (see requirements.txt)
• notify-send (libnotify) - for desktop notifications (usually pre-installed)
• Polkit authentication agent - for GUI password prompts (see setup below)

Setting up Polkit Authentication

Discord Butler uses pkexec for secure privilege escalation with GUI authentication dialogs. You need a polkit authentication agent running.

For i3/dwm/minimal window managers:

# Install lightweight polkit agent
sudo apt install lxpolkit

# Add to your window manager startup (e.g., ~/.config/i3/config)
exec --no-startup-id lxpolkit

For other desktop environments:

# GNOME-based systems
sudo apt install policykit-1-gnome

# KDE-based systems
sudo apt install polkit-kde-agent-1

Verify setup:

# This should show a GUI authentication dialog
pkexec echo "Polkit working!"

Installation

1. Clone this repository:

   git clone https://github.com/maniac-en/discord-butler
   cd discord-butler

2. Install dependencies (choose one method):

Method 1: System-level Installation

⚠️ Note: Modern pip versions warn against installing packages system-wide. Use this method only if you're comfortable with system-level packages.

pip install -r requirements.txt --break-system-packages

Method 2: Virtual Environment (Recommended)

# Create virtual environment
python3 -m venv venv

# Activate virtual environment
source venv/bin/activate

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Run the application:

   python main.py

Usage

Basic Usage

If you installed using a virtual environment, activate it first:

source venv/bin/activate  # Only needed if using virtual environment

Then run the application:

python main.py

Running from App Launcher

For App Launchers (rofi, etc.)

To run Discord Butler from app launchers that support .desktop files:

1. Make the script executable:

   chmod +x main.py

2. Create a desktop entry at ~/.local/share/applications/discord-butler.desktop:

   For system-level installation:

   [Desktop Entry]
   Name=Discord Butler
   Comment=Auto-update Discord and launch
   Exec=/path/to/discord-butler/main.py
   Icon=discord
   Terminal=false
   Type=Application
   Categories=Network;InstantMessaging;

   For virtual environment installation:

   [Desktop Entry]
   Name=Discord Butler
   Comment=Auto-update Discord and launch
   Exec=/path/to/discord-butler/venv/bin/python /path/to/discord-butler/main.py
   Icon=discord
   Terminal=false
   Type=Application
   Categories=Network;InstantMessaging;

3. Update desktop database:

   update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications/

For dmenu

Since dmenu doesn't recognize .desktop files, create a wrapper script in your PATH:

I've provided helper commands to just copy-paste and set it up easily!

⚠️ WARNING: Running bash commands from the internet can be dangerous. Always review commands before executing them.

For system-level installation:

# Quick setup (run from the discord-butler directory)
chmod +x main.py && ln -sf "$(pwd)/main.py" ~/.local/bin/discord-butler

For virtual environment installation:

# Create a wrapper script
cat > ~/.local/bin/discord-butler << 'EOF'
#!/bin/bash
cd /path/to/discord-butler
source venv/bin/activate
python main.py
EOF

# Make it executable
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/discord-butler

Manual setup:

1. System-level: Create symlink: ln -sf /full/path/to/discord-butler/main.py ~/.local/bin/discord-butler
2. Virtual environment: Create wrapper script as shown above, replacing /path/to/discord-butler with your actual path
3. Ensure ~/.local/bin is in your PATH (add export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH" to your shell config if needed)

Now you can run discord-butler from dmenu.