Set Backlight in i3 - Arch Linux

index

Why?

I once had struggle trying to get my backlight work in my Arch system with i3wm. So I thought I would share.

Keyboard backlight

Basic usage is as simple as

1
kbdbacklight up
2
kbdbacklight down
3
kbdbacklight [ 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 ]

i3 config:

1
# increase/decrease keyboard brightness
2
bindsym XF86KbdBrightnessUp exec kbdbacklight up
3
bindsym XF86KbdBrightnessDown exec kbdbacklight down

The scripts is available in the end of this post. Just save somewhere in your PATH and enjoy. I went with the name kbdbacklight and used it in the examples and i3 config above, please be mindful to update those if you name it differently.

Most Linux distributions encourage a practice in which each user has a specific directory for the programs he/she personally uses. This directory is called bin and is a subdirectory of your home directory. If you do not already have one, create it with the following command:

[me@linuxbox me]$ mkdir bin

Move your script into your new bin directory:

~/bin/kbdbacklight

Add directories to your path with the following command, where directory is the name of the directory you want to add:

[me@linuxbox me]$ export PATH=$PATH:directory

In this case, it is:

[me@linuxbox me]$ export PATH=$PATH:~/bin

Now, you are all set.

And here is the backlight script (click to expand):

#!/bin/sh
# By Giorgos Keramidas

# backlight_get
#       Print current keyboard brightness from UPower to stdout.
backlight_get()
{
    dbus-send --type=method_call --print-reply=literal --system         \
        --dest='org.freedesktop.UPower'                                 \
        '/org/freedesktop/UPower/KbdBacklight'                          \
        'org.freedesktop.UPower.KbdBacklight.GetBrightness'             \
        | awk '{print $2}'
}

# backlight_get_max
#       Print the maximum keyboard brightness from UPower to stdout.
backlight_get_max()
{
    dbus-send --type=method_call --print-reply=literal --system       \
        --dest='org.freedesktop.UPower'                               \
        '/org/freedesktop/UPower/KbdBacklight'                        \
        'org.freedesktop.UPower.KbdBacklight.GetMaxBrightness'        \
        | awk '{print $2}'
}

# backlight_set NUMBER
#       Set the current backlight brighness to NUMBER, through UPower
backlight_set()
{
    value="$1"
    if test -z "${value}" ; then
        echo "Invalid backlight value ${value}"
    fi

    dbus-send --type=method_call --print-reply=literal --system       \
        --dest='org.freedesktop.UPower'                               \
        '/org/freedesktop/UPower/KbdBacklight'                        \
        'org.freedesktop.UPower.KbdBacklight.SetBrightness'           \
        "int32:${value}}"
}

# backlight_change [ UP | DOWN | NUMBER ]
#       Change the current backlight value upwards or downwards, or
#       set it to a specific numeric value.
backlight_change()
{
    change="$1"
    if test -z "${change}" ; then
        echo "Invalid backlight change ${change}."                    \
            "Should be 'up' or 'down'." >&2
        return 1
    fi

    case ${change} in
    [1234567890]|[[1234567890][[1234567890])
        current=$( backlight_get )
        max=$( backlight_get_max )
        value=$( expr ${change} + 0 )
        if test ${value} -lt 0 || test ${value} -gt ${max} ; then
            echo "Invalid backlight value ${value}."                  \
                "Should be a number between 0 .. ${max}" >&2
            return 1
        else
            backlight_set "${value}"
            notify-send -t 800 "Keyboard brightness set to ${value}"
        fi
        ;;

    [uU][pP])
        current=$( backlight_get )
        max=$( backlight_get_max )
        if test "${current}" -lt "${max}" ; then
            value=$(( ${current} + 1 ))
            backlight_set "${value}"
            notify-send -t 800 "Keyboard brightness set to ${value}"
        fi
        ;;

    [dD][oO][wW][nN])
        current=$( backlight_get )
        if test "${current}" -gt 0 ; then
            value=$(( ${current}  - 1 ))
            backlight_set "${value}"
            notify-send -t 800 "Keyboard brightness set to ${value}"
        fi
        ;;

    *)
        echo "Invalid backlight change ${change}." >&2
        echo "Should be 'up' or 'down' or a number between"           \
            "1 .. $( backlight_get_max )" >&2
        return 1
        ;;
    esac
}

if test $# -eq 0 ; then
    current_brightness=$( backlight_get )
    notify-send -t 800 "Keyboard brightness is ${current_brightness}"
else
    # Handle multiple backlight changes, e.g.:
    #   backlight.sh up up down down up
    for change in "$@" ; do
        backlight_change "${change}"
    done
fi