Notification Cooldown Mechanism

Context

OpenRiot has ~45 notification calls spread across multiple source files using notify-send. When multiple commands trigger simultaneously (e.g., polybar modules querying at same interval, rapid key presses), dunst can receive overlapping notifications that may cause crashes on OpenBSD.

The icon fallback fix (GetIconPath returning info.png) addresses malformed icon paths. A cooldown mechanism would address notification spam/overlap.

Solution

A lightweight cooldown file (~/.cache/openriot/notify-cooldown) that tracks last notification timestamp. Any notify-send call checks if cooldown is active before proceeding.

Implementation

File Location

~/.cache/openriot/notify-cooldown (0600 permissions)

File Format

Single integer: Unix timestamp in nanoseconds of last notification

Cooldown Duration

500ms (configurable constant)

New Function: notify.ShouldNotify() bool

// source/notify/cooldown.go

const (
    cooldownFile = ".cache/openriot/notify-cooldown"
    cooldownMs   = 500 // milliseconds
)

func shouldNotify() bool {
    home, _ := os.UserHomeDir()
    path := filepath.Join(home, cooldownFile)

    data, err := os.ReadFile(path)
    if err != nil {
        // No cooldown file = allowed
        return true
    }

    lastNs, err := strconv.ParseInt(strings.TrimSpace(string(data)), 10, 64)
    if err != nil {
        // Corrupted file = reset and allow
        return true
    }

    elapsed := time.Since(time.Unix(0, lastNs))
    return elapsed > time.Duration(cooldownMs)*time.Millisecond
}

func recordNotification() error {
    home, _ := os.UserHomeDir()
    dir := filepath.Join(home, ".cache/openriot")
    os.MkdirAll(dir, 0755)

    path := filepath.Join(dir, cooldownFile)
    return os.WriteFile(path, []byte(strconv.FormatInt(time.Now().UnixNano(), 10)), 0600)
}

Call Sites

Add cooldown check to the Notify wrapper function (or each notify-send call):

func notifySend(icon, title, body string, urgency string, timeout int) {
    if !shouldNotify() {
        return
    }
    recordNotification()
    // exec.Command("/usr/local/bin/notify-send", ...).Run()
}

Impact

• Files to modify: source/notify/notify.go (new cooldown.go), plus update all notify-send call sites
• Call sites: ~45 locations in main.go, crypto.go, battery.go, network/, audio/, etc.
• Risk: Low - if bug in cooldown, notifications just fire more (not less safe)
• Side effect: Some rapid notifications may be dropped (by design)

Alternative

A full file lock (~/.cache/openriot/notify.lock) could prevent concurrent notifications, but adds crash-risk (if holding lock when process dies). Cooldown is simpler and safer.

Status

Proposed - awaiting crash reports to confirm this is needed after icon fallback fix.