OpenRiot v7.9.8 — The One Where We Actually Looked at the Polybar
“A polybar is not a status readout. It is a commitment to never guessing whether your VPN is on. v7.9.8 is the release where the launcher actually looked like it belonged.” — The OpenRiot Crew, at 3:47 AM, adjusting pixel counts
Release Overview
v7.9.7 completed the color wheel. v7.9.8 makes the polybar and text editor feel intentional. The launcher icon got a size and color upgrade, the purple palette shifted toward blue-violet for better contrast, and the GTK4 headerbar buttons in Gnome Text Editor shed their gonzo padding.
Polybar Launcher Redesign
The app launcher icon changed from to (more generic/distro-
agnostic glyph). Font-2 at size 13 gives it presence without bulk,
and the color was bumped to #9EC8F9 (brighter teal) to stand out
from the other modules.
getScaleFactors() in source/polybar/polybar.go now tracks a
fourth font size (font2) so that the launcher icon scales correctly
on 1440p and 4K displays, not just 1080p.
Purple Palette Shift
The purple family across the entire palette shifted from #BB9AF7
(lavender-pink) toward #8B7CF6 (blue-violet). The warmer, redder
purple was causing the launcher and right-side modules to feel muddy
against the background. The blue-violet reads cleaner and provides
better framing at both edges of the bar.
Gnome Text Editor — CypherRiot Theme
The CypherRiot theme (config/text-editor/cypherriot.xml) was
overhauled: all purple syntax highlights replaced with green
#9ECE6A, def:heading changed from blue to green, and the
current-line highlight set to transparent to reduce visual noise.
The theme is now the default for Gnome Text Editor via
config/dconf/org.gnome.TextEditor.ini.
GTK4 Headerbar Button Sizing
The headerbar buttons in GTK4 apps (Gnome Text Editor, etc.) were
reduced from libadwaita defaults to min-height: 18px with tight
horizontal padding. They were comically oversized.
🧾 Files Changed
| File | Nature of Change |
|---|---|
config/polybar/config.ini |
Purple → blue-violet; launcher → |
Font-2 size=13; teal #9EC8F9; fixed-center=false |
|
source/polybar/polybar.go |
Added font2 to getScaleFactors for 1440p+ |
config/gtk-4.0/gtk.css |
Purple → blue-violet; headerbar 18px |
config/text-editor/cypherriot.xml |
Purple → green; heading green |
| current-line transparent | |
config/dconf/org.gnome.TextEditor.ini |
style-scheme → cypherriot |
.gitignore |
Ignore .hooks/ directory |
🔮 What’s Next
The active/focused GTK4 headerbar in Gnome Text Editor still picks up a brownish libadwaita default that resists all external CSS overrides. GTK Inspector is the only reliable path to fixing that specifically. It is low priority — the background state looks correct.
🗣️ Final Words
“A desktop is not configured once. It is iterated. Every icon that does not belong, every color that does not frame, every button that is three pixels too tall — these are not finished. v7.9.8 is a polish pass. The polish is never done.” — The OpenRiot Crew, at 3:47 AM, counting pixels
— The OpenRiot Crew
“Your polybar should frame your desktop. Your theme should feel like it was chosen, not inherited. v7.9.8 is the release where the launcher stopped being an afterthought.”