Nibar Plymouth

A simple loading bar theme for plymouth.

Install

Installing Plymouth themes from source is quite a convoluted process so strap in. First download this repository and build the theme:

git clone https://github.com/nibarproject/nibar-plymouth-theme.git
cd nibar-plymouth-theme
sudo make install

Then you need to apply the theme within Plymouth. For Debian/Ubuntu based distros run:

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/share/plymouth/themes/default.plymouth default.plymouth /usr/share/plymouth/themes/nibar/nibar.plymouth 100
sudo update-alternatives --set default.plymouth /usr/share/plymouth/themes/nibar/nibar.plymouth
sudo update-initramfs -u

Uninstall

Uninstalling a Plymouth theme is similarly convoluted. To delete the theme files run

sudo make uninstall

Then you need to reapply the original theme. On Debian/Ubuntu based distros run:

sudo update-alternatives --remove default.plymouth /usr/share/plymouth/themes/nibar/nibar.plymouth
sudo update-initramfs -u

Testing

If you want to check your theme has been applied properly without rebooting, install plymouth-x11 and then run

sudo plymouthd; sudo plymouth --show-splash; for ((i=0; i<5; i++)); do sleep 1; sudo plymouth --update=test$i; done; sudo plymouth --quit

which will display the Plymouth splash screen for 5 seconds before automatically quitting.