System Administration

Bpytop – Linux/OSX/FreeBSD Resource Monitor

September 13, 2020
5 Min Read
Bpytop - Linux/OSX/FreeBSD Resource Monitor

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Resource monitor that shows usage and stats for processor, memory, disks, network and processes.
Python port of bashtop.

Features

  • Easy to use, with a game inspired menu system.
  • Full mouse support, all buttons with a highlighted key is clickable and mouse scroll works in process list and menu boxes.
  • Fast and responsive UI with UP, DOWN keys process selection.
  • Function for showing detailed stats for selected process.
  • Ability to filter processes, multiple filters can be entered.
  • Easy switching between sorting options.
  • Send SIGTERM, SIGKILL, SIGINT to selected process.
  • UI menu for changing all config file options.
  • Auto scaling graph for network usage.
  • Shows message in menu if new version is available
  • Shows current read and write speeds for disks


Themes
Bpytop uses the same theme files as bashtop so any theme made for bashtop will work.
See themes folder for available themes.
The make install command places the default themes in /usr/local/share/bpytop/themes. User created themes should be placed in $HOME/.config/bpytop/themes.
Let me know if you want to contribute with new themes.

Support and funding
You can sponsor this project through github, see my sponsors page for options.
Or donate through paypal or ko-fi.
Any support is greatly appreciated!

Prerequisites

Mac Os X
Will not display correctly in the standard terminal! Recommended alternative iTerm2
Will also need to be run as superuser to display stats for processes not owned by user.

Linux, Mac Os X and FreeBSD
For correct display, a terminal with support for:

Also needs a UTF8 locale and a font that covers:

  • Unicode Block “Braille Patterns” U+2800 – U+28FF
  • Unicode Block “Geometric Shapes” U+25A0 – U+25FF
  • Unicode Block “Box Drawing” and “Block Elements” U+2500 – U+259F

Notice
Dropbear seems to not be able to set correct locale. So if accessing bpytop over ssh, OpenSSH is recommended.

Dependencies
Python3 (v3.6 or later)
psutil module (v5.7.0 or later)

Optionals for additional stats
(Optional OSX) osx-cpu-temp Needed to show CPU temperatures.

Screenshots
Main UI showing details for a selected process.

Main UI in mini mode.

Main menu.

Options menu.

Installation
PyPi packaging for installation with pip will be setup later.
If you want to help speed this up, help with setting up proper testing is welcome!

Dependencies installation Linux

Install python3 and git with a package manager of you choice

Install psutil python module (sudo might be required)

python3 -m pip install psutil

Dependencies installation OSX

Install homebrew if not already installed

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)"

Install python3 if not already installed

brew install python3 git

Install psutil python module

python3 -m pip install psutil

Install optional dependency osx-cpu-temp

brew install osx-cpu-temp

Dependencies installation FreeBSD

Install with pkg and pip

sudo pkg install python3 git
sudo python3 -m ensurepip
sudo python3 -m pip install psutil

Manual installation Linux, OSX and FreeBSD

Clone and install

git clone https://github.com/aristocratos/bpytop.git
cd bpytop
sudo make install

to uninstall it

sudo make uninstall

Configurability
All options changeable from within UI. Config files stored in “$HOME/.config/bpytop” folder

bpytop.cfg: (auto generated if not found)
“/etc/bpytop.conf” will be used as default seed for config file creation if it exists.

#? Config file for bpytop v. 1.0.0
#* Color theme, looks for a .theme file in "/usr/[local/]share/bpytop/themes" and "~/.config/bpytop/themes", "Default" for builtin default theme.
#* Prefix name by a plus sign (+) for a theme located in user themes folder, i.e. color_theme="+monokai"
color_theme="Default"
#* Update time in milliseconds, increases automatically if set below internal loops processing time, recommended 2000 ms or above for better sample times for graphs.
update_ms=2000
#* Processes sorting, "pid" "program" "arguments" "threads" "user" "memory" "cpu lazy" "cpu responsive",
#* "cpu lazy" updates top process over time, "cpu responsive" updates top process directly.
proc_sorting="cpu lazy"
#* Reverse sorting order, True or False.
proc_reversed=False
#* Show processes as a tree
proc_tree=False
#* Use the cpu graph colors in the process list.
proc_colors=True
#* Use a darkening gradient in the process list.
proc_gradient=True
#* If process cpu usage should be of the core it's running on or usage of the total available cpu power.
proc_per_core=False
#* Check cpu temperature, needs "vcgencmd" on Raspberry Pi and "osx-cpu-temp" on MacOS X.
check_temp=True
#* Draw a clock at top of screen, formatting according to strftime, empty string to disable.
draw_clock="%X"
#* Update main ui in background when menus are showing, set this to false if the menus is flickering too much for comfort.
background_update=True
#* Custom cpu model name, empty string to disable.
custom_cpu_name=""
#* Opti onal filter for shown disks, should be last folder in path of a mountpoint, "root" replaces "/", separate multiple values with comma.
#* Begin line with "exclude=" to change to exclude filter, oterwise defaults to "most include" filter. Example: disks_filter="exclude=boot, home"
disks_filter=""
#* Show graphs instead of meters for memory values.
mem_graphs=True
#* If swap memory should be shown in memory box.
show_swap=False
#* Show swap as a disk, ignores show_swap value above, inserts itself after first disk.
swap_disk=True
#* If mem box should be split to also show disks info.
show_disks=True
#* Show init screen at startup, the init screen is purely cosmetical
show_init=True
#* Enable check for new version from github.com/aristocratos/bpytop at start.
update_check=True
#* Enable start in mini mode, can be toggled with shift+m at any time.
mini_mode=False
#* Set loglevel for "~/.config/bpytop/error.log" levels are: "ERROR" "WARNING" "INFO" "DEBUG".
#* The level set includes all lower levels, i.e. "DEBUG" will show all logging info.
log_level=WARNING

Command line options: (not yet implemented)

USAGE: bpytop [argument]    Arguments:      -m, --mini            Start in minimal mode without memory and net boxes      -v, --version         Show version info and exit      -h, --help            Show this help message and exit      --debug               Start with loglevel set to DEBUG overriding value set in config

TODO


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