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README.md

@@ -1,3 +1,40 @@
-# random-wallpaper-gnome
+# Random Wallpaper for GNOME
 
-Randomly pick a wallpaper for your GNOME desktop, without any shell extensions.
+A Python script to pick a random photo from the specified directory, set the wallpaper (for both light and dark) and the accent color.
+
+## Why does this exist
+
+We'd like to change our wallpaper every 15 minutes and automatically set a pre-defined accent color for each photo. There are many GNOME Shell extensions out there that can do something similar, but we simply want to achieve the same effect **without using any extensions**, especially when upgrading to a pre-release GNOME version that many extensions don't support yet.
+
+So instead of a GNOME Shell extension, we created a Python script that does everything via `gsettings` and hook it up to a systemd timer instead.
+
+## How to use
+
+1. Create a directory with desired photos and note its full path
+2. In that directory, rename your photos according to this table
+
+*Suppose the filename is example.jpg*
+
+|Accent Color  |Suffix |Expected filename  |
+|--------------|-------|-------------------|
+|Blue          |blue   |example-blue.jpg   |
+|Teal          |teal   |example-teal.jpg   |
+|Green         |gree   |example-gree.jpg   |
+|Yellow        |yell   |example-yell.jpg   |
+|Red           |redd   |example-redd.jpg   |
+|Pink          |pink   |example-pink.jpg   |
+|Purple        |purp   |example-purp.jpg   |
+|Slate         |-      |*any file without valid suffix above*|
+
+*This means if there is no valid color suffix at the end of file name, we will set the accent color to Slate.*
+
+3. In `change-wallpaper.py`, replace the `directory_path` with the path from step 1
+4. Put `change-wallpaper.py` to `~/.local/bin` and make sure it is in your `$PATH`
+5. In `change-wallpaper.service` replace `youruser` in `ExecStart` line with your actual username.
+6. **Optionally**, modify `change-wallpaper.timer` as needed. The default is set to *every 15 minutes*.
+7. Put `change-wallpaper.service` and `change-wallpaper.timer` in `~/.config/systemd/user/` and run these commands to get started
+
+```
+$ systemctl --user daemon-reload
+$ systemctl --user enable --now change-wallpaper
+```

change-wallpaper.py

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+#!/usr/bin/python
+
+import os
+import random
+
+# Specify the directory
+directory_path = '/path/to/your/wallpapers'
+
+def pick_random_file(directory):
+    # List all files in the specified directory
+    files = [f for f in os.listdir(directory) if os.path.isfile(os.path.join(directory, f))]
+
+    # Check if the directory is empty
+    if not files:
+        return None
+
+    # Pick a random file from the list
+    random_file = random.choice(files)
+
+    # Return the full path of the randomly picked file
+    return os.path.join(directory, random_file)
+
+# Pick a random file
+random_file_path = pick_random_file(directory_path)
+
+if random_file_path[-8:-4] == "blue":
+    accent_color = "blue"
+elif random_file_path[-8:-4] == "teal":
+    accent_color = "teal"
+elif random_file_path[-8:-4] == "gree":
+    accent_color = "green"
+elif random_file_path[-8:-4] == "yell":
+    accent_color = "yellow"
+elif random_file_path[-8:-4] == "oran":
+    accent_color = "orange"
+elif random_file_path[-8:-4] == "redd":
+    accent_color = "red" 
+elif random_file_path[-8:-4] == "pink":
+    accent_color = "pink"
+elif random_file_path[-8:-4] == "purp":
+    accent_color = "purple"
+else:
+    accent_color = "slate"
+
+# print(f'DEBUG: Using background picture {random_file_path}')
+# print(f'DEBUG: Using accent color {accent_color}')
+
+os.system(f'gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.background picture-uri "file://{random_file_path}"')
+os.system(f'gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.background picture-uri-dark "file://{random_file_path}"')
+os.system(f'gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface accent-color {accent_color}')
+

change-wallpaper.service

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+[Unit]
+Description=Change wallpaper at specified interval
+
+[Service]
+Type=oneshot
+ExecStart=/home/youruser/.local/bin/change-wallpaper.py
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=default.target

change-wallpaper.timer

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+[Unit]
+Description=Change wallpaper every 15 minutes
+
+[Timer]
+OnCalendar=*:0/15
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=default.target