Can force status bar to update early by sending a USR1 signal to the process

bumblebee-status

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import os
 import sys
 import logging
+import signal
 import bumblebee.theme
 import bumblebee.engine
 import bumblebee.config
@@ -18,6 +19,9 @@ except Exception:
 
 
 def main():
+    def sig_USR1_handler(signum,stack):
+        engine.write_output()
+        
     config = bumblebee.config.Config(sys.argv[1:])
 
     if config.debug():
@@ -45,6 +49,7 @@ def main():
             output=output,
             inp=inp,
         )
+        signal.signal(10,sig_USR1_handler)
         engine.run()
     except KeyboardInterrupt as error:
         inp.stop()

bumblebee/engine.py

@@ -255,6 +255,14 @@ class Engine(object):
         """Start the event loop"""
         self._output.start()
         while self.running():
+            self.write_output()
+            if self.running():
+                self.input.wait(float(self._config.get("interval", 1)))
+
+        self._output.stop()
+        self.input.stop()
+
+    def write_output(self):
         self._output.begin()
         for module in self._modules:
             self._current_module = module
@@ -267,10 +275,5 @@ class Engine(object):
                 self._output.draw(widget=module.errorWidget(), module=module, engine=self)
         self._output.flush()
         self._output.end()
-            if self.running():
-                self.input.wait(float(self._config.get("interval", 1)))
-
-        self._output.stop()
-        self.input.stop()
 
 # vim: tabstop=8 expandtab shiftwidth=4 softtabstop=4