Here we go.

Makefile

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+CC	?= gcc
+STRIP ?= strip
+CFLAGS ?= -Os
+LDFLAGS += -lxcb
+CFDEBUG = -g3 -pedantic -Wall -Wunused-parameter -Wlong-long\
+		  -Wsign-conversion -Wconversion -Wimplicit-function-declaration
+
+EXEC = bar
+SRCS = bar.c
+OBJS = ${SRCS:.c=.o}
+
+PREFIX?=/usr
+BINDIR=${PREFIX}/bin
+
+all: ${EXEC}
+
+.c.o:
+	${CC} ${CFLAGS} -o $@ -c $<
+
+${EXEC}: ${OBJS}
+	${CC} ${LDFLAGS} -o ${EXEC} ${OBJS}
+	${STRIP} -s ${EXEC}
+
+debug: ${EXEC}
+debug: CC += ${CFDEBUG}
+
+clean:
+	rm -rf ./*.o
+	rm -rf ./${EXEC}
+
+install: bar
+	test -d ${DESTDIR}${BINDIR} || mkdir -p ${DESTDIR}${BINDIR}
+	install -m755 bar ${DESTDIR}${BINDIR}/bar
+
+.PHONY: all debug clean install

README.md

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+b(ar) a(in't) r(ecursive)
+=========================
+2012 (C) The Lemon Man
+
+A lightweight bar based on XCB (yay). Provides foreground/background color
+switching along with text alignment (screw you dzen!), nothing less and 
+nothing more.
+
+Configuration
+-------------
+Change the config.h file and you're good to go!
+The text background and foreground are respectively the first and the second
+entries in the palette (COLOR0 and COLOR1).
+
+Text formatting
+---------------
+All the format commands are preceded by a backslash (\\). 
+To draw a backslash just backslash escape it (\\\\). 
+
+```
+f<0-9>  Selects the text foreground color from the palette.
+b<0-9>  Selects the text background color from the palette.
+
+l       Aligns the text to the left.
+c       Aligns the text to the center.
+r       Aligns the text to the right.
+```

bar.c

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+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <ctype.h>
+#include <poll.h>
+#include <signal.h>
+#include <xcb/xcb.h>
+
+#include "config.h"
+
+// Here be dragons
+
+static xcb_connection_t *c;
+static int ft_height, ft_width;
+static xcb_window_t root, win;
+static xcb_gcontext_t gc;
+static int bw, bh;
+static const int pal[] = {COLOR0,COLOR1,COLOR2,COLOR3,COLOR4,COLOR5,COLOR6,COLOR7,COLOR8,COLOR9};
+
+#define MIN(a,b) ((a > b ? b : a))
+
+int
+draw (int x, int align, char *text)
+{
+    int done = 0;
+    int pos_x = x;
+    int len = MIN(bw / ft_width, strlen (text));
+    int strw = len * ft_width;
+
+    if (!strw) return x;
+
+    switch (align) {
+        case 1:
+            xcb_copy_area (c, win, win, gc, bw / 2 - pos_x / 2, 0, bw / 2 - (pos_x + strw) / 2, 0, pos_x, BAR_HEIGHT);
+            pos_x = bw / 2 - (pos_x + strw) / 2 + pos_x;
+            break;
+        case 2:
+            xcb_copy_area (c, win, win, gc, bw - pos_x, 0, bw - pos_x - strw, 0, pos_x, BAR_HEIGHT);
+            pos_x = bw - strw; 
+            break;
+    }
+
+    do {
+        xcb_image_text_8 (c, MIN(len - done, 255), win, gc, pos_x, bh - ft_height / 2, text + done); /* Bottom-left coords */
+        done += MIN(len - done, 255);
+        pos_x = done * ft_width;
+    } while (done < len);
+
+    return pos_x;
+}
+
+void
+parse (char *text)
+{
+    char parsed_text[1000] = {0, };
+
+    char *p = text;
+    char *q = parsed_text;
+
+    int pos_x = 0;
+    int align = 0;
+
+    xcb_clear_area (c, 0, win, 0, 0, bw, BAR_HEIGHT);
+    for (;;) {
+        if (*p == 0x0 || *p == 0xA || (*p == '\\' && p++ && *p != '\\' && strchr ("fblcr", *p))) {
+            pos_x += draw (pos_x, align, parsed_text);
+            switch (*p++) {
+                case 0x0: return; /* EOL */
+                case 0xA: return; /* NL */
+                case 'f': if (isdigit (*p)) xcb_change_gc (c, gc, XCB_GC_FOREGROUND, (const uint32_t []){ pal[*p-'0'] }); p++; break;
+                case 'b': if (isdigit (*p)) xcb_change_gc (c, gc, XCB_GC_BACKGROUND, (const uint32_t []){ pal[*p-'0'] }); p++; break;
+                case 'l': align = 0; pos_x = 0; break;
+                case 'c': align = 1; pos_x = 0; break;
+                case 'r': align = 2; pos_x = 0; break;
+            }
+            q = parsed_text;
+        } 
+        else *q++ = *p++; 
+  
+        *q = 0;
+    }
+}
+
+void
+cleanup (void)
+{
+    xcb_destroy_window (c, win);
+    xcb_free_gc (c, gc);
+    xcb_disconnect (c);
+}
+
+void
+sighandle (int signal)
+{
+    if (signal == SIGINT || signal == SIGTERM)
+        exit (0);
+}
+
+void
+init (void)
+{
+    xcb_font_t xf;
+    xcb_screen_t *scr;
+    xcb_query_font_reply_t *ft_info;
+
+    /* Connect to X */
+    c = xcb_connect (NULL, NULL);
+    if (xcb_connection_has_error (c)) {
+        fprintf (stderr, "Couldn't connect to X\n");
+        exit (1);
+    }
+    /* Grab infos from the first screen */
+    scr = xcb_setup_roots_iterator (xcb_get_setup (c)).data;
+    bw = scr->width_in_pixels;
+    bh = BAR_HEIGHT;
+    root = scr->root;
+    /* Load the font */
+    xf = xcb_generate_id (c);
+    if (xcb_request_check (c, xcb_open_font_checked (c, xf, strlen(BAR_FONT), BAR_FONT))) {
+        fprintf (stderr, "Couldn't load the font\n");
+        exit (1);
+    }
+    /* Grab infos from the font */
+    ft_info = xcb_query_font_reply (c, xcb_query_font (c, xf), NULL);
+    ft_height = ft_info->font_ascent + ft_info->font_descent;
+    ft_width = ft_info->max_bounds.character_width;
+    /* Create the main window */
+    win = xcb_generate_id (c);
+    xcb_create_window (c, XCB_COPY_FROM_PARENT, win, root, 0, 0, bw, bh, 0, XCB_WINDOW_CLASS_INPUT_OUTPUT, 
+            scr->root_visual, XCB_CW_BACK_PIXEL | XCB_CW_OVERRIDE_REDIRECT, 
+            (const uint32_t []){ pal[0], 1 });
+    /* Create the gc for drawing */
+    gc = xcb_generate_id (c);
+    xcb_create_gc (c, gc, root, XCB_GC_FOREGROUND | XCB_GC_BACKGROUND | XCB_GC_FONT,
+            (const uint32_t []){ pal[1], pal[0], xf });
+    /* Get rid of the font */
+    xcb_close_font (c, xf);
+    /* Make the bar visible */
+    xcb_map_window (c, win);
+    xcb_flush (c);
+}
+
+int 
+main (void)
+{
+    struct pollfd stdinpoll = { .fd = 0, .events = POLLIN | POLLHUP };
+    static char input[1000] = {0, };
+
+    atexit (cleanup);
+    signal (SIGINT, sighandle);
+    signal (SIGTERM, sighandle);
+    init ();
+
+    for (;;) {
+        if (poll (&stdinpoll, 1, -1) > 0) {
+            if (stdinpoll.revents & POLLHUP) break;
+            if (stdinpoll.revents & POLLIN) {
+                fgets (input, sizeof(input), stdin);
+                parse (input);
+                xcb_flush (c);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    return 0;
+}
+    

config.h

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+#define BAR_HEIGHT  18
+#define BAR_FONT    "-*-terminus-medium-r-normal-*-12-*-*-*-c-*-*-1"
+
+#define COLOR0      0x262729    /* background */
+#define COLOR1      0xebebeb    /* foreground */
+#define COLOR2      0x262729
+#define COLOR3      0xf92671
+#define COLOR4      0xa6e22e
+#define COLOR5      0xfd971f
+#define COLOR6      0x34bdef
+#define COLOR7      0x9e6ffe
+#define COLOR8      0x5e7175
+#define COLOR9      0xccccc6