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Published 20 hours ago • verified publisher icon rodlie
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Desktop Independent Power Manager

NAME

powerkit - desktop independent full featured power manager

SYNOPSIS

powerkit [--config]

DESCRIPTION

powerkit is an desktop independent full featured power manager for Linux, originally created for Slackware for use with alternative X11 desktop environments and window managers, like Fluxbox, Blackbox, FVWM, WindowMaker, Openbox, Lumina, Draco and others.

  • Implements org.freedesktop.ScreenSaver service
  • Implements org.freedesktop.PowerManagement service
  • Automatically suspend on idle
  • Automatically lock screen on idle
  • Automatically hibernate or shutdown on critical battery
  • Inhibit actions if external monitor(s) is connected
  • Screen locking support (Through XScreenSaver)
  • Screen backlight support
  • Screen hotplug support
  • RTC wake alarm support
  • CPU frequency scaling support
  • Thermal support

USAGE

powerkit should be started during the X11 user session. An XDG autostart file is available, else consult the documentation for your desktop environment or window manager for launching startup applications.

  • In Fluxbox add powerkit & to the ~/.fluxbox/startup file
  • In Openbox add powerkit & to the ~/.config/openbox/autostart file.

Do not run powerkit if your desktop environment already has a power manager!

CONFIGURATION

The most common options are available directly from the system tray icon, for more advanced options open Settings from the system tray menu or run powerkit --conf. You should also be able to lauch the powerkit settings from your desktop application menu (if available).

SCREEN SAVER

powerkit depends on XScreenSaver to handle the screen locking feature and screen poweroff, the default settings may need to be adjusted. You can launch the configuration GUI with the xscreensaver-demo command.

Recommended settings are:

  • Mode: Blank Screen Only
  • Blank After: 5 minutes
  • Lock Screen After: enabled + 0 minutes
  • Display Power Management: enabled
    • Standby After: 0 minutes
    • Suspend After: 0 minutes
    • Off After: 0 minutes
    • Quick Power-off in Blank Only Mode: enabled

Note that powerkit will start XScreenSaver during startup (unless org.freedesktop.ScreenSaver is disabled).

Support for alternative screen savers can be added if needed.

BACKLIGHT

The current display brightness (on laptops) can be adjusted with the mouse wheel on the system tray icon or through the system tray menu.

HIBERNATE

If hibernate "just works" depends on your system, worst case a swap partition (or file) is needed by the kernel to support hibernate, just add resume=<swap_partition> to the kernel command line in the boot loader.

Consult your system documentation regarding hibernation.

ICONS

powerkit will use the existing icon theme from the running desktop environment. You should have (a proper version) of Adwaita installed as a fallback.

You can override the icon theme in the ~/.config/powerkit/powerkit.conf file, see icon_theme=<theme_name>.

FAQ

Slackware-only?

No, powerkit should work on any Linux system. However, powerkit is developed on/for Slackware and sees minimal testing on other systems (feedback and/or bug reports for other systems are welcome).

How does an application inhibit the screen saver?

The preferred way to inhibit the screen saver from an application is to use the org.freedesktop.ScreenSaver specification. Any application that uses org.freedesktop.ScreenSaver will work with powerkit.

Note that powerkit also includes SimulateUserActivity for backwards compatibility.

Popular applications that uses this feature is Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, VideoLAN VLC and many more.

How does an application inhibit suspend actions?

The preferred way to inhibit suspend actions from an application is to use the org.freedesktop.PowerManagement specification. Any application that uses org.freedesktop.PowerManagement will work with powerkit.

Common use cases are audio playback, downloading and more.

Google Chrome/Chromium does not inhibit the screen saver!?

Chrome does not use org.freedesktop.ScreenSaver until it detects a supported desktop environment (KDE/Xfce). Add the following to ~/.bashrc or the google-chrome launcher if you don't run a desktop environment:

export DESKTOP_SESSION=xfce
export XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=xfce

REQUIREMENTS

powerkit requires the following dependencies:

BUILD

First make sure you have the required dependencies installed, then review the most common build options:

  • CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=</usr/local> - Install target. /usr recommended.
  • CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=<Release/Debug> - Build type. Release recommended
  • USE_QT5=<ON/OFF> - Build against Qt5 (OFF if you want use Qt4).
  • SERVICE_USER=<root> - powerkitd owner, needs write access to /sys. Usually the root user.
  • SERVICE_GROUP=<power> - Group that can access the powerkitd service, this should be any desktop user that can change screen brightness, CPU performance and RTC wake alarm. Usually the power group.

Now configure powerkit with CMake and build (example for packaging purposes).

cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..
make
make DESTDIR=<package> install

pkg
|-- etc
|   |-- dbus-1
|   |   `-- system.d
|   |       `-- org.freedesktop.PowerKit.conf
|   `-- xdg
|       `-- autostart
|           `-- powerkit.desktop
`-- usr
    |-- bin
    |   `-- powerkit
    |-- libexec
    |   `-- powerkitd
    `-- share
        |-- applications
        |   `-- powerkit.desktop
        |-- dbus-1
        |   `-- system-services
        |       `-- org.freedesktop.PowerKit.service
        |-- doc
        |   `-- powerkit-VERSION
        |       |-- LICENSE
        |       `-- README.md
        `-- man
            |-- man1
            |   `-- powerkit.1
            `-- man8
                `-- powerkitd.8

CHANGELOG

2.0.0 (TBA)

  • Easier to use (minimal setup)
  • New UI
  • RTC wake alarm support
    • Hibernate computer while suspended for X amount of time
  • CPU frequency scaling and thermal support
    • Intel PState
  • powerkitd
    • Service for unprivileged users (needed for CPU/RTC/brightness)

OPTIONS

--config : Launch configuration.

FILES

~/.config/powerkit/powerkit.conf : Per user configuration file.

SEE ALSO

xscreensaver(1), xscreensaver-demo(1), UPower(7), powerkitd(8)

BUGS

See https://github.com/rodlie/powerkit/issues.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) 2018-2022 Ole-André Rodlie <[email protected]>
All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

* Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this
  list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

* Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice,
  this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation
  and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

* Neither the name of the copyright holder nor the names of its
  contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from
  this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS"
AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR
SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER
CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY,
OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE
OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

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verified publisher icon rodlie

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Desktop Independent Power Manager

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