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authorVictor Lowther <victor.lowther@gmail.com>2008-03-29 12:52:14 -0500
committerVictor Lowther <victor.lowther@gmail.com>2008-03-29 12:53:21 -0500
commitbae3503fb464be7a0cd78462cd2c3d0b65e51a23 (patch)
tree3b77134b5946b308ec33e18707795ca2bd422d9a /README
parentbf5f55f5b5ec375ac1b0b565011b8bf9d0ccf178 (diff)
Updated README in preperation for making a stable release.
Diffstat (limited to 'README')
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diff --git a/README b/README
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@@ -2,58 +2,55 @@
What is pm-utils?
-* Provides simple shell command line tools to suspend and hibernate computer
-that can be used to run vendor or distro supplied scripts on suspend and resume.
+* Pm-utils provides simple shell command line tools to suspend and
+ hibernate computer that can be used to run vendor, distribution, or
+ user supplied scripts on suspend and resume.
Why do we need it?
-* As all the main distros are re-implimenting the same thing, over and over, to
-do something that's really quite trivial.
-Having the common locations for stuff means that software and hardware vendors
-can just install one file to do the clever stuff.
+* All the main distributions are re-implementing the same
+ functionality to support common power management
+ operations. pm-utils provides a standardized distribution agnostic
+ layout and interface for common power management tasks, which frees
+ software and hardware vndors from having to maintain
+ distribution-specific suspend/resume functionality.
-* Distros can easily add/remove functionality by installing/removing one
-file into the hooks directory, for example:
-
-- enabling and disabling standby LED's on laptop hardware
-- enabling suspend GUI's like suspend2
-- re-enabling video
-- starting and stopping services that can't cope with suspending
-- re-syncing the time with ntp
-- removing and modprobing modules when needed
-- setting grub to be the default target for a hibernate-resume
-- other wacky things that need doing on specific systems
+* Suspend/resume functionality can be easily modified by installing
+ files into the /etc/pm/sleep.d directory. These files, known as
+ "hooks" can perform specific tasks on suspend/resume, such as:
+
+ - enabling and disabling standby LED's on laptop hardware
+ - enabling suspend GUI's like suspend2
+ - re-enabling video
+ - starting and stopping services that can't cope with suspending
+ - re-syncing the time with ntp
+ - removing and modprobing modules when needed
+ - setting grub to be the default target for a hibernate-resume
+ - other wacky things that need doing on specific systems
How do "hooks" work?
* You put an executable file in /etc/pm/sleep.d. When suspend or
hibernate is called, several things happen:
- 1) /etc/pm/config.d/* are evaluated in C sort order. These files can be
- provided by individual packages outside of pm-utils. If a global config
- variable is set, the value set to will overwrite the previous value.
- If any other variable is set, it will be ignored.
- 2) each of /etc/pm/sleep.d/* are executed in C sort order. The first command
- line argument is "suspend" or "hibernate". These files may source
- configuration files from /etc/pm/config.d/ on their own in order to pick
- up variables set there that aren't part of the global list. Note that
- hooks should take care to preserve any global configuration variable
- which _that_ hook will later need to use, as sourcing this config file
- will clobber any such variables.
- 3) the system suspends or hibernates.
- 4) some event happens to wake the machine up
- 5) each of /etc/pm/sleep.d/* are executed in reverse C sort order. The first
- command line argument is "resume" or "thaw".
+ 1) The files in /etc/pm/config.d/* are evaluated in C sort order.
+ These files can be provided by individual packages outside of
+ pm-utils, and contain globally availabl configuration settings
+ for pm-utils and the hooks.
+ 2) Each of the hooks in /etc/pm/sleep.d/* are executed in C sort
+ order, with a command line argument of either "suspend" or "hibernate".
+ 3) The system suspends or hibernates.
+ 4) Some event happens to wake the machine up
+ 5) Each of /etc/pm/sleep.d/* are executed in reverse C sort order,
+ with a command line argument of "resume" or "thaw".
-End-user customization:
+End-user customization and debugging:
* If a particular hook is causing problems on your system, you can disable it
- using the HOOK_BLACKLIST environment variable.by creating a file in
+ using the HOOK_BLACKLIST environment variable by creating a file in
/etc/pm/config.d and adding the line:
HOOK_BLACKLIST="hookname 99another-hook"
-* To find out what parameters can be passed to pm-suspend and friends, run them
- with '--help' as the first parameter as root. This will print out the
- options that it supports and which hooks or modules handle those options.
+
* If a parameter (or lack thereof) passed to pm-suspend and friends is causing
problems, or you need to debug the suspend/resume process to work out what
quirks are causing problems, you can use the ADD_PARAMETERS and
@@ -65,6 +62,14 @@ End-user customization:
If you want to drop all parameters (for testing purposes, or to work around
bugs in HAL), you can use DROP_PARAMETERS="all"
+* If you suspect that a kernel module is preventing you from being
+ able to suspend and resume, you can use the SUSPEND_MODULES
+ environment variable to have that module removed when the system
+ suspends and reloaded when the system wakes up.
+
+* To find out what parameters can be passed to pm-suspend and friends, run them
+ with '--help' as the first parameter as root. This will print out the
+ options that it supports and which hooks or modules handle those options.
That's it!