Not exactly a bug, but a system integration issue. The 'powertop' utility (which is one of the core packages) has the ability to report the current power usage when a laptop is running on its battery. However, to do this it uses the /proc/acpi/battery interface. Unfortunately this interface is disabled in the standard kernel configuration: # CONFIG_ACPI_PROCFS_POWER is not set (for reference, I'm running 2.6.38.8-desktop-6.mga x86_64) It would be useful if this option was enabled by default. (of course the proper solution is to update powertop to use the sysfs interface - but that would be a lot more work!)
Hi, thanks for reporting this bug. Added the maintainer of the kernels and of powertop. (Please set the status to 'assigned' if you are working on it)
CC: (none) => tmbAssignee: bugsquad => mageiaSource RPM: (none) => powertop
Unfortunately it's not a simple config option change as it is depreceated and can confuse other tools... I have to see if I'll fix powertop instead...
Status: NEW => ASSIGNED
I already fixed it back in November (for a school project), forgot to apply them to Mageia. I also made some other fixes (make i915 usage reporting work again, fix X server detection in mga, show all frequency states on some cpus) which would probably be beneficial as well. See upstream repo: https://github.com/fenrus75/powertop/commits/master For these commits: https://github.com/fenrus75/powertop/commit/bae15566cb42a5b12ab4b1d0adac5ffa176eec85.patch https://github.com/fenrus75/powertop/commit/846b7e0a65a6958af44cb64c13de3c09cb4cd3f9.patch https://github.com/fenrus75/powertop/commit/5c11e7c5148908befe57ab0c879240b9dad8b792.patch https://github.com/fenrus75/powertop/commit/cd5a1c6fdaeace75f640c4eb089d27af941da778.patch https://github.com/fenrus75/powertop/commit/7c107301117f7ddaa38e41fe8350f9eeb902308f.patch
CC: (none) => anssi.hannula
Actually, the above commits are not enough, some hunks were missing from the git commits and only fixed later... Here's a working patchset: http://stuff.onse.fi/powertop-patches/
Please test if powertop-2.0-1.mga1 from core/updates_testing solve your problem. Thanks. If so, I will ask QA for an update request.
I'm afraid I've no longer got a working installation of Mageia 1 (I've updated all my machines to Mageia 2 RC). But I can say that powertop-2.0-1.mga2 works fine, so I'm happy!
Advisory: ------------------- powertop was not working in Mageia 1. This update fix this issue by updating powertop to final release 2.0. Packages: ------------------- powertop-2.0-1.mga1.src.rpm How to test: ------------------- Install powertop on Mageia 1. Launch the it and see that it's not working. Install powertop-2.0 from updates_testing. Launch the tool and check it's working!
Keywords: (none) => Junior_jobHardware: x86_64 => AllAssignee: mageia => qa-bugsSource RPM: powertop => powertop-2.0-1.mga1.src.rpm
CC: (none) => mageiaSummary: powertop cannot report power => Update request: powertop cannot report power
I installed both versions and didn't see a difference. Better testing procedure would be appreciated :) Also, I don't have a battery (I removed it from the laptop long time ago because it was out of order), can I still test?
CC: (none) => stormi
No, powertop can show power usage only when running on battery.
Testing without a battery. powertop seems to work nicely, so at least there's probably no regression. Mageia 1 64 bits. I used it to tweak some power settings and it actually seems to have made my USB mouse less responsive if I don't touch it for a while (looks like it's going out from sleep mode or something like that), so looks like it works :)
Whiteboard: (none) => MGA1-64-OK
Powertop seems to work well on MGA1 32 too, but I still can't test battery-related stuff.
Whiteboard: MGA1-64-OK => MGA1-64-OK? MGA1-32-OK?
My mga1's are in virtualbox now on a desktop so no good to test batteries with. Should this be validated?
leuhmanu reported it works when on battery. Update validated. No package require linking. Advisory: ------------------- powertop in Mageia 1 couldn't report power usage when on battery. This update fixes this issue by updating powertop to its final release 2.0. Packages: ------------------- powertop-2.0-1.mga1.src.rpm
Keywords: (none) => validated_updateCC: (none) => sysadmin-bugsWhiteboard: MGA1-64-OK? MGA1-32-OK? => MGA1-64-OK MGA1-32-OK
Update pushed: https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Support/Advisories/MGAA-2012-0100
Status: ASSIGNED => RESOLVEDResolution: (none) => FIXED