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NAME

       cpufreqd.conf - configuration file for cpufreqd(1)

DESCRIPTION

       cpufreqd.conf  is  a  simple  text  file containing rules to be used by
       cpufreqd(1).

       cpufreqd.conf  is  divided  into  sections  enclosed  in   tags   (eg.:
       [General][/General]).   You need at least one [General] section and one
       or  more  [Profile]  and  [Rule]  sections.   Each  [Rule]  depends  on
       previously  defined [Profile] subsections.  Some plugins also require a
       proper configuration section.

       Some notes to better understand how to write appropriate rules:

              - the score of a rule is made up of the  percentage  of  entries
              that match the current system state as reported by plugins + the
              number of matching entries.  In this  way  even  a  single-entry
              rule can reach 100% but more accurate rules are preferred.

              - in case of 2 or more rules having the same score the first one
              (as found in the configuration file) or the one already  applied
              if applicable is kept and set.

              -  each  directive  is  handled  by  a  single  plugin that will
              determine if the state  described  matches  the  current  system
              state.

              -  if  no  rule  matches the current system status, no action is
              performed.

       What to keep in mind when writing rules:

              -  the  -V  switch  is  (hopefully)  your  friend,   test   your
              configuration  slightly  increasing  cpufreqd verbosity and look
              what happens (-V6 will report rules’  scores,  -V7  will  report
              which entry matched and which not).

              -  if you want a rule to be preferred over another just describe
              the system state more accurately.

       A good approach to write cpufreqd rules is to first describe the  basic
       parameters  you  want  for  a  general  usage (e.g.: define at least an
       "AC-on" rule and an "AC-off" rule), then proceed and describe  all  the
       special  cases  by  describing  the system state more accurately (e.g.:
       "AC-off but running mplayer" or "AC-on but temperature too hot").

       Note that no white space is  allowed  between  name  and  value  pairs.
       Characters after a ’#’ are considered comments and ignored.

SECTIONS

       Acceptable configuration tokens and values include:

   [General]
       poll_interval
              A  float  larger than 0.15, measures the interval between system
              status reading in seconds. Note: the lower bound has been set in
              order  to  try  to avoid trashing your system if using a too low
              value. (default: 1.0)

       enable_plugins
              A list of plugins separated by comma. As of cpufreqd 2.1.0  this
              option  is useless, cpufreqd will load all available plugins and
              remove those remaining unused after the  configuration  file  is
              read.

       pidfile
              Specifies  the file to write as its process identification file.
              (default: /var/run/cpufreqd.pid)

       enable_remote
              Make cpufreqd open a local UNIX socket and listen for command to
              be  executed.   See  cpufreqd-set(1) and cpufreqd-set(1) for two
              very simple clients.

       remote_group
              Make the socket readable and writeable to the  specified  group.
              Useful to allow simple users to tweak cpufreqd with cpufreqd-set
              and cpufreqd-get.

       double_check
              Make cpufreqd check if the requested policy has  been  correctly
              applied by re-reading the corresponding kernel attributes.

       verbosity
              Verbosity  level  from 0 (less verbose) to 7 (most verbose), the
              default  value  only  prints  warning/error/critical   messages.
              (default: 4)

   [Profile]
       name   An arbitrary and unique name for your profile. [REQUIRED]

       minfreq
              An  integer  value  representing the minimum frequency to set in
              /proc/cpufreq. This value can be both a percentage  of  the  CPU
              full capacity or frequency in kHz. [REQUIRED]

       maxfreq
              An integer value representing the maximum frequency to set. This
              value can be both a percentage  of  the  CPU  full  capacity  or
              frequency in kHz. [REQUIRED]

       policy Can  be  any  of  the  available  governor’s  name  as  shown in
              /sys/devices/.../cpufreq/scaling_available_governors, this means
              that  if  you  compiled governors as modules in your kernel, you
              need to load them before running cpufreqd. [REQUIRED]

       other plugin entries
              Other Profile directives are available according to the  enabled
              plugins.

   [Rule]
       name   An arbitrary and unique name for your rule. [REQUIRED]

       profile
              A  character  string  that  must  match a [Profile] section name
              property.  A Rule can also associate  profiles  to  single  cpus
              providing  a list of the format CPU%d:%s separated by semicolons
              (";"), e.g.: profile=CPU0:profile0;CPU1:profile1.   The  keyword
              "ALL"  can  be  used  to  indicate  that  all cpus must have the
              profile applied.  The "ALL" keyword has a lower priority so  you
              can  mix up CPU%d and ALL meaning that if no specific profile is
              supplied, the "ALL" one will be used. [REQUIRED]

       other plugin entries
              Other Rule directives are available  according  to  the  enabled
              plugins.

PLUGINS

       Plugins  extend  cpufreqd  in  order  to  be able to cope with the most
       exotic system paramters. Currently available plugins are  listed  below
       along   with   the  configration  directives  they  provide  and  their
       configuration section description if available.

   acpi plugin
       This plugin includes all the acpi monitoring functionalities previously
       available   as   separate   plugins.   It  allows  monitoring  battery,
       temperature, ac and interacting with acpid to immediately react on ACPI
       events.

       Section [acpi]
              acpid_socket   The   path   to   Acpid   open  socket  (default:
              /var/run/acpid.socket). When available  cpufreqd  will  wake  up
              immediately upon event arrival and battery and ac status updates
              are forced.

              battery_update_interval
                     The number of seconds that have to elapse before  polling
                     the  battery again. In such period the battery value will
                     be  estimated  based  on   reported   power   consumption
                     (default: 30).

       battery_interval
              The  rule  will  have  a  higher  score if battery percentage is
              between the values provided. Can be of the form %d-%d or  simply
              %d for a fixed value (e.g.: battery_interval=10-100) or %s:%d-%d
              or %s:%d where the string represents the battery name that  must
              match (look at ’ls /proc/acpi/battery’ for available names).

       ac     Can  be on or off.  The rule will have a higher score if the A/C
              adapter is on or off as defined in this setting.

       acpi_temperature
              The rule will have a higher score if the temperature  percentage
              corresponds  to the provided values. Can be of the form %d-%d or
              simply %d for a fixed value (e.g.:  acpi_temperature=10-100)  or
              %s:%d-%d  or  %s:%d where the string represents the thermal zone
              name that must match (look at ’ls  /proc/acpi/thermal_zone’  for
              available names).

   apm plugin
       Monitors values reported by the APM subsystem. Available Rule entries:

       ac     Can  be on or off.  The rule will have a higher score if the A/C
              adapter is on or off as defined in this setting.

       battery_interval
              The rule will have a  higher  score  if  battery  percentage  is
              between  the  values  provided. Must be of the form %d-%d (e.g.:
              battery_interval=10-100).

   pmu plugin
       Monitors values reported by the PMU subsystem. Available Rule entries:

       ac     Can be on or off.  The rule will have a higher score if the  A/C
              adapter is on or off as defined in this setting.

       battery_interval
              The  rule  will  have  a  higher  score if battery percentage is
              between the values provided. Must be of the  form  %d-%d  (e.g.:
              battery_interval=10-100).

   tau plugin
       Support  for  the  Thermal Assist Unit to read the CPU temperature from
       /proc/cpuinfo.

       tau_temperature
              The rule will have a higher score if the temperature is  between
              the   values   provided.  Must  be  of  the  form  %d-%d  (e.g.:
              tau_temperature=30-60).

   cpu plugin
       Monitors the cpu usage. Available Rule entries:

       cpu_interval
              The rule will have a higher score if cpu usage  is  between  the
              values   provided.    Must   be   of   the   form  %d-%d  (e.g.:
              cpu_interval=10-100) or %d:%d-%d to monitor a  specific  cpu  in
              SMP/SMT  systems (e.g.: cpu_interval=1:50-100). Moreover you can
              combine multiple cpus giving multiple intervals on the same line
              separated  by  semicolon  (’;’), if any of them matches the full
              directive  will  match   (e.g.:   cpu_interval=0:50-100;1:0-60).
              Additionally  you can use the strings "ALL" and "ANY" to request
              that  all  cpus  or  any   cpu   matches   respectively   (e.g.:
              cpu_interval=ANY:50-100).   It  is possible to specify the scale
              to calculate niced processes cpu usage with the form %d-%d,%f or
              %d:%d-%d,%f  (e.g.: cpu_interval=1:70-100,1.5), default is 3, in
              this way niced processes will be considered 1/3  of  their  real
              value.  Rules with overlapping cpu_intervals are allowed.

   exec plugin
       Executes  command on Rule/Profile selection. Available Rule and Profile
       entries:

       exec_pre

       exec_post
              You can give commands that you want to be executed when  a  Rule
              or  Profile  is  applied. As the names suggest, exec_pre will be
              run before a Rule or Profile is applied, exec_post will  be  run
              after.

   programs plugin
       Monitors active processes. Available entries:

       programs
              The rule will have a higher score if one of the listed processes
              is running.  This is  a   comma  separated   list.    No   white
              space  is  allowed  between  values.  cpufreqd will try to match
              each process name with the configured process list. If you  need
              to  match against program from a spe- cific location you have to
              supply the full path as search pattern.

   nforce2_atxp1 plugin
       Allows you to change Vcore of the CPU on the fly if you own  a  NForce2
       board  with atxp1 voltage regulator (and its module loaded). The use of
       this  plugin  will  allow  a  new  Profile  directive  and  requires  a
       configuration section.

       Section [nforce2_atxp1]
              vcore_path  Defines  the  interface file created by atxp1 module
              which will be used to change Vcore.

              vcore_default As NForce2 boards only  initialize  the  atxp1  on
              power-on, you need to put back default Vcore before reboot. This
              value will be used to set Vcore on exit.

       vcore  Will  set  Vcore  to  this  value  (given  in   mV)   when   the
              corresponding Profile is applied. Due to safety reasons range is
              limited from 1200 to 1850.

   nvclock plugin
       Allows you to tweak the core an memory clock for NVidia cards.  The use
       of  this  plugin will allow new Profile directives.  NOTE: you MUST use
       this plugin ONLY with supported cards.  See also the  nvclock  homepage
       (http://www.linuxhardware.org/nvclock).

       nv_core
              Sets  the core clock in MHz. Must be of the form %d:%d where the
              first integer represents the card number, the second the desired
              frequency in MHz.

       nv_mem Sets  the  memory  clock in MHz. Must be of the form %d:%d where
              the first integer represents the card  number,  the  second  the
              desired frequency in MHz.

   sensors plugin
       Allows you to specify lm-sensors features to watch, see ‘sensors -u’ to
       find out which sensors are available on your system.   A  configuration
       section  is  also available to tell cpufreqd which sensors.conf file to
       use. If not specified it will take the first on the default  locations.

       Section [sensors_plugin]
              sensors_conf  Define this directive to the sensors.conf file you
              want cpufreqd to use to load the sensors library.

       sensor The rule will have a higher score if the  given  sensor  feature
              reports  a  value  between  the two defined. Must be of the form
              %s:%f-%f where the string represents the feature name  or  label
              and  the  two  decimal  numbers  the  interval  into  which  the
              directive is valid (e.g.: sensor=temp1:0-50).

   governor_parameters plugin
       Allows you to specify parameters for governors in  [Profile]  sections.
       Currently  only  the  ‘ondemand’  and  ‘conservative’ governors support
       parameters.  The description of the parameters  below  is  basically  a
       summary  of  the  information  found in the file ‘governors.txt’ in the
       documentation of kernel versions 2.6.16 or later.

       sampling_rate
              How often the governor checks the CPU usage.  Specify in  micro-
              seconds  or  percentage of mimimum and maximum available values.
              Supported suffixes: ‘%’ for a percentage, ‘s’  for  a  value  in
              seconds, ‘m’ for a value in milli-seconds, or ‘u’ for a value in
              micro-seconds (the default),

       up_threshold
              What the average CPU  usage  needs  be  at  least  to  make  the
              governor  decide  to  switch  to a higher frequency.  Though the
              value is interpreted as percentage by the governor,  you  should
              not append a ‘%’ in cpufreqd.conf for this parameter.

       down_threshold (‘conservative’ governor only)
              What the average CPU usage needs be at most to make the governor
              decide to switch to a lower frequency.  This is the opposite  of
              up_threshold (see above).

       sampling_down_factor
              How  quickly  the  frequency will be decreased in respect to how
              quickly it will be increased.  E.g. when set to 5, the frequency
              will go down 5 times ‘less easy’ than it will go up.

       ignore_nice, ignore_nice_load
              Whether  ‘nice’  processes  should be considered as CPU usage by
              the governor.  This is a boolean value (e.g. value is  either  0
              or  1).   When  set to 1 ‘nice’ processes will not be counted as
              CPU usage by the governor.  Note: ‘ignore_nice’ was  renamed  to
              ‘ignore_nice_load’  in  kernel  version  2.6.16.  Both names are
              accepted in cpufreqd.conf, regardless the version of the running
              kernel.

       freq_step (‘conservative’ governor only)
              How  much the frequency should be changed (up or down) each time
              the governor decides the frequency should go up  or  down.   The
              value  is  the percentage of the maximum available frequency you
              want the frequency to  increase  or  decrease  each  time.   The
              actual  frequency  your  CPU  runs  at will only change when the
              desired frequency reaches the next available frequency.   Though
              the  value  is  interpreted  as  percentage by the governor, you
              should not append a ‘%’ in cpufreqd.conf for this parameter.

EXAMPLE

       # cpufreqd.conf sample
       # this is a comment
       [General]
       pidfile=/var/run/cpufreqd.pid
       poll_interval=2
       verbosity=5 #(if you want a minimal logging)
       [/General]

       [Profile]
       name=hi
       minfreq=100%
       maxfreq=100%
       policy=performance
       [/Profile]

       [Profile]
       name=medium
       minfreq=66%
       maxfreq=66%
       policy=performance
       [/Profile]

       [Profile]
       name=lo
       minfreq=33%
       maxfreq=33%
       policy=performance
       [/Profile]

       [Profile]
       name=ondemand_hi
       minfreq=0%
       maxfreq=100%
       policy=ondemand
       [/Profile]

       [Profile]
       name=ondemand_lo
       minfreq=0%
       maxfreq=66%
       policy=ondemand
       ignore_nice=1
       sampling_rate=80%
       [/Profile]

       # full power when AC
       # max score 101%
       [Rule]
       name=AC_on
       ac=on
       profile=hi
       [/Rule]

       # conservative mode when not AC
       # max score 101%
       [Rule]
       name=AC_off
       ac=off
       profile=ondemand_hi
       [/Rule]

       # low battery
       # max score 102%
       [Rule]
       name=lo_battery
       ac=off
       battery_interval=0-40
       profile=ondemand_lo
       [/Rule]

       # need big power (not if battery very low)
       # max score 103%
       [Rule]
       name=hi_cpu
       ac=off
       battery_interval=40-100
       cpu_interval=ANY:70-100
       profile=hi
       [/Rule]

       # slow down a little if overheated
       # max score 103%
       [Rule]
       name=overheat
       acpi_temperature=55-100
       cpu_interval=ANY:0-100
       battery_interval=40-100
       profile=medium
       [/Rule]

       # full power when watching DVDs and not AC
       # can reach a 105% score
       [Rule]
       name=dvd_watching
       ac=off
       battery_interval=0-100
       acpi_temperature=0-100
       cpu_interval=ANY:0-100
       programs=xine,mplayer
       profile=hi
       [/Rule]

SEE ALSO

       cpufreqd(8),cpufreqd-set(1),cpufreqd-get(1)

AUTHOR

       Mattia Dongili <malattia@linux.it>

       George Staikos <staikos@0wned.org>

                                  05 May 2005