Debian Bug report logs - #659260
incompatible with /etc/sysctl.conf and not obvious

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Message #5 received at submit@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Osamu Aoki <osamu@debian.org>

To: Debian Bug Tracking System <submit@bugs.debian.org>

Subject: pm-utils: incompatible with /etc/sysctrl.conf and not obvious

Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:06:23 +0900

Package: pm-utils
Version: 1.4.1-9
Severity: normal
Tags: patch

=== Problem and consideration ===

I was trying to set slow updates for my SSD on my laptop even under AC
power
====
# ssd_ac_mode default (for testing)
vm.laptop_mode      = 5
vm.dirty_ratio      = 60
vm.background_ratio = 40
vm.dirty_writeback_centisecs = 60000
====
It did not work.

Reading manpage  of pm-powersave did not give me any hints.

Reading pm-utils source and few experiments lead me to realize that the
hard-coded numbers embedded in the laptop_mode as "write_values 0 10 5
500" was the place to edit such configuration.  This is absurd.

This may be somewhat of regression of parallel init script.  This script
was executed after /etc/syscyrl.conf now and since there were no state
file this hard-coded value was used when booted under AC.
/etc/syscyrl.conf was used for AC when booted under battery and plugged.

=== Solution 1: simple fix ===

In laptop_mode, change laptop_mode_ac() function as follows.

===
laptop_mode_ac() {
    # disable laptop mode, set vm parameters back to sane defaults
    if state_exists laptop_mode_default; then
        write_values $(restorestate laptop_mode_default)
    fi
    echo "Laptop mode disabled."
}
===
If you wish to change via /etc/syscyrl.conf for AC setting, it works.

=== Solution 2: robust fix with added feature ===

Since above hard-coded segment may have been introduced for some other
interference, I think simple solution of providing legible and fixed
code setting both AC and battery mode should be safer and more stable
for /usr/lib/pm-utils/power.d/laptop-mode.

This code has additional benefit of using slow battery mode for SSD on
laptop as default.

If you think this is too much for default configuration, please consider
to add this to /usr/share/pm-utils/examples/laptop_mode

====== EXPERIMENTAL RESULT =====
= Normal system =

== Normal - start on AC ==

• boot on AC
• hard-coded AC setting in laptop_mode of pm-utils (no state file)
• unplug
• hard-coded BATT setting in laptop_mode of pm-utils (state file with hard-coded AC setting in laptop_mode of pm-utils) 
• plug
• hard-coded AC setting in laptop_mode of pm-utils

== Normal - start on BATT ==

• boot on BATT
• hard-coded BATT setting in laptop_mode of pm-utils (state file with sysctrl.conf)
• plug
• setting in /etc/sysctrl.conf content (state file with sysctrl.conf)
• unplug
• hard-coded BATT setting in laptop_mode of pm-utils (state file with sysctrl.conf)

= Disable hard-coded AC - solution 1 applied =

= Disable hard-coded AC - start on AC =

• boot on AC
• setting in /etc/sysctrl.conf content (no state file)
• unplug
• hard-coded BATT setting in laptop_mode of pm-utils (state file with sysctrl.conf)
• plug
• setting in /etc/sysctrl.conf content (state file with sysctrl.conf)

= Disable hard-coded AC - start on BATT =

• boot on BATT
• hard-coded BATT setting in laptop_mode of pm-utils (state file with sysctrl.conf)
• plug
• setting in /etc/sysctrl.conf content (state file with sysctrl.conf)
• unplug


-- System Information:
Debian Release: wheezy/sid
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 3.2.0-1-amd64 (SMP w/8 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash

Versions of packages pm-utils depends on:
ii  powermgmt-base  1.31

Versions of packages pm-utils recommends:
ii  hdparm   9.32-1
ii  kbd      1.15.3-7
ii  procps   1:3.3.2-3
ii  vbetool  1.1-2

Versions of packages pm-utils suggests:
ii  cpufrequtils    007-2
ii  ethtool         1:3.1-1
ii  radeontool      1.6.2-1.1
ii  wireless-tools  30~pre9-8

-- no debconf information

Message #12 received at 659260@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Osamu Aoki <osamu@debian.org>

To: 659260@bugs.debian.org

Subject: laptop-mode fix: solution 1

Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:05:16 +0900

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Hi,

I forgot to attach patch for solution 1 which is more appropriate for
Debian package activity.

Here we go.

Osamu

[pm-utils-1.4.1.diff (text/x-diff, attachment)]

Message #17 received at 659260@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Osamu Aoki <osamu@debian.org>

To: 659260@bugs.debian.org

Subject: pm-utils: (laptop-mode) solution 2 (SSD+Laptop)

Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:31:16 +0900

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Hi,

Just in case people worry what I meant by solution 2, here is a script I
propose to replace laptop-mode.

If you are lokking for a quick fix to the situation such as SDD+laptop
as user, drop this into /etc/pm/power.d/ directory with 
 "-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root".

Regards,

Osamu

[laptop-mode (text/plain, attachment)]

Message #24 received at 659260@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Osamu Aoki <osamu@debian.org>

To: 659260@bugs.debian.org

Subject: pm-utils:laptop-mode

Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:58:25 +0900

Hi,

I reported this to upstream.
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=45889

Osamu

Message #31 received at 659260@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: "David Fred" <debianbug659260@dfred.net>

To: 659260@bugs.debian.org

Subject: incompatible with /etc/sysctl.conf and not obvious

Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2013 09:16:45 -0500

I've hit this bug after installing wheezy rc1 on a desktop system with a
large amount of memory.  It requires manual tuning of the kernel
defaults for vm.dirty* in /etc/sysctl.conf.

It took me some time to determine what was overriding my sysctl
settings.  I don't claim to know the best solution, but I agree with the
original reporter that the current situation is not good.

The so-called sane defaults "0 10 5 500" should just be removed ASAP
from the script, as suggested in the first solution.  This is going to
bite everyone who has pm-utils installed and overrides these vm settings
with sysctl.

In general, it would be polite behavior if the script did not change
anything if it has never been invoked with a "true" argument.  If the
"state_exists laptop_mode_default" check does not satisfy this
requirement, then explicit logic should be added to guarantee it.

A more complete solution, including moving *all* the hard-coded values
to somewhere in /etc, seems like it would be highly desirable.  When I
eventually install wheezy on a laptop I will certainly need a reasonable
way to change the 40/60% dirty settings included in this script.  (JMHO,
but those settings seem like complete madness as a default.)

Allowing the laptop-mode script to manipulate the dirty*bytes settings
instead of *ratio would also be a feature to consider...

Thanks for all your work!

Regards,

David

Message #36 received at 659260@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: SoTiri <torentsis@gmx.de>

To: "659260@bugs.debian.org" <659260@bugs.debian.org>

Date: Sat, 11 May 2013 22:48:09 +0200

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Von Samsung Mobile gesendet

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #43 received at 659260@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Patrick Häcker <pat_h@web.de>

To: 659260@bugs.debian.org

Subject: This bug is even more serious

Date: Wed, 28 May 2014 16:48:53 +0200

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

I've also been hit by this bug which wasted not only my, but also a 
developer's time (see #749330).

I can only agree with the other reporters: Arbitrarily resetting kernel 
variables (even on a desktop computer) is out of scope of this package. 
Implementing solution 1 from message #5 needs about 5 minutes and could save 
so much time.

More importantly, changing the DIRTY values to the given values is a bug 
itself. With these values notebooks with a lot of RAM get stalled (see 
http://lwn.net/Articles/572911/ for an explanation). As this is an even larger 
problem (as the solution is identical I didn't open a new bug) because the 
package renders the notebook unusable in some situations (use the link above 
as a manual to reproduce this), I increased the bug's priority.

[signature.asc (application/pgp-signature, inline)]

Message #48 received at 659260@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Martin Pitt <mpitt@debian.org>

To: Osamu Aoki <osamu@debian.org>, 659260@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#659260: pm-utils: incompatible with /etc/sysctrl.conf and not obvious

Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2014 11:36:14 +0200

Hey Osamu,

Osamu Aoki [2012-02-10  1:06 +0900]:
> === Solution 1: simple fix ===
> 
> In laptop_mode, change laptop_mode_ac() function as follows.
> 
> ===
> laptop_mode_ac() {
>     # disable laptop mode, set vm parameters back to sane defaults
>     if state_exists laptop_mode_default; then
>         write_values $(restorestate laptop_mode_default)
>     fi
>     echo "Laptop mode disabled."
> }

Indeed I think that's the right way to do it. I verified that the
kernel defaults are exactly the hardcoded values (at least with recent
ones, 3.13 and 3.15), so that else branch is unnecessary.

I'll apply your patch, thanks!

Martin
-- 
Martin Pitt                        | http://www.piware.de
Ubuntu Developer (www.ubuntu.com)  | Debian Developer  (www.debian.org)

Message #57 received at 659260@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Osamu Aoki <osamu_aoki_home@nifty.com>

To: 659260@bugs.debian.org, Martin Pitt <mpitt@debian.org>

Subject: re: pm-utils: incompatible with /etc/sysctrl.conf and not obvious

Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2014 03:08:16 +0900

Hi,

Thanks for applying my first patch.  It has been 2 years.  It is about
time to fix this.  

I agree this first patch is the best option as I rethink.

Let me comment on the hardcoded values.  They were the same values
in kernel then (2012/Feb) which should be 3.2.0 or 3.1.0.

Osamu

Message #62 received at 659260-close@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Martin Pitt <mpitt@debian.org>

To: 659260-close@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Bug#659260: fixed in pm-utils 1.4.1-15

Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 13:03:48 +0000

Source: pm-utils
Source-Version: 1.4.1-15

We believe that the bug you reported is fixed in the latest version of
pm-utils, which is due to be installed in the Debian FTP archive.

A summary of the changes between this version and the previous one is
attached.

Thank you for reporting the bug, which will now be closed.  If you
have further comments please address them to 659260@bugs.debian.org,
and the maintainer will reopen the bug report if appropriate.

Debian distribution maintenance software
pp.
Martin Pitt <mpitt@debian.org> (supplier of updated pm-utils package)

(This message was generated automatically at their request; if you
believe that there is a problem with it please contact the archive
administrators by mailing ftpmaster@ftp-master.debian.org)


-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA256

Format: 1.8
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 14:58:31 +0200
Source: pm-utils
Binary: pm-utils
Architecture: source all
Version: 1.4.1-15
Distribution: unstable
Urgency: medium
Maintainer: Tim Dijkstra <tim@famdijkstra.org>
Changed-By: Martin Pitt <mpitt@debian.org>
Description:
 pm-utils   - utilities and scripts for power management
Closes: 659260
Changes:
 pm-utils (1.4.1-15) unstable; urgency=medium
 .
   * laptop-mode: If there is no state file (such as at boot), don't overwrite
     /proc/sys/vm/ values with fixed kernel defaults, simply do nothing. This
     allows sysctl.conf to set these values. Thanks to Osamu Aoki!
     (Closes: #659260)
   * Add 17-fix-wireless-hook.patch: Fix typo in wireless hook to make enabled
     check actually work. Thanks to Whoopie! (LP: #1299975)
Checksums-Sha1:
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 856c311edc16a41909fabf1962788f36e8ee6eb3 26748 pm-utils_1.4.1-15.debian.tar.xz
 036b84bbd55c41c5043c1f860a3c095d651b2c23 120538 pm-utils_1.4.1-15_all.deb
Checksums-Sha256:
 ff9419f88c5d9e887b5ab59281ab855b65ccdd81de5747afd31bf6918a4821f0 1923 pm-utils_1.4.1-15.dsc
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Files:
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 1fcb586c8cbec4acbce36eb41d051e58 1923 admin optional pm-utils_1.4.1-15.dsc
 ffd8a055a7433deae9355be85cf54a84 26748 admin optional pm-utils_1.4.1-15.debian.tar.xz

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