Get the Source Code

TLP's source code is available on GitHub. The repository holds the following branches:

• master – current development – releases are tagged with VERSION
• debian/current – Ubuntu/Debian packing for current releases (systemd + sysvinit)
• debian/legacy – Ubuntu/Debian packing for old releases (sysvinit)

Obtain the current development version with

Checkout a release version with

Download release tarballs here.

The current changelog for the development version is here.

Building Debian Packages

1. Install the package

• packaging-dev – Metapackage providing common packaging tools

2. Checkout the master branch (see above).

3. Populate debian/ with

4. Edit debian/changelog to your needs (optional).

5. Build binary packages with

Components

TLP consists – aside from manpages and docs – solely of POSIX compatible shell scripts (i.e. without bash extensions) and perl scripts.

TLP is installed as two packages:

• tlp – Main TLP functionality
• tlp-rdw – Radio device wizard: switches radios upon network connect/disconnect and dock/undock events (depends on Network Manager)

Files

Table 1: Contents of the source archive

Makefile

Targets

Table 2: Makefile targets

Parameters

The Makefile accepts the parameters below. Default values apply when a parameter is not given.

Table 3: Makefile parameters

Dependencies

TLP depends on (or conficts with) the tools described below. They should be implemented as package dependencies.

Package tlp

acpi-call

optional

Kernel module needed for advanced battery functions of Sandy Bridge and newer ThinkPads models (X220, T420, et al.). Do not implement via direct package dependency.

ethtool

optional

Used to disable wake on lan.

hdparm

mandatory

Needed for hard disk advanced power management and to show information in tlp-stat.

iw

mandatory

Needed for wifi power save, replaces deprecated iwconfig (see wireless-tools below).

laptop-mode-tools

conflicts

There can only be one power management tool.

lsb-release

optional

Used to show distribution/release in tlp-stat.

pciutils

mandatory

Provides lspci used to show PCI(e) devices in tlp-stat.

pm-utils

conflicts or mandatory

pm-utils provides it's own set of power management scripts in /usr/lib/pm-utils/power.d/ that compete with TLP's functionality. Depending on the target distribution there are two ways to deal with this:

• conflicts: for systemd based distributions that do not depend on pm-utils
• mandatory: for distributions with a hard dependency on pm-utils. In this case it's also necessary to disable pm-utils's scripts – see the section Installation Scripts below.

Important: see the Architecure section for details.

rfkill

mandatory

Needed for switching radio devices on and off.

smartmontools

optional

Used to show hard disk drive SMART data in tlp-stat (smartctl).

tp-smapi

optional

Kernel modules needed to implement battery functions on ThinkPads. The implementation of the package depends considerably on the target distribution and therein on the kernel variant. It is therefore not useful to suffice the dependecy via a direct package dependency.

usbutils

mandatory

Provides lsusb used to show USB devices in tlp-stat.

util-linux

mandatory

Provides dmesg for ALPM warnings in tlp-stat.

wireless-tools

deprecated

Needed for wifi power save (iwconfig); only if iw and rfkill (see above) are not available.

x86_energy_perf_policy

optional

Linux kernel version specific tool contained in the kernel tree (tools/power/x86). Needed to set performance versus energy savings policy for the CPU.

Hint: Ubuntu provides it via the metapackage linux-tools, the Debian package of the same name however does not contain it. Your mileage with other distributions may vary.

Package tlp-rdw

tlp

mandatory

Provides libraries tlp-functions and tlp-rf-func.

network-manager

mandatory

Used to hook ifup/ifdown events and to determine corresponding interface type lan/wifi/wwan.

System Startup

systemd

The sources contain the unit tlp.service, which calls tlp init start/stop upon system startup/shutdown. Use the TLP_WITH_SYSTEMD Makefile switch to install it.

sysvinit

The package install process must link the sysvinit script tlp.init i.e. /etc/init.d/tlp to the necessary runlevels by means of the target distribution.

Other init system

In case the target distribution does support neither systemd nor sysvinit, you have to program a script that calls tlp accordingly:

The parameter after init is checked by tlp.

Architecture

There is no TLP daemon. TLP is event based and depends on other system daemons.

The call architecture is as follows:

Change of Power Source

udevd: detects by an udev rule in tlp.rules when the power supply is plugged or unplugged and calls tlp auto upon each change.

Suspend (Hibernate) / Resume Cycle

There are two possible variants to satisfy different distributions' requirements:

• systemd: the service tlp-sleep.service is invoked – which calls tlp suspend or tlp resume.
• pm-utils: pm-suspend (called by upowerd or systemd) invokes all scripts in /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/ including 49tlp – which calls tlp suspend or tlp resume.

Installation Scripts

As already mentioned in the pm-utils section above, it is necessary to mask pm-utils' scripts located in /usr/lib/pm-utils/power.d/. To achieve this, an empty script with identical name is put in /etc/pm/power.d/. For transparency this is done with symlinks to /usr/share/tlp-pm/tlp-nop.

Important: the symlinks must be removed when uninstalling the tlp package.

Post Installation Script (tlp)

# Mask conflicting pm-utils hooks
if [ -d /usr/lib/pm-utils/power.d ] && [ -d /etc/pm/power.d ]; then
    for i in 95hdparm-apm disable_wol hal-cd-polling intel-audio-powersave harddrive \
             laptop-mode journal-commit pci_devices pcie_aspm readahead sata_alpm \
        if [ -x /usr/lib/pm-utils/power.d/$i ]; then
            # Executable hook in /usr/lib/pm-utils/power.d/ exists
            if [ -f /etc/pm/power.d/$i ]; then
                # Exclude symlinks to tlp-nop
                if [ "$( readlink -s /etc/pm/power.d/$i )" != "/usr/share/tlp-pm/tlp-nop" ]; then
                    # Move aside superseding hook of same name in /etc/pm/power.d/
                    mv -n /etc/pm/power.d/$i /etc/pm/power.d/$i.tlp-save
                fi
            fi
            # Make a soft link to tlp-nop in /etc/pm/power.d/
            # to disable corresponding hook /usr/lib/pm-utils/power.d/
            ln -sf /usr/share/tlp-pm/tlp-nop /etc/pm/power.d/$i
        fi
    done
fi

# Mask conflicting upstart jobs (Package rfkill in Ubuntu)
for i in /etc/init/rfkill-*.conf; do
    if [ -f "$i" ] –– [ ! -f "${i%.conf}.override" ]; then
        # Do this only when no .override exists
        echo "manual" > ${i%.conf}.override
    fi
done

# Mask conflicting systemd services
if [ -d /lib/systemd/system ] && [ -d /etc/systemd/system ]; then
    for i in systemd-rfkill@.service; do
        if [ -f /lib/systemd/system/$i ] –– [ ! -f /etc/systemd/system/$i ]; then
            # Service is not masked yet --> mask service
            ln -sf /dev/null /etc/systemd/system/$i
        fi
    done
fi

Post Removal Script (tlp)

# Unmask pm-utils hooks
for i in 95hdparm-apm disable_wol hal-cd-polling intel-audio-powersave harddrive \
         laptop-mode journal-commit pci_devices pcie_aspm readahead sata_alpm \
         sched-powersave usb_bluetooth wireless xfs_buffer; do
    if [ "$( readlink /etc/pm/power.d/$i )" = "/usr/share/tlp-pm/tlp-nop" ]; then
        rm /etc/pm/power.d/$i
    fi
done

# Unmask conflicting upstart jobs (Package rfkill in Ubuntu)
for i in /etc/init/rfkill-*.override; do
    [ ! -f "$i" ] || rm -f $i
done

# Unmask conflicting systemd services
for i in systemd-rfkill@.service; do
    if [ "$( readlink /etc/systemd/system/$i )" = "/dev/null" ]; then
        # Service is masked --> unmask service
        rm /etc/systemd/system/$i
    fi
done

Testing

Installed packages should be tested with trace mode enabled:

See Trace Mode.

Changelog

[1.0]

• Files:
  • Removed executable attribute from 49tlp, tlp.init, tlp-pcilist, tlp-rf-func, tlp-usblist, tpacpi-bat;
    only relevant if you don't use make install for packaging.
  • New manpages: tlp-pcilist.1, tlp-usblist.1, tlp.service.8, tlp-sleep.service.8
• Makefile:
  • New parameter TLP_SYSV
  • TLP_TLIB: install library functions to /usr/share/tlp (was: /usr/share/tlp-pm)
• sysvinit: chkconfig header added to tlp.init.

[0.9]

• GitHub:
  • Development moves to master; retire devel branch
  • Remove debian/* from master
  • Move Ubuntu/Debian packaging to new branches: debian/current (systemd + sysvinit), debian/legacy (sysvinit)
• Makefile:
  • Install library functions to /usr/share/tlp-pm/ (was: /usr/lib/tlp-pm/)
  • Modify hardcoded library paths – no need to patch anymore; move affected files to .in
  • Add rules for manpages: install-man, uninstall-man; new parameter TLP_MAN
  • Removed parameter: TLP_ACPI
• Removed files: thinkpad-radiosw, thinkpad-radiosw.sh

[0.8]

• Makefile:
  • Install tlp.bash_completion to /usr/share/bash-completion/completions/tlp,
    Packing must take care to remove obsolete /etc/bash_completion.d/tlp!
  • Added parameter TLP_SHCPL

[0.7]

• New file: AUTHORS
• Makefile:
  • Install tlp.rules to 85-tlp.rules
  • Install tlp-rdw.rules to 85-tlp-rdw.rules
• Changed dependencies: prefer iw and rfkill over deprecated wireless-tools
• New dependency: x86_energy_perf_policy
• Missing dependencies added: pciutils, usbutils

[0.6]

• New file: changelog (formerly contained in debian/changelog)
• Makefile: added parameters TLP_WITH_SYSTEMD and TLP_SYSD
• New dependency: util-linux
• Removed dependency: acpid
• Post install/remove scripts: sample code to disable/re-enable systemd-rfkill@.service

[0.5]

• Makefile: added parameters

Links

TLP

• TLP Changelog
• TLP Source Code – git repository at Github.com
• TLP PPA – Packages for Ubuntu and Debian
• TLP Linux Advanced Power Management – Installation instructions and user documentation
• TLP Configuration – Settings
• TLP FAQ
• TLP Troubleshooting
• TLP Linux Stromsparen – Dokumentation in Deutsch

Dependencies, Sources

• tp-smapi – Latest source for tp-smapi
• acpi-call – Kernel module source for acpi-call
• tpacpi-bat – Script with ACPI calls for battery functions of Sandy Bridge ThinkPad models (X220, T420, et al.) or newer

© 2016, linrunner. Licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA.