Installation¶
Does TLP conflict with other power management tools?¶
Yes. Using another tool simultaneously means that TLP’s settings get overwritten by the other tools settings (and vice versa), so actual power saving gets unpredictable. Special cases are explained in the following.
Warning
Conflict with power-profiles-daemon
power-profiles-daemon (contained in GNOME 40 and newer) might be contained in the default install of your distribution.
Symptom: power-profiles-daemon.service prevents TLP from making power saving settings at system startup. A check with
systemctl status power-profiles-daemon.service tlp.service
generates the following output in the conflict case:
● power-profiles-daemon.service - Power Profiles daemon
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/power-profiles-daemon.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Wed 2021-09-08 09:55:50 CEST; 2min 13s ago
Main PID: 413 (power-profiles-)
Tasks: 3 (limit: 4506)
Memory: 1.1M
CGroup: /system.slice/power-profiles-daemon.service
└─413 /usr/libexec/power-profiles-daemon
Sep 08 09:55:50 host systemd[1]: Starting Power Profiles daemon...
Sep 08 09:55:50 host systemd[1]: Started Power Profiles daemon.
● tlp.service - TLP system startup/shutdown
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/tlp.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: inactive (dead)
Docs: https://linrunner.de/tlp
Beginning with version 1.4 tlp start and tlp-stat -s will also detect the conflict:
Error: conflicting power-profiles-daemon.service is enabled, power saving will not apply on boot.
>>> Invoke 'systemctl mask power-profiles-daemon.service' to correct this!
Solution: disable power-profiles-daemon with
sudo systemctl mask power-profiles-daemon.service
and reboot.
See also
Powertop: please refer to Powertop.
thermald: thermald’s purpose is to limit power dissipation before the laptop’s temperature gets critical. TLP enables power saving features globally to optimize battery power especially in idle and low workload situations. TLP does not conflict with thermald.
throttled: only throttled’s dynamic HWP_Mode setting interferes with TLP’s actions. If you want to use it, disable the feature in TLP by configuring CPU_ENERGY_PERF_POLICY_ON_AC=””.
Must I enable TLP’s systemd service units?¶
Symptoms: tlp-stat -s shows
Error: tlp.service is not enabled, power saving will not apply on boot.
>>> Invoke 'systemctl enable tlp.service' to correct this!
and/or
Error: tlp-sleep.service is not enabled, power saving will not apply on boot.
>>> Invoke 'systemctl enable tlp-sleep.service' to correct this!
Answer: yes, the service units are indispensable for correct operation:
tlp.service: applies power saving settings and charge thresholds as well as switching radio devices on system boot and shutdown
tlp-sleep.service: applies powers saving upon system suspend and resume (not applicable for version 1.3 and higher)
Note
Debian, Fedora and Ubuntu enable the service by default as part of the package Installation, others such as Arch Linux don’t. If unsure check the output of tlp-stat -s for corresponding notes.
Does TLP run on my laptop (not a ThinkPad)?¶
TLP runs on every laptop brand. A few features are available on IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads only.
Does TLP make sense on newer laptops / with newer Linux versions?¶
Yes, of course.
The Linux kernel has accumulated many power saving features over the years, but not all are enabled by default. It seems to be really hard for the kernel developers to fully debug power saving on all possible hardware, so power saving stays disabled for many drivers and it’s up to the user to enable it.
Conclusion: a userspace tool like TLP is still needed to enable power saving globally.
Should I install TLP inside a virtual machine?¶
No. It is not effective to run a power management tool inside a virtual machine guest. Install TLP in the host operating system instead.
Ubuntu/Debian: I do not use Network Manager, how do I install tlp without tlp-rdw?¶
sudo apt install --no-install-recommends tlp
Ubuntu: How do I prevent the installation of postfix as a dependency?¶
The package tlp recommends smartmontools which pulls postfix (via recommends too). Use:
sudo apt install --no-install-recommends tlp tlp-rdw ethtool smartmontools
My Linux distribution does not provide a TLP package, how do I install it?¶
How do I install TLP on a development release of my distribution?¶
TLP packages for new distribution versions appear in due time for the release. If you want to use TLP with alpha or beta releases, download the packages for the predecessor and install them manually with your favorite package manager.