Debian

Scope:

  • Debian oldstable, stable, testing and unstable

  • Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE)

Note

Execute the commands below in a root shell or with a preceding sudo.

Package Repository

TLP and ThinkPad-related packages below are available via the official Debian repositories.

Newer TLP packages may be provided via Debian backports. Add the following line to your /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian DIST-backports main

Replace DIST with buster or bullseye according to your installation.

Update package data:

apt update

Package Installation

Install the following packages

either with your favorite package manager or the command:

apt install tlp tlp-rdw

For Debian backports use:

apt -t DIST-backports install tlp tlp-rdw

Replace DIST with buster or bullseye according to your installation.

ThinkPads only: External Kernel Modules

Important

As of version 5.17, the Linux kernel in combination with TLP 1.5 offers full battery care support (i.e. charge thresholds and recalibration) for ThinkPads from model year 2011 onwards. Therefore no external kernel modules are required with kernel 5.17 or newer and you do not need to proceed any further here.

Linux kernel 4.19 through 5.16 provides only charge threshold functionality but no recalibration. If this is sufficient for you, stop reading here.

However, if you need the recalibration feature or your model and/or kernel is older, read on.

You may find out your current kernel version with the command uname -a or when TLP is already installed with tlp-stat -s.

Depending on your model and kernel version external kernel module(s) are required to provide battery charge thresholds and recalibration.

The output of tlp-stat -b will guide you which package to install:

  • acpi-call-dkms (main) – optional – External kernel module providing battery recalibration for ThinkPads since model year 2011 - e.g. T420/X220 and newer

  • tp-smapi-dkms (main) – optional – External kernel module providing battery battery charge thresholds and recalibration for ThinkPads before model year 2011 as well as specific tlp-stat -b output until model year 2011

Install the appropriate package either with your favorite package manager or the command

apt install acpi-call-dkms

Replace acpi-call-dkms with tp-smapi-dkms where suitable.

Warning

Bullseye: acpi-call-dkms packages in the official repositories are incompatible with backports kernels ≥ 5.13 and may cause TLP battery care malfunction, system freezes and reboots.

Solution: install acpi-call-dkms version 1.2.2 from Debian backports:

apt -t bullseye-backports install acpi-call-dkms

Important

Buster: when using kernel 5.10 from backports, you must install acpi-call-dkms from Debian backports too:

apt -t buster-backports install acpi-call-dkms

Otherwise the DKMS build will fail.

Note