[Bug 315970] Re: g-p-m should use less frequent disk writes
** Changed in: gnome-power Importance: Unknown = Medium -- g-p-m should use less frequent disk writes https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/315970 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is subscribed to gnome-power-manager in ubuntu. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
[Bug 315970] Re: g-p-m should use less frequent disk writes
** Changed in: gnome-power Status: Unknown = In Progress -- g-p-m should use less frequent disk writes https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/315970 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is subscribed to gnome-power-manager in ubuntu. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
Re: [Bug 315970] Re: g-p-m should use less frequent disk writes
On Tue, Jul 14, 2009 at 02:24:58AM -, Scott Howard wrote: Great, thanks for explaining it. I saw some gnome git commits talking about hard drive spinning down too - it seems like they are actively working on it. Great job finding the upstream report and for adding to their conversation! No problem; happy to help. The g-p-m maintainer made a comment in Gnome's Bugzilla #586582. He said that g-p-m should only be doing the fsync()'s when batter is low, but since that is not what I am seeing I filed a new bug in their Bugzilla: Bug 588596 – g-p-m calls fsync() after writing power history data http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=588596 I attached an strace showing the fsync() every 150 seconds. Guess we'll find out soon whether it's a bug or a feature... Cheers, Eloy Paris.- -- g-p-m should use less frequent disk writes https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/315970 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is subscribed to gnome-power-manager in ubuntu. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
[Bug 315970] Re: g-p-m should use less frequent disk writes
** Bug watch added: GNOME Bug Tracker #588596 http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=588596 -- g-p-m should use less frequent disk writes https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/315970 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is subscribed to gnome-power-manager in ubuntu. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
Re: [Bug 315970] Re: g-p-m should use less frequent disk writes
Hi Scott, On Sun, Jul 12, 2009 at 01:31:57AM -, Scott Howard wrote: Thanks for explaining this. The problem is the GPM relies on writing to the HD to keep track of power history, which causes a lot of disk writes. This isn't a bug in that it wastes energy, but that it causes disk activity. Marking as confirmed and wishlist since This should be sent directly to the upstream authors at bugzilla.gnome.org, for forwarding instructions please have a look to http://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Upstream/GNOME. If you forward the bug, please post a link to the upstream bug report here. Also, mention how your bug is different than what is written in the FAQ I linked, so they don't dismiss it for that reason. Thanks in advance. ** Summary changed: - g-p-m keeps disk spinning + g-p-m should use less frequent disk writes The problem is not that g-p-m is writing to disk often; the problem is that it is writing to disk *and* calling fsync(). Take for instance the laptop-mode-tools suite -- it enables a feature of the Linux kernel that will keep all recent disk writes in memory and then write to disk all of them at once at fixed intervals. So, if an application tries to write to disk, that write does not happen immediately. This has the benefit that the hard disk can spindown for several minutes and there is guarantee that it will not spinup before the next scheduled batch write operation (unless of course something needs to be read from the disk.) Now, if the application or a library it uses calls the fsync() system call then the disk will be woken up before the next scheduled batch write operation. This is what is happening with g-p-m -- when writing to these files that keep power history something is calling fsync(). This is what should be looked into. g-p-m is not the only application that has this problem; Firefox itself has it (or had it; it is not clear to me whether they've fixed the issue.) The following Firefox bug explains the issue in detail: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=421482 And this blog entry from one of the Firefox developers has a lot of great information about the issue in Firefox: http://shaver.off.net/diary/2008/05/25/fsyncers-and-curveballs/ I searched upstream Bugzilla and didn't find any bug about this issue on g-p-m so we definitely need to make sure upstream knows about the issue. With regards to the FAQ you mentioned, it seems like upstream has changed their mind with regards to support for hard disk spindown in g-p-m. See this g-p-m bug: http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=586582 Cheers, Eloy Paris.- -- g-p-m should use less frequent disk writes https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/315970 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is subscribed to gnome-power-manager in ubuntu. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
[Bug 315970] Re: g-p-m should use less frequent disk writes
** Bug watch added: Mozilla Bugzilla #421482 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=421482 ** Bug watch added: GNOME Bug Tracker #586582 http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=586582 -- g-p-m should use less frequent disk writes https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/315970 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is subscribed to gnome-power-manager in ubuntu. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
[Bug 315970] Re: g-p-m should use less frequent disk writes
Great, thanks for explaining it. I saw some gnome git commits talking about hard drive spinning down too - it seems like they are actively working on it. Great job finding the upstream report and for adding to their conversation! ** Also affects: gnome-power via http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=586582 Importance: Unknown Status: Unknown ** Changed in: gnome-power-manager (Ubuntu) Status: Confirmed = Triaged -- g-p-m should use less frequent disk writes https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/315970 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is subscribed to gnome-power-manager in ubuntu. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
[Bug 315970] Re: g-p-m should use less frequent disk writes
Thanks for explaining this. The problem is the GPM relies on writing to the HD to keep track of power history, which causes a lot of disk writes. This isn't a bug in that it wastes energy, but that it causes disk activity. Marking as confirmed and wishlist since This should be sent directly to the upstream authors at bugzilla.gnome.org, for forwarding instructions please have a look to http://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Upstream/GNOME. If you forward the bug, please post a link to the upstream bug report here. Also, mention how your bug is different than what is written in the FAQ I linked, so they don't dismiss it for that reason. Thanks in advance. ** Summary changed: - g-p-m keeps disk spinning + g-p-m should use less frequent disk writes ** Changed in: gnome-power-manager (Ubuntu) Status: Won't Fix = Confirmed -- g-p-m should use less frequent disk writes https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/315970 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is subscribed to gnome-power-manager in ubuntu. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
