A new release of the Power Profiles Daemon is available, featuring enhancements that boost power efficiency on Linux desktops, especially for AMD systems.
For those new to it, power-profiles-daemon is a fundamental component that manages power via DBus. Have you ever used the Power Mode settings in the Quick Settings panel of GNOME Shell? Those settings are managed through this daemon.
With the new update, power-profiles-daemon now considers battery levels, allowing power drivers like those for Intel and AMD P-State to optimize power management based on the current state of the battery.
“Notably, the AMD panel power control now adopts a progressive technique, modifying the [display backlight] according to battery life percentage,” states the project changelog.
Furthermore, the AMD P-State driver introduces several enhancements in version 0.22, including:
- Enabling core performance boost outside of power-saver mode
- Setting the minimum frequency to the lowest non-linear frequency
- Improved resilience against flawed firmware and kernel glitches
Additionally, another update related to AMD includes the capability for the daemon to adjust Dynamic Power Management (DPM) clock speeds on AMD GPUs. When ‘Power Saver’ mode is enabled, clock speeds are reduced to “low,” which decreases power usage.
As an example, if you are operating an AMD-equipped laptop, activating power-saver mode could enhance your battery life. Switching your power mode back will increase the clock speeds, providing you with the performance benefits.
Elsewhere, the daemon’s command line interface now supports disabling logind and upower integration. It also assumes turbo_pct is not present unless explicitly specified, avoiding any quirks in assuming availability.
The developers also note that ‘systemd service lockdown settings have been restricted’ further (they were heavily restricted in the previous release too), and the ‘systemd service starts later in the boot to avoid conflicts with module loading’.
And the best part?
Power Profiles Daemon 0.22 has made the cut for inclusion in Ubuntu 24.10 ‘Oracular Oriole’, which is due to be released next month.
So if you install or upgrade to Ubuntu 24.10, you’ll benefit from these power handling changes right from the first boost — nice!
Appreciated, Mario!