[solved] powertop bug or buggy user?

cfr · 2012-10-28 23:27:05

When I run powertop, it complains that it cannot load /var/cache/powertop/saved_results.powertop. Initially, I thought this was a permissions problem. The default permissions on /var/cache/powertop seemed to be 600. I added execute permission for root (700). However, I still get the same complaint.

Searching the forums, I found one post which mentioned this in passing but the comment was not the main topic and received no follow-up.

I would think this was a powertop bug except that I've looked through the mailing list archives for Aug, Sep and Oct (i.e. since the release of 2.1) and can't see any reports of it which would seem a bit odd since I'd expect this sort of bug to be recognised rather quickly. So I'm thinking that it is probably a buggy user rather than a buggy application but I can't think what I'm missing.

[Note: powertop's bug reporting mechanism appears to be reporting to the mailing list and there doesn't seem to be a separate bug tracker so the mailing list seemed to be the place to look although it is not possible to search as far as I can tell.]

Last edited by cfr (2012-10-31 01:02:42)

WonderWoofy · 2012-10-29 00:31:28

At first I though, "What is he talking about?" But then I went to start powertop, and I get the same thing. I have yet to investigate, but it seems like it is something that it was not doing before the recent update.

Edit: downgrading made no difference... so I might as well stick with th newer version that doesn't work in the same way. Maybe you should report this.

Last edited by WonderWoofy (2012-10-29 00:39:45)

cfr · 2012-10-29 01:58:45

Upstream, do you think? But it seems weird nobody would've noticed...

Army · 2012-10-29 06:51:15

I don't have the problem, powertop runs fine here and I made no modifications.

# powertop
Loaded 564 prior measurements
Leaving PowerTOP

cfr · 2012-10-29 12:29:25

Could you confirm the ownership and permissions on /var/cache/powertop in your case?

Awebb · 2012-10-29 12:54:39

I don't have the issue. /var/cache/powertop is 600, /var/cache/powertopsaved_results.powertop is 644.

cfr · 2012-10-29 22:49:17

So what else could be different? When I use powertop, I get:

Loaded 77 prior measurements
Cannot load from file /var/cache/powertop/saved_parameters.powertop
Cannot load from file /var/cache/powertop/saved_parameters.powertop

And I also have 600 and 644 as the respective permissions:

ls -al /var/cache/powertop/
total 120
drw-------  2 root root   4096 Gor   5 23:20 .
drwxr-xr-x 10 root root   4096 Hyd  27 02:01 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 111460 Hyd  29 22:43 saved_results.powertop

Er... OK. So how did you create a /var/cache/powertop/saved_parameters.powertop?

WonderWoofy · 2012-10-29 22:57:55

So I uninstalled powertop, deleted the /var/cache/powertop directory, and started it again, but still no go. I wonder why that is? Seems rather odd that only you and I are experiencing this. I am not really certain that I need this function... but it makes me curious.

Edit: BTW, cfr, I like the welsh months in your output.

Last edited by WonderWoofy (2012-10-29 22:58:45)

WonderWoofy · 2012-10-29 23:23:03

Okay, so I found a fedora bug report from a user complaining of the same thing (though it was far an lower version of powertop). The response was that they needed to run the powertop calibration, and then leave the thing running for an hour or so. I let it calibrate, and am now letting it run in the background. So we shall see if that fixes it or not.

Edit: Well, that fixed it! I guess it cannot load the data because it does not have enough information or something... though that is pure speculation.

Last edited by WonderWoofy (2012-10-30 01:55:36)

cfr · 2012-10-30 23:41:38

Thanks for the tip - this seems to have fixed it for me. Weird, though. (It would help if the error message said what to do - or the man page.)

I like the months, too!

Arch Linux

#1 2012-10-28 23:27:05

[solved] powertop bug or buggy user?

#2 2012-10-29 00:31:28

Re: [solved] powertop bug or buggy user?

#3 2012-10-29 01:58:45

Re: [solved] powertop bug or buggy user?

#4 2012-10-29 06:51:15

Re: [solved] powertop bug or buggy user?

#5 2012-10-29 12:29:25

Re: [solved] powertop bug or buggy user?

#6 2012-10-29 12:54:39

Re: [solved] powertop bug or buggy user?

#7 2012-10-29 22:49:17

Re: [solved] powertop bug or buggy user?

#8 2012-10-29 22:57:55

Re: [solved] powertop bug or buggy user?

#9 2012-10-29 23:23:03

Re: [solved] powertop bug or buggy user?

#10 2012-10-30 23:41:38

Re: [solved] powertop bug or buggy user?

Board footer