A new version of the Power Profiles Daemon is out, bringing a number of improvements to improve power efficiency on Linux desktops, particularly on AMD devices.
For those unfamiliar with it, power-profiles-daemon is a low-level component to provide power handling over DBus. Ever used the Power Mode options in the Quick Settings menu in GNOME Shell? Those options interface through this.
Now that power-profiles-daemon is battery-level aware, power drivers like the Intel and AMD P-State drivers can (where supported) adjust power management based on the current battery level value.
“In particular both the AMD panel power action now uses a progressive approach, changing the the [display backlight] based on the battery percentage,” the project changelog explains.
Additionally, the AMD P-State driver picks up several improvements in v0.22, including:
- Support for core performance boost when not in power-saver mode
- Uses minimum frequency to lowest non-linear frequency
- Less vulnerable to faulty firmware and kernel bugs
Another AMD-related update is the ability for the daemon to change Dynamic Power Management (DPM) clock speeds on AMD GPUs. If ‘Power Saver’ mode is active, clock speeds now get reduced to “low,” reducing power consumption.
So, for example, if you’re using a laptop with an AMD setup, you may enjoy longer battery life with power-saver active thanks to this change. When you change power mode your system will dial those clock speeds back up so you benefit.
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!