Automatic CPU speed & power optimizer for Linux based on active monitoring of laptop's battery state, CPU usage, CPU temperature and system load. Ultimately allowing you to improve battery life without making any compromises.
auto-cpufreq is looking for [co-maintainers & open source developers to help shape future of the project!](https://github.com/AdnanHodzic/auto-cpufreq/discussions/312)
One of the problems with Linux today on laptops is that CPU will run in unoptimized manner which will negatively reflect on battery life. For example, CPU will run using "performance" governor with turbo boost enabled regardless if it's plugged in to power or not.
Issue can be mitigated by using tools like [indicator-cpufreq](https://itsfoss.com/cpufreq-ubuntu/) or [cpufreq](https://github.com/konkor/cpufreq), but these still require manual action from your side which can be daunting and cumbersome.
Using tools like [TLP](https://github.com/linrunner/TLP) can help in this situation with extending battery life (which is something I used to do for numerous years), but it also might come with its own set of problems, like losing turbo boost.
With that said, I needed a simple tool which would automatically make "cpufreq" related changes, save battery like TLP, but let Linux kernel do most of the heavy lifting. That's how auto-cpufreq was born.
Please note: auto-cpufreq aims to replace TLP in terms of functionality and after you install auto-cpufreq _it's recommended to remove TLP_. If both are used for same functionality, i.e: to set CPU frequencies it'll lead to unwanted results like overheating. Hence, only use [both tools in tandem](https://github.com/AdnanHodzic/auto-cpufreq/discussions/176) if you know what you're doing.
Tool/daemon that does not conflict with auto-cpufreq in any way and is even recommended to have running alongside is [thermald](https://wiki.debian.org/thermald).
Supported devices must have an Intel, AMD or ARM CPUs. This tool was developed to improve performance and battery life on laptops, but running it on desktop/servers (to lower power consumption) should also be possible.
* Make sure [snapd](https://snapcraft.io/docs/installing-snapd) is installed and `snap version` version is >= 2.44 for `auto-cpufreq` to fully work due to [recent snapd changes](https://github.com/snapcore/snapd/pull/8127).
* Fedora users will [encounter following error](https://twitter.com/killyourfm/status/1291697985236144130). Due to `cgroups v2` [being in development](https://github.com/snapcore/snapd/pull/7825). This problem can be resolved by either running `sudo snap run auto-cpufreq` after snap installation. Or using [auto-cpufreq-installer](https://github.com/AdnanHodzic/auto-cpufreq/#auto-cpufreq-installer) which doesn't have this issue.
In case you encounter any problems with `auto-cpufreq-installer`, please [submit a bug report](https://github.com/AdnanHodzic/auto-cpufreq/issues/new).
[AUR package is available](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/auto-cpufreq-git/) for install. After which `auto-cpufreq` will be available as a binary and you can refer to [auto-cpufreq modes and options](https://github.com/AdnanHodzic/auto-cpufreq#auto-cpufreq-modes-and-options).
**Please note:** If you want to install auto-cpufreq daemon, do not run `auto-cpufreq --install` otherwise you'll run into an issue: [#91](https://github.com/AdnanHodzic/auto-cpufreq/issues/91), [#96](https://github.com/AdnanHodzic/auto-cpufreq/issues/96).
Instead run `systemctl start auto-cpufreq` to start the service. Run `systemctl status auto-cpufreq` to see the status of service, and `systemctl enable auto-cpufreq` for service to persist running accross reboots.
While auto-cpufreq makes all decisions automatically based on various factors like cpu usage, temperature or system load. It's possible to perform addition configurations in 2 ways:
If detected as running auto-cpufreq will disable [GNOME Power profiles service](https://twitter.com/fooctrl/status/1467469508373884933), which would otherwise cause conflicts and cause problems. By default auto-cpufreq uses `balanced` mode which also works the best on various systems. However, if you're not reaching maximum frequencies your CPU is capable of with auto-cpufreq, you can switch to `performance` mode. Which will result in higher frequencies by default, but also higher use of energy (battery consumption).
This can be done by running: `sudo python3 power_helper.py --gnome_power_disable performance`
After auto-cpufreq git repo has been cloned (`git clone https://github.com/AdnanHodzic/auto-cpufreq.git`), navagiate to directory where `power_helper.py` script resides by running: `cd auto-cpufreq/auto_cpufreq`
After this step, all necessary changes will still be made automatically. However, if you wish to perform additonal "manual" settings this can be done by following instructions explained in next step.
You can configure profiles for battery and power supply. These profiles will let you pick which governor to use and how and when turbo boost is enabled. The possible values for turbo boost behavior are `always`, `auto` and `never`. The default behavior is `auto`, which only kicks in during high load.
By default, auto-cpufreq does not use the config file! If you wish to use it, location where config needs to be placed for it to be read automatically is: `/etc/auto-cpufreq.conf`
Necessary changes are temporarily made to the system which are lost with system reboot. This mode is made to evaluate what the system would behave with auto-cpufreq permanently running on the system.
Necessary changes are made to the system for auto-cpufreq CPU optimizaton to persist across reboots. Daemon is deployed and then started as a systemd service. Changes are made automatically and live stats are generated for monitoring purposes.
After daemon is installed, `auto-cpufreq` is available as a binary and is running in the background. Its stats can be viewed by running: `auto-cpufreq --stats`
**Q:** If after installing auto-cpufreq you're (still) experiencing:
* high CPU temperatures
* CPU is not scaling to minimum/maximum frequencies
* suboptimal CPU peformance
**A:** If you're using `intel_pstate` CPU management driver consider changing it to: `acpi-cpufreq`.
This can be done by editting `/etc/default/grub` file and appending `intel_pstate=disable` to `GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT` line, followed by `sudo update-grub`
Other ways of supporting the project consists of making a code or documentation contribution. If you have an idea for a new features or want to implement some of the existing feature requests or fix some of the [bugs & issues](https://github.com/AdnanHodzic/auto-cpufreq/issues). Please make your changes and submit a [pull request](https://github.com/AdnanHodzic/auto-cpufreq/pulls) which I'll be glad to review. If your changes are accepted you'll be credited as part of [releases page](https://github.com/AdnanHodzic/auto-cpufreq/releases).
**Please note: auto-cpufreq is looking for co-maintainers & open source developers to [help shape future of the project!](https://github.com/AdnanHodzic/auto-cpufreq/discussions/312)**
