Configuration

PowerRequestMonitor

You can configure any number of <RequestFilterRule> to describe which power requests should be considered as usage.

<SystemMonitor>

  <PowerRequestMonitor watchOperation="sleep" watchMode="block|block-weak">

    <RequestFilterRule ... />
    <RequestFilterRule ... />

  </PowerRequestMonitor>

</SystemMonitor>

watchOperation

default:: sleep
OS:: 🐧 Linux

Controls which inhibition operations are visible to the <PowerRequestMonitor>. Only locks whose operation matches one of the configured values are evaluated by filter rules and counted as usage. Multiple values can be combined with |.

sleep: Blocks or delays suspend and hibernate.
shutdown: Blocks or delays system shutdown and power-off.
reboot: Blocks or delays a system reboot.
idle: Blocks idle-triggered actions such as screen blanking, screensaver activation, and automatic suspend.
handle-power-key: Prevents logind from acting on the physical power button press.
handle-suspend-key: Prevents logind from acting on the suspend key.
handle-hibernate-key: Prevents logind from acting on the hibernate key.
handle-lid-switch: Prevents logind from reacting to the laptop lid being closed.

watchMode

default:: block|block-weak
OS:: 🐧 Linux

Controls which inhibition modes are visible to the <PowerRequestMonitor>. Only locks whose mode matches one of the configured values are evaluated. Multiple values can be combined with |.

block: The operation is completely prevented for as long as the lock is held. Privileged processes can override this, but unprivileged applications cannot.
block-weak: A weaker variant of block that can be overridden by the system or a privileged process without releasing the lock. Used when an application wants to signal preference but not enforce it unconditionally.
delay: Does not prevent the operation, but delays it by a short window (configured in logind.conf via InhibitDelayMaxSec). The application is expected to perform any necessary cleanup within this window and then release the lock. Used by media players that need to flush buffers before a suspend.

RequestFilterRule

<RequestFilterRule type="MustNot" name="Backup">CBBackupPlan</RequestFilterRule>

type

default:: MustNot

This attribute determines if this is an inclusive or exclusive filter rule.

Must: Inclusive filters reduce the set of monitored resources to include only those that match at least one of the filters.
MustNot: Exclusive filters reduce the set of monitored resources by those that match with them.

name

You can provide any logical name here, to describe the power request or group of power requests. This name will be used to represent these requests in the log.

text

🔍 regex:

The text node of the <RequestFilterRule> will be parsed as a regular expression and matched against the name and reasons of the power request.