APMD (8)

SYNOPSIS

apmd [ -c check_seconds ] [ -P proxy_cmd ] [ -p percent_to_log ] [ -qVvW ] [ -w warn_percent ] [ -? ] [deprecated options]

DESCRIPTION

apmd is an APM monitoring daemon, and works in conjunction with the APM BIOS driver in the OS kernel. It can execute a command (normally a shell script) when certain events are reported by the driver, and will log, via syslogd (8), certain changes in system power status. When the available battery power becomes very low, it can alert all users on the system using several methods.

When the kernel APM driver notifies the daemon of a pending suspend or standby request, apmd will invoke the approprate command, log the event, sync (2) data to the disk, sleep briefly to help ensure all the data actually gets to the disk, and then tell the APM driver to continue its operation. However, for "critical" suspends (indicating an emergency shutdown) only the last step (telling the driver to continue) is performed.

Most uses of this daemon will use the proxy command to support power conservation activities. This command is searched for by default in /etc/apmd_proxy and is invoked with one or two arguments:

start

Invoked when the daemon starts. Normally sets system-wide power policy, such as IDE hard drive standby times, to account for whether battery power is in use.

stop

Invoked when the daemon stops. Normally undoes any policy settings done when the daemon started.

suspend "[ system | user ]"