unity-api-bugs team mailing list archive

[Bruno Nova <1251222@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Public bug reported:

I've already reported this bug in Ask Ubuntu
(http://askubuntu.com/questions/376890/indicator-datetime-stops-the-
disk-from-spinning-down), so I'll repeat what I posted there:

I'm running Ubuntu 13.10 on a laptop, and have `laptop-mode-tools`
installed.

I've noticed that, while running on battery, the laptop's hard disk is not spinning down successfully.
About every five seconds, the disk starts spinning down but then something makes it spin back up again.

I've investigated this a bit (with the help of Google), and found some
things:

* I've installed and run `iotop`. Every time the disk starts spinning
down, iotop reports that the process `init --user` is writing to the
disk and using 99% IO.

* After letting the laptop "alone" for 2 or 3 minutes on battery, `find
-cmin -1` on my home directory reports that the file `~/.cache/upstart
/unity-panel-service.log` was recently modified.

* If I run `tail -f ~/.cache/upstart/unity-panel-service.log`, I noticed
that this file is updated every second, and the line

        ** (unity-panel-service:2711): WARNING **: Unable to support
GtkImageType: 0

  is appended.

* `sudo strace -p <"init --user"'s PID>` constantly outputs the
following lines (or similar):

        read(3, 0x7fff3c96871b, 1)              = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
        waitid(P_ALL, 0, {}, WNOHANG|WEXITED|WSTOPPED|WCONTINUED, NULL) = 0
        select(37, [3 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 19 20 21 26 27 29 36], [], [7 8 9 10 12 20 21], NULL) = 1 (in [36])
        read(36, "\r\n** (unity-panel-service:2711):"..., 8192) = 160
        read(36, 0x7f5a06c21830, 8032)          = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
        fstat(14, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0640, st_size=384106, ...}) = 0
        write(14, "\r\n** (unity-panel-service:2711):"..., 160) = 160

* As a side note, `cat /proc/sys/vm/dirty_writeback_centisecs` returns
`500` while on AC power and `60000`  while on battery.

Has anyone noticed the same thing?
I don't know if this occurs in a fresh install (or if this occurred in 13.04).

---

I've investigated even further before posting this, and the culprit seems to be the date/time indicator.
I had configured the indicator to display the seconds.
If I remove that setting, the _unity-panel-service.log_ file no longer is updated every second (but, maybe, every minute), and the disk spins down successfully.

So, the workaround (until there is a fix) seems to be: don't display the
seconds in the date/time indicator, or remove it.

I think fixing this is important, because this bug is stopping the hard
drive disk from spinning down while on battery.

** Affects: indicator-datetime
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

-- 
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Unity API
bugs, which is subscribed to Indicator Date and Time.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1251222

Title:
  indicator-datetime stops the disk from spinning down

Status in The Date and Time Indicator:
  New

Bug description:
  I've already reported this bug in Ask Ubuntu
  (http://askubuntu.com/questions/376890/indicator-datetime-stops-the-
  disk-from-spinning-down), so I'll repeat what I posted there:

  I'm running Ubuntu 13.10 on a laptop, and have `laptop-mode-tools`
  installed.

  I've noticed that, while running on battery, the laptop's hard disk is not spinning down successfully.
  About every five seconds, the disk starts spinning down but then something makes it spin back up again.

  I've investigated this a bit (with the help of Google), and found some
  things:

  * I've installed and run `iotop`. Every time the disk starts spinning
  down, iotop reports that the process `init --user` is writing to the
  disk and using 99% IO.

  * After letting the laptop "alone" for 2 or 3 minutes on battery,
  `find -cmin -1` on my home directory reports that the file
  `~/.cache/upstart/unity-panel-service.log` was recently modified.

  * If I run `tail -f ~/.cache/upstart/unity-panel-service.log`, I
  noticed that this file is updated every second, and the line

          ** (unity-panel-service:2711): WARNING **: Unable to support
  GtkImageType: 0

    is appended.

  * `sudo strace -p <"init --user"'s PID>` constantly outputs the
  following lines (or similar):

          read(3, 0x7fff3c96871b, 1)              = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
          waitid(P_ALL, 0, {}, WNOHANG|WEXITED|WSTOPPED|WCONTINUED, NULL) = 0
          select(37, [3 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 19 20 21 26 27 29 36], [], [7 8 9 10 12 20 21], NULL) = 1 (in [36])
          read(36, "\r\n** (unity-panel-service:2711):"..., 8192) = 160
          read(36, 0x7f5a06c21830, 8032)          = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable)
          fstat(14, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0640, st_size=384106, ...}) = 0
          write(14, "\r\n** (unity-panel-service:2711):"..., 160) = 160

  * As a side note, `cat /proc/sys/vm/dirty_writeback_centisecs` returns
  `500` while on AC power and `60000`  while on battery.

  Has anyone noticed the same thing?
  I don't know if this occurs in a fresh install (or if this occurred in 13.04).

  ---

  I've investigated even further before posting this, and the culprit seems to be the date/time indicator.
  I had configured the indicator to display the seconds.
  If I remove that setting, the _unity-panel-service.log_ file no longer is updated every second (but, maybe, every minute), and the disk spins down successfully.

  So, the workaround (until there is a fix) seems to be: don't display
  the seconds in the date/time indicator, or remove it.

  I think fixing this is important, because this bug is stopping the
  hard drive disk from spinning down while on battery.

To manage notifications about this bug go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/indicator-datetime/+bug/1251222/+subscriptions