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XSuspender
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==========
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[](https://travis-ci.org/kernc/xsuspender)
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Automatically suspend inactive X11 applications.
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Find a better maintained description here: https://kernc.github.io/xsuspender/
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When an application window loses focus, XSuspender tries to match it to
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one of the rules in its configuration. If a match is found, the
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application is sent a SIGSTOP signal (preventing the process from obtaining
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further CPU time). Upon windows regaining focus, the process is seamlessly
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continued where it had left off.
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#### Advantages
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* **Reduce battery use (increase battery run-time).**
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Make your laptop run on battery for as long as your mobile phone does,
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using roughly the same technique.
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* **Reduce interaction latency on low-end CPUs.**
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With fewer clients requesting processing power, there's more of it to go
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around where it's needed.
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* **Reduce CPU fan noise.**
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Save the tinnitus for old age.
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* **Avoid apps plotting stuff behind your back.**
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That Kali you're running in a VM is perfectly fine, but god
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only knows what Microsoft Windos is doing.
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* **Suspend processes using well-known Unix signals SIGSTOP & SIGCONT ...**
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... or custom shell scripts. Decades of portable operating systems
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engineering at its finest.
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* **Preconfigured for recent versions of popular software.**
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Chromium, Firefox, JetBrains IDEs, qBittorrent, VirtualBox ...
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#### Quirks
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* Quirky. See [Notes] below.
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* May prevent suspended windows from redrawing until re-gaining focus.
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* May make your web downloads stall and your in-browser media
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playback stop if you configure it thus.
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* Prevents pasting from clipboard while the selection source process
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is suspended
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([explanation](https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/316715/xclip-works-differently-in-interactive-and-non-interactive-shells/316890#316890)).
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* Relies on windows having their `_NET_WM_PID` hint set correctly.
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* Won't work in remote X sessions.
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* Won't work with Wayland.
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Installation
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------------
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#### Binary packages
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Install binary package for your GNU/Linux distribution:
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[](https://software.opensuse.org//download.html?project=home%3Akernc%3Axsuspender&package=xsuspender)
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#### From Source
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```bash
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# Install build dependencies, namely GLib and Libwnck
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sudo apt install libglib2.0-dev \
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libwnck-3-dev \
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make cmake gcc pkg-config
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```
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```bash
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# Fetch a copy of the source code
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git clone https://github.com/kernc/xsuspender
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cd xsuspender
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# Move to build directory for an out-of-tree build
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cd build
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# Configure and make
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cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local ..
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make
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make test
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# Install within chosen prefix
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sudo make install
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```
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Usage
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-----
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For brief usage instructions, run:
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```bash
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xsuspender --help
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```
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#### Configuration debugging
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To have it print verbose debug messages about what it is doing, run the
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program with environmental variable `G_MESSAGES_DEBUG=all` set:
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G_MESSAGES_DEBUG=all xsuspender
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This is _strongly recommended_ to confirm your customized configuration
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rules indeed work as you expect.
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If xsuspender is auto run by your X session manager, you might find clues
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to its unexpected behavior in _~/.xsession-errors_.
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Notes
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-----
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[Notes]: #notes
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* Processes that take a long time to shut down after their window already
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disappears may be stopped in the middle of their termination routines.
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Avoid with reasonably generous `suspend_delay`.
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* Windows that minimize to system tray need to be awaken frequently to
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respond to click events in a seamless manner.
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* Don't configure xsuspender for software you want to keep continuously alive
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in the background, such as music players, daemons, IM clients ... If you
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frequently stream music from YouTube, you might give
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[Clementine], [Minitube], [YouTube Viewer] or [SMTube] a try.
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