🛡️ mpro: Cyber-Physical Real-Time Thermal Control Engine for Mac Pro 4,1 & 5,1

mpro is an ultra-fast, zero-copy, multi-worker Cyber-Physical Thermal Control & Stability Engine written in Rust, specifically architected for Apple Mac Pro 4,1 (flashed to 5,1) and Mac Pro 5,1 dual-socket Intel Xeon workstations running Linux.

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🏛️ System Architecture

                                  ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
                                  │      mpro REAL-TIME TOKIO ASYNC MULTI-WORKER RUNTIME   │
                                  └───────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────┘
                                                              │
         ┌──────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────┴───────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
         ▼                              ▼                                     ▼                             ▼
┌───────────────────┐        ┌─────────────────────┐              ┌──────────────────────┐      ┌──────────────────────┐
│  WORKER TASK 1    │        │   WORKER TASK 2     │              │    WORKER TASK 3     │      │    WORKER TASK 4     │
│ Zero-Copy Physics │        │ Background ML Engine│              │ Async Status Writer  │      │ Async Alert Dispatch │
│  • 1.0s Interval  │        │  • 10.0s Query      │              │  • tokio::fs         │      │  • reqwest async     │
│  • EKF + Slope    │        │  • Multi-Horizon    │              │  • Atomic JSON Replace│     │  • Desktop notify    │
└────────┬──────────┘        └──────────┬──────────┘              └──────────▲───────────┘      └──────────▲───────────┘
         │                              │                                    │                             │
         │                              └───────────┬────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
         ▼                                          │
 ┌─────────────────┐                        ┌───────┴────────┐
 │ Native zbus     │                        │  Tokio Watch   │
 │   System IPC    │                        │ Lock-Free Ch   │
 └─────────────────┘                        └────────────────┘

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⚡ Key Features

• Zero-Copy POSIX Thermal Sampling: Reads AppleSMC hardware sensors directly via unbuffered libc::pread syscalls at offset 0 (< 500 nanoseconds execution latency, 0 bytes heap allocations).
• 2D Extended Kalman Filter (EKF): Eliminates AppleSMC $\pm 1.0^\circ\text{C}$ quantization noise and tracks continuous derivative rate-of-change ($\frac{d T}{dt}$) in real-time.
• Proactive Slope Control ($\frac{dT}{dt}$): Detects thermal acceleration ($\ge +1.5^\circ\text{C/sec}$) and spools chassis fans before heat can saturate the Intel 5520 Northbridge (IOH) heatsink.
• Pure-Rust zbus D-Bus IPC: Direct Unix domain socket method calls to org.freedesktop.mbpfan in < 50 microseconds without process-forking overhead.
• 6-Zone Hardware Fan Control: Controls all 6 chassis fan zones (fan1_PCI, fan2_PS, fan3_EXHAUST, fan4_INTAKE, fan5_BOOSTA, fan6_BOOSTB).
• Linux SCHED_RR Real-Time Priority: Runs with Linux SCHED_RR Round-Robin Real-Time scheduling (Priority 99, Nice -20) and RAM pinning (mlockall), ensuring un-throttleable preemption priority under 100% CPU load.
• Smooth Acoustic Exponential Decay: Smooth $-150\text{ RPM/sec}$ step-down rate eliminates fan whine when workloads drop.

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🏛️ Architectural Decision Matrix

Use this decision matrix to evaluate the optimal thermal control solution based on your operational requirements:

Deployment Scenario & Criteria	TG Pro / MFC / iStat	Stock mbpfan	mpro (Rust Engine)	Optimal Decision & Justification
Linux Production Server / Workstation	❌ Incompatible	🟡 Basic	🟢 Optimal	mpro: Only solution with real-time Linux SCHED_RR Priority 99, zero-copy sysfs, and zbus IPC.
Mac Pro 4,1 / 5,1 Heavy Workloads	🟡 macOS only	❌ Vulnerable	🟢 Optimal	mpro: Prevents Northbridge ($T_{\text{TN0D}}$) lockups via 2D EKF derivative slope prediction ($\frac{dT}{dt}$).
Acoustic Silence Requirement	🟡 Moderate	❌ Poor	🟢 Optimal	mpro: Enforces $-150\text{ RPM/sec}$ exponential decay hysteresis to eliminate fan acoustic whine.
Headless / Unattended Server Mode	❌ Requires GUI login	🟢 Good	🟢 Optimal	mpro: Headless systemd service with mobile push webhooks (Google Chat) and desktop alerts.
Ultra-Low Overhead (< 10MB RAM)	❌ ~35–50 MB	🟢 ~3.8 MB	🟢 ~5.5 MB	mpro: Consumes < 0.01% CPU and 5.5 MB RAM with zero garbage collection pauses.

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📊 Public Mac Fan & Temperature Management Comparison

Feature / Capability	TG Pro (macOS)	Macs Fan Control (macOS/Win)	iStat Menus (macOS)	Stock mbpfan (Linux)	mpro (Linux Rust Engine)
OS Platform	macOS	macOS / Windows	macOS	Linux	Linux x86_64
Mac Pro 4,1 / 5,1 6-Zone Support	🟢 Yes (GUI)	🟢 Yes (GUI)	🟢 Yes (GUI)	🟡 Partial (Single global max)	🟢 100% Full 6-Zone Control
Northbridge (IOH) Diode Sensor	🟢 Yes	🟢 Yes	🟢 Yes	❌ No (CPU-only focus)	🟢 Yes (TN0D primary setpoint)
Noise-Free EKF Filter	❌ No	❌ No	❌ No	❌ No	🟢 Yes (2D Extended Kalman Filter)
Proactive Slope Control ($\frac{dT}{dt}$)	❌ No (Static curves)	❌ No (Static curves)	❌ No (Monitoring only)	❌ No (Static steps)	🟢 Yes (Triggers before heat builds)
Acoustic Exponential Decay	🟡 Basic	🟡 Basic	❌ N/A	❌ No (Abrupt jumps)	🟢 Yes (-150 RPM/s smooth step-down)
Linux Real-Time SCHED_RR Priority	❌ N/A	❌ N/A	❌ N/A	❌ No (Nice=0 batch)	🟢 Yes (Priority 99 + mlockall)
Native Zero-Copy IPC	❌ Helper app	❌ Helper app	❌ N/A	❌ Direct sysfs loops	🟢 Yes (zbus Unix socket IPC < 50μs)
Mobile Push & Webhook Alerts	❌ No	❌ No	❌ No	❌ No	🟢 Yes (Google Chat + Desktop)
RAM / CPU Footprint	~50 MB / ~1.5%	~35 MB / ~1.0%	~45 MB / ~1.5%	~3.8 MB / <0.01%	5.5 MB / < 0.01% CPU
License & Price	Proprietary ($20)	Proprietary ($15)	Proprietary ($12)	GPLv2 Free	GPLv3+ Open Source & Free

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📊 Performance Benchmarks

• Thermal Read Speed: < 500 nanoseconds per channel (Zero-Copy POSIX libc::pread)
• eSIMD Vector Execution: < 0.1 nanoseconds per hazard evaluation (SSE4.2/AVX 128-bit SIMD intrinsics)
• D-Bus IPC Latency: < 50 microseconds (Native zbus Unix socket IPC)
• RAM Footprint: 5.5 MB
• CPU Overhead: < 0.01%
• Incremental Rebuild Speed: 0.52 seconds

For the exhaustive microarchitectural vectorization analysis, see ESIMD_BENCHMARK_REPORT.md.

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🚀 Installation & Setup

1. Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/mikefaille/mpro.git
cd mpro
cargo build --release

2. Run CLI Commands

# Display live hardware snapshot
./target/release/mpro --status

# Run micro-benchmark
./target/release/mpro --benchmark

# Manual fan override
./target/release/mpro --override 3500

3. Systemd Real-Time Service Installation

Copy mpro.service to /etc/systemd/system/mpro.service:

[Unit]
Description=mpro - Real-Time Cyber-Physical Stability Engine for Mac Pro 4,1 / 5,1
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=root
WorkingDirectory=/var/lib/mpro
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/mpro --daemon
Restart=always
RestartSec=1s
TimeoutStopSec=3s

# Real-Time SCHED_RR Priority
Nice=-20
CPUSchedulingPolicy=rr
CPUSchedulingPriority=99
MemoryMax=128M
PrivateTmp=false
ReadWritePaths=/etc/mbpfan.conf /etc/mpro.conf /tmp /sys/devices/platform/applesmc.768 /var/lib/mpro

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start the service:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now mpro.service

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📄 License

GNU General Public License v3.0 or later (GPL-3.0-or-later / GPLv3+). See LICENSE for details.