An unofficial Software Suspend Mini-FAQ

Answers to some common questions on the swsusp-devel list ([email protected]). I'll try and keep this page relatively up to date as things change. The swsusp code is moving pretty fast.

The information here should be current for swsusp-1.0-pre17. This page is really a temporary solution to a FAQ until the fullblown updated software suspend site gets going. Till then...

Last updated: Wed, 09 Jul 2003 18:37:50 +0800

1. How do I get the latest swsusp?

Visit http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/swsusp and click "View ALL Project Files". Down the bottom, under swsusp-devel, grab the latest full patch (called swsusp_XXX.bz2) and whatever incremental patches follow it (called swsusp-XXX-incremental). Apply in order.

Alternately, you can grab the all-in-one patches made by Brad Campbell from http://www.seme.com.au/patches/. (These are no longer being updated for newer swsusp versions)

2. What kernel do I need for the latest swsusp?

You will need a relatively clean 2.4.21 kernel source tree (eg, not Red Hat's kernel source). There are a number of optional patches that are convenient if you have extras in your kernel such as ACPI, bootsplash, Win4Lin or laptop-mode (updated version). If you have any of these, you might want to download the relevant option patch which helps swsusp integrate more nicely.

3. I upgraded to the latest swsusp and my machine no longer suspends! Instead, it shuts down all drivers, etc and then starts resuming.

Earlier versions of swsusp used the file /proc/sys/kernel/swsusp to activate suspension. This has been deprecated. Now to activate suspension, you will either need to use one of the following methods:

echo anything > /proc/swsusp/activate

echo 4 > /proc/acpi/sleep if you have a working (and not-so-buggy) ACPI implementation

Download a patched shutdown program, (eg shutdown+z, call using shutdown -z now). Either way, you'll need to modify your suspend script to call it for now.
Download swsuspctl - a small utility to help manage software suspend's parameters and activate it

4. I have an XFS partition, and I can't suspend.

Paraphrased from Karol Kozimor:

You must patch the XFS code in order to be able to suspend. The patch (swsusp18.xfs-1.2pre4.patch) is here or here. It works for me. Be careful with applying, you should get the idea on how to get the flags in sched.h straight, and for those in sysctl.h, just use any, both options work. The other rejects are trivial to fix.

5. Which mailing list?

The <[email protected]> list has been phased out, in favour of the sourceforge list <[email protected]>. Please subscribe and post to the new list. The old one will be decomissioned soon.

More as they come.