Gkrellm without libsensors is incompatible with asus_atk0110

[Anton¡o Sch¡fano]

Binary package hint: gkrellm

Gkrellm is compiled without libsensors since version 2.2.10-1, according to the changelog "for safety reasons".
However, this breaks compatibility with - at least - recent Asus motherboards, where the asus_atk0110 kernel module is the best option to retrieve sensors values.
I tried to recompile gkrellm with libsensors and now it detects all the sensors of my Asus Crosshair motherboard, without side effects.

I am using Ubuntu Maverick (x86_64), but I guess it is the same in all architectures/versions since 2007.

lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 10.10
Release: 10.10

apt-cache policy gkrellm
gkrellm:
  Installed: 2.3.4-1
  Candidate: 2.3.4-1
  Version table:
 *** 2.3.4-1 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick/universe amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

[laysan_a (laysan-a)]

Antonio,

How did you do the compile? Did you just do
make -without-libsensors=no

[laysan_a (laysan-a)]

Excuse me, that's:
make without-libsensors=no

[laysan_a (laysan-a)]

Okay, I compiled from source obtained from devs. site. There was no need to change the configuration, since libsensor support is the default. Works great! All my atk0110 readings were recognized immediately. From what I could gather from a cursory websearch, the libsensor support was dropped after libsensor was updated and gkrellm was not. This was back in 2007. There was a patch developed very soon but support was never re-allowed. Someone should really take care of this.

[Anton¡o Sch¡fano (skiantoz)]

On 14/12/10 12:23, laysan_a wrote:
> Okay, I compiled from source obtained from devs. site. There was no need
> to change the configuration, since libsensor support is the default.
> Works great! All my atk0110 readings were recognized immediately. From
> what I could gather from a cursory websearch, the libsensor support was
> dropped after libsensor was updated and gkrellm was not. This was back
> in 2007. There was a patch developed very soon but support was never re-
> allowed. Someone should really take care of this.
>
Hi Laysan,

That is exactly what I did - and with the same result ;)
I agree with you, someone should re-allow libsensors support in.
BTW I just tried on my eeepc: thanks to libsensors, gkrellm was able
to display my laptop's fan speed.
Probably other hardware would benefit too...

[laysan_a (laysan-a)]

I'm sure that's true. Libsensors is THE method used by monitoring programs that utilize sensor data. Relegating Gkrellm to spotty support from system files is unfair to Gkrellm and to those of us who like Gkrellm and want to see it grow and develop with (K)Ubuntu (despite, apparently, the druthers of (K)Ubuntu developers). It's no wonder it's not as popular as it used to be in (K)Ubuntu.

Hey, want to see my desktop? I'm using the invisible-jkx Gkrellm theme. [URL=http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/7603/desktoptransgkrellm1220.png]Look here.[/URL] :)

[laysan_a (laysan-a)]

People should be aware that lack of libsensors support may result in serious instability. I wasn't aware of this aspect of the issue until some time had passed since I compiled my own gkrellm with libsensors support.

My intrepid installation was rock solid. Upon upgrading to jaunty I began experiencing unexpected, seemingly random, freezes to black, in which nothing worked and all I could do was cold boot. These freezes to black occurred in clusters sometimes, sometimes weekly, but I could always expect one at least every two weeks. There was never anything I could point to in any of the logs. One moment everything was fine, the next, I was down. It wasn't a kernel panic, it wasn't my memory. I couldn't figure out what it was. I learned to live with it, through jaunty, karmic, and into lucid.

On the day I discovered gkrellm didn't have libsensors support and compiled my own, I experienced two freezes to black in succession while surfing for answers to the gkrellm issue. Since I compiled gkrellm with libsensors support I have not had a single episode - not one. Within the time immediately following, there were no otherr changes.

It is known that issues with sensors can cause freezing. I experienced regular freezing from jaunty into lucid. I experienced no furtherr freezes after compiling gkrellm with libsensors support. I think it is reasonable to make the connection.

Before I compiled my own gkrellm, I had lm-sensors installed and configured.

It seems, the action taken by whomever, to protect the unwary from gkrellm's libsensors support, created another problem (at least for someone with my configuration) that must be at least as dangerous as the issue they were trying to protect us from. I must say, it is a real pleasure not to have the niggling presence in the back of my mind that at any moment what I might be doing could end abruptly in a black screen.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.