| 1 |
OVERVIEW OF THE LM-SENSORS PACKAGE |
|---|
| 2 |
================================== |
|---|
| 3 |
|
|---|
| 4 |
The lm-sensors package, version 3, provides user-space support for the |
|---|
| 5 |
hardware monitoring drivers in Linux 2.6.5 and later. For older kernel |
|---|
| 6 |
versions, you have to use lm-sensors version 2. |
|---|
| 7 |
|
|---|
| 8 |
The directories within this package: |
|---|
| 9 |
|
|---|
| 10 |
* doc |
|---|
| 11 |
Documentation. |
|---|
| 12 |
* etc |
|---|
| 13 |
A sample configuration file for libsensors, and a script to convert |
|---|
| 14 |
lm-sensors version 2 configuration files to work with version 3. |
|---|
| 15 |
* lib |
|---|
| 16 |
The user-space sensors support library code (libsensors). |
|---|
| 17 |
* prog |
|---|
| 18 |
Several supporting programs. The most important ones are: |
|---|
| 19 |
- sensors-detect: A program for detecting installed hardware and |
|---|
| 20 |
recommending specific modules to load. |
|---|
| 21 |
- sensors: A console tool to report sensor readings and set new |
|---|
| 22 |
sensor limits. |
|---|
| 23 |
- sensord: A daemon to watch sensor values and log problems. It |
|---|
| 24 |
includes RRD support. |
|---|
| 25 |
|
|---|
| 26 |
|
|---|
| 27 |
INSTALLING LM-SENSORS |
|---|
| 28 |
--------------------- |
|---|
| 29 |
|
|---|
| 30 |
See the INSTALL file. |
|---|
| 31 |
|
|---|
| 32 |
|
|---|
| 33 |
HARDWARE SUPPORT |
|---|
| 34 |
---------------- |
|---|
| 35 |
|
|---|
| 36 |
To find out what hardware you have, just run 'sensors-detect' as root. |
|---|
| 37 |
|
|---|
| 38 |
Most modern mainboards incorporate some form of hardware monitoring chips. |
|---|
| 39 |
These chips read things like chip temperatures, fan rotation speeds and |
|---|
| 40 |
voltage levels. There are quite a few different chips which can be used by |
|---|
| 41 |
mainboard builders for approximately the same results. |
|---|
| 42 |
|
|---|
| 43 |
Laptops, on the other hand, rarely expose any hardware monitoring |
|---|
| 44 |
chip. They often have some BIOS and/or ACPI magic to get the CPU |
|---|
| 45 |
temperature value, but that's about it. For such laptops, the lm-sensors |
|---|
| 46 |
package is of no use (sensors-detect will not find anything), and you have |
|---|
| 47 |
to use acpi instead. |
|---|
| 48 |
|
|---|
| 49 |
This package doesn't contain chip-specific knowledge. It will support all |
|---|
| 50 |
the hardware monitoring chips your kernel has drivers for. In other words, |
|---|
| 51 |
if you find out that you have unsupported hardware (e.g. sensors-detect |
|---|
| 52 |
told you so) then it means that you need a more recent kernel, or you |
|---|
| 53 |
even need to wait for a new kernel driver to be written. Updating the |
|---|
| 54 |
lm-sensors package itself will not help. |
|---|
| 55 |
|
|---|
| 56 |
|
|---|
| 57 |
LIBSENSORS |
|---|
| 58 |
---------- |
|---|
| 59 |
|
|---|
| 60 |
The kernel drivers communicate their information through the /sys |
|---|
| 61 |
interface. Because every motherboard is different, the drivers always |
|---|
| 62 |
advert the measurements at their pins. This means that the values they |
|---|
| 63 |
report are not always immediately relevant to you. They have to be |
|---|
| 64 |
labelled properly, and sometimes they must be scaled to correspond to |
|---|
| 65 |
real-world values. |
|---|
| 66 |
|
|---|
| 67 |
libsensors is a (shared or static) library of access functions. It |
|---|
| 68 |
offers a simple-to-use interface for applications to access the sensor |
|---|
| 69 |
chip readings and configure them as you like. It has a configuration |
|---|
| 70 |
file where you can put all the motherboard-specific labels and |
|---|
| 71 |
conversion rules. That way, all applications do not need to duplicate |
|---|
| 72 |
the effort and can simply link with libsensors and work out of the box. |
|---|
| 73 |
|
|---|
| 74 |
|
|---|
| 75 |
APPLICATIONS |
|---|
| 76 |
------------ |
|---|
| 77 |
|
|---|
| 78 |
This package contains an example console program that reports all current |
|---|
| 79 |
sensors values. This program is called 'sensors'. You can use it as a |
|---|
| 80 |
reference implementation for more intricate programs. It also contains a |
|---|
| 81 |
daemon watching for sensor values, logging alarms and feeding an RRD |
|---|
| 82 |
database with the sensor measurements. |
|---|
| 83 |
|
|---|
| 84 |
This package does not contain a nice graphical monitor. See |
|---|
| 85 |
http://www.lm-sensors.org/wiki/UsefulLinks for pointers to such programs. |
|---|
| 86 |
|
|---|
| 87 |
|
|---|
| 88 |
OTHER INFORMATION |
|---|
| 89 |
----------------- |
|---|
| 90 |
|
|---|
| 91 |
The developers of this package can be reached through a mailing-list |
|---|
| 92 |
(see http://www.lm-sensors.org/wiki/AuthorsAndContributors). Do not hesitate |
|---|
| 93 |
to mail us if you have questions, suggestions, problems, want to |
|---|
| 94 |
contribute, or just want to report it works for you. But please try to |
|---|
| 95 |
read the documentation before you ask any questions! It's all under doc/. |
|---|
| 96 |
Also make sure you read the FAQ at http://www.lm-sensors.org/wiki/FAQ. |
|---|
| 97 |
|
|---|
| 98 |
The latest version of this package can always be found at: |
|---|
| 99 |
http://www.lm-sensors.org/wiki/Download. Pre-release versions can be |
|---|
| 100 |
retrieved through anonymous SVN; see doc/svn for details. |
|---|
| 101 |
|
|---|
| 102 |
This package may be distributed according to the GNU General Public |
|---|
| 103 |
License (GPL), as included in the file COPYING. |
|---|
| 104 |
|
|---|
| 105 |
Note that libsensors falls under the GPL, not the LGPL. In more human |
|---|
| 106 |
language, that means it is FORBIDDEN to link any application to the |
|---|
| 107 |
library, even to the shared version, if the application itself does not |
|---|
| 108 |
fall under the GPL. |
|---|
