list-session-inhibitors

command line utility to list session power inhibitors for Linux Gnome users.

Inspired by https://askubuntu.com/a/1239194/152287 from Alexis Wilke (https://www.m2osw.com/)

Install Tips

The pip install adds an executable to your path (see usage).

This script assumes you are using Gnome.

Prerequisite packages

The python package PyGObject is a prerequisite. Installation is automatic, but certain system packages must be installed, according to the requirements of PyGObject

For Ubuntu 20.10:

sudo apt install python3-pip libgirepository1.0-dev gcc libcairo2-dev pkg-config python3-dev gir1.2-gtk-3.0

for other distributions, see https://pygobject.readthedocs.io/en/latest/getting_started.html

You may get a warning that ~/.local/bin is not on your path.

When you next login, this will be fixed.

Usage

inhibitors list

Example

With the Gnome Shell plugin Caffeine activate, and a Google Meet running in Firefox:

$ inhibitors list
Listing inhibitors reported by dbus:
Inhibitor: firefox audio-playing
Inhibitor: user Inhibit by Caffeine

Comparison with systemd

we can do $ systemd-inhibit --list

which on my desktop gives:

WHO                            UID  USER PID  COMM            WHAT                                                     WHY                                                       MODE 
ModemManager                   0    root 2222 ModemManager    sleep                                                    ModemManager needs to reset devices                       delay
NetworkManager                 0    root 1912 NetworkManager  sleep                                                    NetworkManager needs to turn off networks                 delay
UPower                         0    root 2654 upowerd         sleep                                                    Pause device polling                                      delay
Unattended Upgrades Shutdown   0    root 2449 unattended-upgr shutdown                                                 Stop ongoing upgrades or perform upgrades before shutdown delay
GNOME Shell                    1000 tim  5039 gnome-shell     sleep                                                    GNOME needs to lock the screen                            delay
Telepathy                      1000 tim  5156 mission-control shutdown:sleep                                           Disconnecting IM accounts before suspend/shutdown...      delay
gnome-tweak-tool-lid-inhibitor 1000 tim  5325 python3         handle-lid-switch                                        user preference                                           block
tim                            1000 tim  5255 gsd-media-keys  handle-power-key:handle-suspend-key:handle-hibernate-key GNOME handling keypresses                                 block
tim                            1000 tim  5020 gnome-session-b shutdown:sleep                                           user session inhibited                                    block
tim                            1000 tim  5255 gsd-media-keys  sleep                                                    GNOME handling keypresses                                 delay
tim                            1000 tim  5257 gsd-power       sleep                                                    GNOME needs to lock the screen                            delay

The Caffeine plugin inhibit is the third line from the bottom. However, it is not obvious. I am sure in this case, because when I deactivate caffeine, the third line disappears.

The Google Meet inhibitor is not even listed at all. However, it is definitely an inhibitor.

Building and uploading

python3 -m build
python3 -m twine upload --skip-existing dist/*