Provided by: lm-sensors_3.3.4-2ubuntu1_amd64 bug

NAME

       sensors.conf - libsensors configuration file

DESCRIPTION

       sensors.conf  describes how libsensors, and so all programs using it, should translate the
       raw readings from the kernel modules to real-world values.

SEMANTICS

       On a given system, there may be one or more hardware monitoring chips.  Each chip may have
       several  features.  For  example,  the  LM78  monitors  7  voltage  inputs, 3 fans and one
       temperature. Feature names are standardized. Typical feature names are  in0,  in1,  in2...
       for  voltage  inputs,  fan1,  fan2,  fan3...  for  fans  and  temp1,  temp2,  temp3... for
       temperature inputs.

       Each feature may in turn have one or more sub-features, each representing an attribute  of
       the  feature:  input  value,  low  limit,  high  limit,  alarm, etc. Sub-feature names are
       standardized as well. For example, the first voltage  input  (in0)  would  typically  have
       sub-features  in0_input  (measured  value),  in0_min (low limit), in0_max (high limit) and
       in0_alarm (alarm flag). Which sub-features are actually present depend on the  exact  chip
       type.

       The  sensors.conf  configuration  file  will  let  you  configure  each  chip, feature and
       sub-feature in a way that makes sense for your system.

       The rest of this section describes the meaning of each configuration statement.

   CHIP STATEMENT
       A chip statement selects for which chips all following  compute,  label,  ignore  and  set
       statements  are  meant.  A  chip  selection  remains  valid until the next chip statement.
       Example:

              chip "lm78-*" "lm79-*"

       If a chip matches at least one of the chip descriptions, the following configuration lines
       are examined for it, otherwise they are ignored.

       A  chip description is built from several elements, separated by dashes. The first element
       is the chip type, the second element is the name of the bus, and the third element is  the
       hexadecimal  address  of the chip. Such chip descriptions are printed by sensors(1) as the
       first line for every chip.

       The name of the bus is either isa, pci, virtual, spi-* or i2c-N with N being a bus  number
       as bound with a bus statement. This list isn't necessarily exhaustive as support for other
       bus types may be added in the future.

       You may substitute the wildcard operator  *  for  every  element.  Note  however  that  it
       wouldn't  make  any sense to specify the address without the bus type, so the address part
       is plain omitted when the bus type isn't specified.  Here is how  you  would  express  the
       following matches:

       LM78 chip at address 0x2d on I2C bus 1      lm78-i2c-1-2d
       LM78 chip at address 0x2d on any I2C bus    lm78-i2c-*-2d
       LM78 chip at address 0x290 on the ISA bus   lm78-isa-0290
       Any LM78 chip on I2C bus 1                  lm78-i2c-1-*
       Any LM78 on any I2C bus                     lm78-i2c-*-*
       Any LM78 chip on the ISA bus                lm78-isa-*
       Any LM78 chip                               lm78-*

       Any chip at address 0x2d on I2C bus 1       *-i2c-1-2d
       Any chip at address 0x290 on the ISA bus    *-isa-0290

       If several chip statements match a specific chip, they are all considered.

   LABEL STATEMENT
       A  label  statement  describes  how  a  feature should be called. Features without a label
       statement are just called by their feature name. Applications can use this  to  label  the
       readings they present. Example:

              label in3 "+5V"

       The first argument is the feature name. The second argument is the feature description.

       Note that you must use the raw feature name, which is not necessarily the one displayed by
       "sensors" by default. Use "sensors -u" to see the raw feature names. Same applies  to  all
       other statement types below.

   IGNORE STATEMENT
       An ignore statement is a hint that a specific feature should be ignored - probably because
       it returns bogus values  (for  example,  because  a  fan  or  temperature  sensor  is  not
       connected). Example:

              ignore fan1

       The  only argument is the feature name. Please note that this does not disable anything in
       the actual sensor chip; it simply hides the feature in question from libsensors users.

   COMPUTE STATEMENT
       A compute statement describes how  a  feature's  raw  value  should  be  translated  to  a
       real-world  value,  and  how  a  real-world value should be translated back to a raw value
       again. This is most useful for voltage sensors, because in general  sensor  chips  have  a
       limited  range  and  voltages  outside this range must be divided (using resistors) before
       they can be monitored.  Example:

              compute in3 ((6.8/10)+1)*@, @/((6.8/10)+1)

       The example above expresses the fact that the voltage input is divided using two resistors
       of  values  6.8  Ohm and 10 Ohm, respectively. See the VOLTAGE COMPUTATION DETAILS section
       below for details.

       The first argument is the feature  name.  The  second  argument  is  an  expression  which
       specifies  how  a  raw value must be translated to a real-world value; `@' stands here for
       the raw value. This is the formula which will be applied  when  reading  values  from  the
       chip.  The third argument is an expression that specifies how a real-world value should be
       translated back to a raw value; `@' stands here for the  real-world  value.  This  is  the
       formula  which  will  be  applied  when  writing  values to the chip. The two formulas are
       obviously related, and are separated by a comma.

       A compute statement applies to all sub-features of the target feature for which  it  makes
       sense. For example, the above example would affect sub-features in3_min and in3_max (which
       are voltage values) but not in3_alarm (which is a boolean flag.)

       The following operators are supported in compute statements:
              + - * / ( ) ^ `
       ^x means exp(x) and `x means ln(x).

       You may  use  the  name  of  sub-features  in  these  expressions;  current  readings  are
       substituted. You should be careful though to avoid circular references.

       If  at any moment a translation between a raw and a real-world value is called for, but no
       compute statement applies, a one-on-one translation is used instead.

   SET STATEMENT
       A set statement is used to write a sub-feature value  to  the  chip.  Of  course  not  all
       sub-feature  values  can  be  set that way, in particular input values and alarm flags can
       not. Valid sub-features are usually min/max limits.  Example:

              set in3_min  5 * 0.95
              set in3_max  5 * 1.05

       The example above basically configures the chip to allow a 5% deviance for the  +5V  power
       input.

       The  first  argument  is  the  feature  name.  The  second argument is an expression which
       determines the written value. If there is an applying compute statement, this value is fed
       to its third argument to translate it to a raw value.

       You  may  use  the  name  of  sub-features  in  these  expressions;  current  readings are
       substituted. You should be careful though to avoid circular references.

       Please note that set statements are only executed  by  sensors(1)  when  you  use  the  -s
       option. Typical graphical sensors applications do not care about these statements at all.

   BUS STATEMENT
       A  bus  statement  binds the description of an I2C or SMBus adapter to a bus number.  This
       makes it possible to refer to an adapter in the configuration  file,  independent  of  the
       actual  correspondence of bus numbers and actual adapters (which may change from moment to
       moment). Example:

              bus "i2c-0" "SMBus PIIX4 adapter at e800"

       The first argument is the bus number. It is the literal text i2c-, followed by  a  number.
       As there is a dash in this argument, it must always be quoted.

       The  second  argument  is  the  adapter name, it must match exactly the adapter name as it
       appears in /sys/class/i2c-adapter/i2c-*/name.  It should always be quoted as  well  as  it
       will most certainly contain spaces or dashes.

       The  bus  statements may be scattered randomly throughout the configuration file; there is
       no need to place the bus line before the place where its binding is referred to. Still, as
       a  matter  of  good  style, we suggest you place all bus statements together at the top of
       your configuration file.

       Running sensors --bus-list will generate these lines for you.

       In the case where multiple configuration files are used, the scope of each  bus  statement
       is the configuration file it was defined in. This makes it possible to have bus statements
       in all configuration files which will not unexpectedly interfere with each other.

   STATEMENT ORDER
       Statements can go in any order, however it is recommended to put `set fanX_div' statements
       before  `set  fanX_min' statements, in case a driver doesn't preserve the fanX_min setting
       when the fanX_div value is changed. Even if the driver does, it's still better to put  the
       statements in this order to avoid accuracy loss.

VOLTAGE COMPUTATION DETAILS

       Most  voltage  sensors  in  sensor  chips  have a range of 0 to 4.08 V.  This is generally
       sufficient for the +3.3V and CPU supply voltages, so the sensor chip reading is the actual
       voltage.

       Other  supply  voltages  must  be  scaled  with  an external resistor network.  The driver
       reports the value at the chip's pin (0 - 4.08  V),  and  the  userspace  application  must
       convert  this  raw  value  to  an  actual  voltage.   The  compute statements provide this
       facility.

       Unfortunately the resistor values vary among motherboard types.   Therefore  you  have  to
       figure out the correct resistor values for your own motherboard.

       For positive voltages (typically +5V and +12V), two resistors are used, with the following
       formula:
               R1 = R2 * (Vs/Vin - 1)

       where:
               R1 and R2 are the resistor values
               Vs is the actual voltage being monitored
               Vin is the voltage at the pin

       This leads to the following compute formula:
               compute inX @*((R1/R2)+1),  @/(((R1/R2)+1)

       Real-world formula for +5V and +12V would look like:
               compute in3 @*((6.8/10)+1), @/((6.8/10)+1)
               compute in4 @*((28/10)+1),  @/((28/10)+1)

       For negative voltages (typically -5V and -12V),  two  resistors  are  used  as  well,  but
       different  boards  use different strategies to bring the voltage value into the 0 - 4.08 V
       range. Some use an inverting amplifier, others use  a  positive  reference  voltage.  This
       leads  to  different computation formulas. Note that most users won't have to care because
       most modern motherboards make little use of -12V and no use of -5V so they do  not  bother
       monitoring these voltage inputs.

       Real-world examples for the inverting amplifier case:
               compute in5 -@*(240/60), -@/(240/60)
               compute in6 -@*(100/60), -@/(100/60)

       Real-world examples for the positive voltage reference case:
               compute in5 @*(1+232/56) - 4.096*232/56, (@ + 4.096*232/56)/(1+232/56)
               compute in6 @*(1+120/56) - 4.096*120/56, (@ + 4.096*120/56)/(1+120/56)

       Many  recent  monitoring chips have a 0 - 2.04 V range, so scaling resistors are even more
       needed, and resistor values are different.

       There are also a few chips out there which have internal scaling resistors,  meaning  that
       their value is known and doesn't change from one motherboard to the next. For these chips,
       the driver usually handles the scaling so it is transparent to the  user  and  no  compute
       statements are needed.

TEMPERATURE CONFIGURATION

       On top of the usual features, temperatures can have two specific sub-features: temperature
       sensor type (tempX_type) and hysteresis values (tempX_max_hyst and tempX_crit_hyst).

   THERMAL SENSOR TYPES
       Available thermal sensor types:

       1   PII/Celeron Diode
       2   3904 transistor
       3   thermal diode
       4   thermistor
       5   AMD AMDSI
       6   Intel PECI

       For example, to set temp1 to thermistor type, use:

              set temp1_type 4

       Only certain chips support thermal sensor type change, and even these usually only support
       some  of  the  types  above. Please refer to the specific driver documentation to find out
       which types are supported by your chip.

       In theory, the BIOS should have configured the sensor types correctly,  so  you  shouldn't
       have to touch them, but sometimes it isn't the case.

   THERMAL HYSTERESIS MECHANISM
       Many  monitoring  chips  do  not handle the high and critical temperature limits as simple
       limits. Instead, they have two values for each limit, one which triggers an alarm when the
       temperature  rises  and another one which clears the alarm when the temperature falls. The
       latter is typically a few degrees below the former. This mechanism is known as hysteresis.

       The reason for implementing things that way is  that  high  temperature  alarms  typically
       trigger  an  action  to  attempt  to  cool the system down, either by scaling down the CPU
       frequency, or by kicking in an extra fan. This should normally let the temperature fall in
       a  timely  manner.   If  this was clearing the alarm immediately, then the system would be
       back to its original state where the temperature rises and  the  alarm  would  immediately
       trigger again, causing an undesirable tight fan on, fan off loop. The hysteresis mechanism
       ensures that the system is really cool before the fan stops, so that it will not  have  to
       kick in again immediately.

       So,  in  addition  to  tempX_max,  many chips have a tempX_max_hyst sub-feature. Likewise,
       tempX_crit often comes with tempX_crit_hyst.  Example:

              set temp1_max      60
              set temp1_max_hyst 56

       The hysteresis mechanism can be disabled by giving both limits the same value.

BEEPS

       Some chips support alarms with beep warnings. When an alarm is triggered you can be warned
       by a beeping signal through your computer speaker. On top of per-feature beep flags, there
       is usually a master beep control switch to enable  or  disable  beeping  globally.  Enable
       beeping using:

              set beep_enable 1

       or disable it using:

              set beep_enable 0

WHICH STATEMENT APPLIES

       If  more  than one statement of the same kind applies at a certain moment, the last one in
       the configuration file is used. So usually, you should put more general chip statements at
       the top, so you can overrule them below.

SYNTAX

       Comments  are  introduced by hash marks. A comment continues to the end of the line. Empty
       lines, and lines containing only whitespace or comments are ignored.  Other lines have one
       of  the  below  forms.  There  must  be whitespace between each element, but the amount of
       whitespace is unimportant. A line may be continued on the next line by ending  it  with  a
       backslash; this does not work within a comment, NAME or NUMBER.

              bus NAME NAME NAME
              chip NAME-LIST
              label NAME NAME
              compute NAME EXPR , EXPR
              ignore NAME
              set NAME EXPR

       A  NAME is a string. If it only contains letters, digits and underscores, it does not have
       to be quoted; in all other cases, you must use double quotes around  it.   Within  quotes,
       you can use the normal escape-codes from C.

       A NAME-LIST is one or more NAME items behind each other, separated by whitespace.

       A EXPR is of one of the below forms:

              NUMBER
              NAME
              @
              EXPR + EXPR
              EXPR - EXPR
              EXPR * EXPR
              EXPR / EXPR
              - EXPR
              ^ EXPR
              ` EXPR
              ( EXPR )

       A  NUMBER  is  a  floating-point  number.  `10',  `10.4'  and  `.4'  are examples of valid
       floating-point numbers; `10.' or `10E4' are not valid.

FILES

       /etc/sensors3.conf
       /etc/sensors.conf
              The system-wide  libsensors(3)  configuration  file.  /etc/sensors3.conf  is  tried
              first, and if it doesn't exist, /etc/sensors.conf is used instead.

       /etc/sensors.d
              A  directory  where  you  can put additional libsensors configuration files.  Files
              found in this directory will be processed in alphabetical order after  the  default
              configuration file. Files with names that start with a dot are ignored.

SEE ALSO

       libsensors(3)

AUTHOR

       Frodo Looijaard and the lm_sensors group http://www.lm-sensors.org/