Installing CoreCtrl on Devuan Ceres

brocashelm · 2022-09-09 02:19:46

These instructions are copied from LinuxReviews.

corectrl is a graphical system monitor for your graphics card that can assist in optimizing GPU fan curves, frequency, and voltage in order to improve performance quality. You can also monitor usage metrics to see which processes are demanding more power from your GPU. It's a handy tool for gamers, streamers, video creators, musicians, and even developers (particularly if software is more GPU-bound). It can also handle your CPU frequency scaling and governors, but the draw of corectrl is for GPU optimization.

Before proceeding, keep in mind that this program WILL interfere with fancontrol from lm-sensors. Make sure that this is something you are absolutely sure of (i.e. you have experience fixing stuff by yourself), as corectrl will take immediate effect once launched. In following along with this tutorial, you agree to not hold anyone but yourself liable for any potential damages caused.

The official repository is hosted at GitLab, where you can view the source code and report issues.

As Debian doesn't provide a DEB file for this tool, your only choices are to either compile it from source or add Ernst Sjöstrand's PPA.

Method 1. Compiling from Source

You must first install the following packages:

apt install botan2-devel qca-qt5-devel qt5-qtcharts-devel

The process for building is as follows:

git clone https://gitlab.com/corectrl/corectrl.git
cd corectrl
mkdir build;cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr -Wno-dev ..
make -j$(nproc)
sudo make install

If you leave the -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr part unchanged, the binary will be installed to /usr/bin/, instead of /usr/local/, which is more preferable because it relies on a daemon called corectrl-helper, and is started as root via dbus. We can learn how to make it work with PolicyKit (polkitd) rules and start up automatically later on in the tutorial.

Method 2. Installing from PPA

You will need the package libbotan-2-12, which is available from Ubuntu's repositories (should install just fine). Click here to download the package dependency.

Otherwise, you can run the following commands:

wget http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu/pool/universe/b/botan/libbotan-2-12_2.12.1-2build1_amd64.deb && sudo dpkg -i libbotan-2-12_2.12.1-2build1_amd64.deb

To add the PPA to your repository list, open your /etc/apt/sources.list file and add the following (no need to change the focal codename, unless it won't install):

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/ernstp/mesarc/ubuntu focal main

As root, run apt update. It's likely you'll have an unverified key issue, so run these commands:

apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys B78C97EF9B2235DD && mv /etc/apt/trusted.gpg /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/corectrl.gpg

If apt update works, then run apt install corectrl. It should install with all dependencies met.

Keep the following information in mind:

Although Debian and Devuan documentation strongly recommend against using outside repositories (particularly PPAs and anything outside of a Debian-specific build), I can confirm that this method works without any issues while using the unstable branches of Debian or Devuan. It's possible that this might also work for Bookworm or Daedalus (the current testing branches as of the date of this post), but I haven't tested installing it on them yet. My instructions are for Sid and Ceres users.

With the installation process done, the following is completely optional, but highly recommended:

Step 1. Making corectrl Work with polkitd and Launch Automatically on Startup

Create or edit the file in /etc/polkit-1/localauthority/50-local.d/90-corectrl.pkla:

[User permissions]
Identity=unix-group:*
Action=org.corectrl.*
ResultActive=yes

If you have an older PolicyKit version (0.106 and older -- check with pkaction --version), create a file in /etc/polkit-1/rules.d/90-corectrl.rules and add the following lines of code:

polkit.addRule(function(action, subject) {
    if ((action.id == "org.corectrl.helper.init" ||
         action.id == "org.corectrl.helperkiller.init") &&
        subject.local == true &&
        subject.active == true &&
        subject.isInGroup("*")) {
            return polkit.Result.YES;
    }
});

Afterwards, you'll need to create a desktop launcher:

cp /usr/share/applications/org.corectrl.corectrl.desktop ~/.config/autostart/org.corectrl.corectrl.desktop

Change StartupNotify=true to StartupNotify=false.

Save the file and reboot your system. Once you log into your graphical session, corectrl will launch automatically.

Step 2. Unlocking Kernel Parameters for the amdgpu Module (NOT RECOMMENDED FOR INEXPERIENCED USERS)

For AMD GPU users (like myself), you'll probably want to unlock the kernel parameters of the amdgpu kernel module by going into your /etc/default/grub file and inserting this line into GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX:

amdgpu.ppfeaturemask=0xffffffff

It should look like this:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="amdgpu.ppfeaturemask=0xffffffff"

Save the file and run update-grub, and then reboot your system. You'll be able to increase the maximum watts of your AMD GPU and adjust both voltage and frequency. Leaving them by default is generally recommended, unless you know exactly what you're doing and won't ruin your hardware.

Once again, this is all done at your own risk, as I'm not liable for any problems that could arise. Please keep this in mind, should you do this.

All feedback is welcomed.

Last edited by brocashelm (2022-09-09 03:30:57)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2022-09-09 05:57:01

brocashelm wrote:

Method 2. Installing from PPA

Better guide here:

https://wiki.debian.org/CreatePackageFromPPA

^ That shows how to use PPA source code to build local Devuan packages.

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2022-09-09 05:57:15)

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#1 2022-09-09 02:19:46