XSuspender

Auto-suspend inactive X11 applications

Modern GUI applications tend to use significant system resources, such as CPU time, even when they're not being actively used.

XSuspender configurably suspends application activity (using Unix signal SIGSTOP or a custom shell script) shortly after its window(s) loses focus. When the window regains focus, the application is transparently resumed exactly where it had left off.

  • Reduce battery use, increase run-time 5–500%

    Make your laptop run on battery for as long as your phone does, using roughly the same technique.

  • Reduce interaction latency on low-end CPUs

    With fewer clients requesting processing power, there's more of it to go around where it's needed.

  • Reduce CPU temperature and fan noise

    Save the tinnitus for old age.

  • Avoid apps plotting stuff behind your back

    That Kali you're running in a VM is perfectly fine, but god only knows what Microsoft Windos is doing.

  • Suspend processes with well-known Unix signals

    Or custom shell scripts. Decades of portable operating systems engineering at its finest.

  • Preconfigured for popular ‘hog’ software

    Chromium, Firefox, JetBrains IDEs, qBittorrent, VirtualBox ...

  • Written in portable C99

    Compiles and runs on any reasonably modern X11 platform, including GNU/Linux and *BSD.

  • Zero vulnerabilities or memory leaks

    Guaranteed or your money back! (In case you do find any, please let us know.)

  • It won't break your system*

    But if it does, you're free to keep all the pieces.

* Make sure to read the usage manual, particularly the section titled BUGS.

What Users are Saying

This is just very cool!

Linus Torvalds

It's a real shame I cannot use it on Wayland.

A GNOME Desktop User

The proof of [this] program's value is its existence.

Alan Perlis

All this technology is completely unnecessary to a happy life.

Tom Hodgkinson

Throughout a Unix system, easy things are easy and hard things are at least possible.

Eric S. Raymond

[...] When all else fails, read the instructions.

Cahn