NetworkManager supports WiFi powersaving but the function is rather undocumented.
From the source code: wifi.powersave can have the following value:
- NM_SETTING_WIRELESS_POWERSAVE_DEFAULT (0): use the default value
- NM_SETTING_WIRELESS_POWERSAVE_IGNORE (1): don't touch existing setting
- NM_SETTING_WIRELESS_POWERSAVE_DISABLE (2): disable powersave
- NM_SETTING_WIRELESS_POWERSAVE_ENABLE (3): enable powersave
Then I propose 2 files, only one of them needs to be put under /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/
.
One is forcing to disable powersaving, while the other one enable it.
Once you have put the file in the right folder, simply restart NetworkManager:
sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager
I wonder if anyone has experimented on the effects of enable/disabling this feature in terms of power consumption. Is it negligible? If not, then is there a script that leverages a hook for low power states in laptops so that I can use it to enable this configuration when the battery is low?