This document was written and tested on Slackware-current with elogind-255.23.

The same configuration applies to Slackware 15.0, which ships elogind-246.10. All commands, configuration directives, and D-Bus interfaces shown here are present in both versions.

If you are on a different version, run elogind –version to check.

Slackware does not use systemd, but it provides logind functionality through elogind.

elogind is responsible for:

• User sessions
• Suspend and power actions
• Lid switch handling (laptops)
• Inhibitors (temporary blocking of actions)

Slackware follows upstream behavior. There are no distribution-specific wrappers or automation layers. All configuration is explicit.

On laptops, the lid switch behavior is controlled by elogind.

Create a configuration file:

/etc/elogind/logind.conf.d/50-power.conf

Example:

[Login]
HandleLidSwitch=suspend
LidSwitchIgnoreInhibited=no

Explanation:

• HandleLidSwitch=suspend

Closing the lid triggers suspend-to-RAM.

• LidSwitchIgnoreInhibited=no

Ensures that suspend is blocked when an inhibitor is active.

Restart elogind after changes:

/etc/rc.d/rc.elogind restart

Suspend (also known as suspend-to-RAM) stores the system state in memory and powers down most hardware.

• Fast resume (a few seconds)
• Low power consumption
• System state is preserved in RAM

This is different from hibernation (suspend-to-disk), which writes memory to disk and powers off completely.

elogind provides a mechanism to temporarily block suspend and related actions.

This is useful when running long tasks such as package upgrades or backups.

Example:

elogind-inhibit --what=handle-lid-switch:sleep:idle sleep 120

While this command is running:

• Closing the lid will NOT suspend the system
• Idle suspend is blocked
• The system remains fully operational

Real-world example:

elogind-inhibit --what=handle-lid-switch:sleep:idle slackpkg upgrade-all

Note that if –what= is omitted, elogind-inhibit defaults to idle:sleep:shutdown. This default does not include handle-lid-switch, so on a laptop you almost always want to add it explicitly.

The loginctl shipped with elogind does not implement list-inhibitors:

$ loginctl list-inhibitors
Unknown command verb 'list-inhibitors'.

Use busctl instead:

busctl call org.freedesktop.login1 /org/freedesktop/login1 \
  org.freedesktop.login1.Manager ListInhibitors

Example output on a typical Slackware desktop:

a(ssssuu) 3
  "sleep" "NetworkManager" "NetworkManager needs to turn off networks" "delay" 0 2026
  "sleep" "UPower"         "Pause device polling"                      "delay" 0 3227
  "sleep" "ModemManager"   "ModemManager needs to reset devices"       "delay" 0 2083

The fields are (What, Who, Why, Mode, UID, PID). The three locks above are normal: they are delay locks used by services to clean up before the system suspends. They do not block suspend.

While an elogind-inhibit is active, a fourth entry appears with Mode=block:

"sleep:idle:handle-lid-switch" "test" "testing" "block" 1000 7664

The difference matters: block actually prevents the action; delay only gives services a window to clean up before the system goes to sleep.

On Slackware, lid events follow this path:

kernel (input/udev) → elogind → action
                   ↘ acpid (optional, for custom shell scripts)

acpid is shipped (/etc/rc.d/rc.acpid) but is not required for elogind to handle the lid; elogind listens to the kernel directly.

You can monitor raw ACPI events:

acpi_listen

Example output:

button/lid LID close
button/lid LID open

These events confirm that the hardware and ACPI layer are working correctly.

Without inhibitor:

• Closing the lid → system suspends

With elogind-inhibit:

• Closing the lid → event is received
• Suspend is blocked
• System continues running

This behavior depends on:

LidSwitchIgnoreInhibited=no

Check:

• elogind is running
• configuration file is correct
• no inhibitors are active

Ensure:

LidSwitchIgnoreInhibited=no

And ensure handle-lid-switch is included in –what=. A plain sleep inhibitor is not enough by default, because lid events ignore high-level locks unless LidSwitchIgnoreInhibited=no is set.

Check acpid:

/etc/rc.d/rc.acpid status

acpi_listen

loginctl monitor

• elogind-inhibit itself does not require root, but the wrapped command may (e.g. slackpkg upgrade-all)
• Suspend used here is suspend-to-RAM (ACPI S3 or s2idle)
• Hibernation (suspend-to-disk) requires additional configuration and is not covered here
• Slackware does not enforce policy; behavior is defined by configuration
• Two classes of inhibitor locks exist: high-level (shutdown, sleep, idle) are subject to the *IgnoreInhibited= settings; low-level (handle-*) are always honored

Use elogind-inhibit for temporary control instead of changing global configuration.

Example:

elogind-inhibit --what=handle-lid-switch:sleep:idle command

This avoids permanent changes and keeps system behavior predictable.

elogind provides simple and explicit control over suspend behavior on Slackware.

Using inhibitors allows fine-grained control without adding complexity or relying on external tools.

• elogind-inhibit(1)
• loginctl(1)
• logind.conf(5)

• Originally written by r1w1s1