Thunderbolt Runtime Power Management Staged For Linux 4.19

Adding to the list of notable changes for the Linux 4.19 kernel is run-time power management for Thunderbolt controllers.

Mika Westerberg of Intel who has been leading many of the Thunderbolt improvements for Linux has worked out support for run-time power management with the Thunderbolt host controller. This supports run-time suspending until receiving a remote wake event such as a device connect/disconnect or when user-space is trying to access the hardware.

This latest batch of Linux Thunderbolt improvements is queued as part of char-misc-next of new material that is expected to be merged for the Linux 4.19 kernel when that window likely opens next week.

Great to see the continued Linux power management improvements, especially considering how well Linux is beginning to perform for power efficiency relative to Windows 10. Any and all power management improvements are certainly welcome.