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The 10.8.2 version of "helpd" incorrectly sets "PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep"

Ever since upgrading from 10.8.1 to 10.8.2, I have noticed that after a short amount of time of using my machine, the system stops going into "display sleep" when idle, and it never again automatically activates the screen saver.


After investigating, I noticed that the "helpd" process is incorrectly setting "PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep". This is illustrated by the following output of "pmset -g assertions" ...


% pmset -g assertions

10/7/12 11:51:47 AM EDT

Assertion status system-wide:

PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep 1

CPUBoundAssertion 0

PreventSystemSleep 0

PreventUserIdleSystemSleep 0

ExternalMedia 0

UserIsActive 0

ApplePushServiceTask 0

BackgroundTask 1


Listed by owning process:

pid 18(powerd): [0x00000005000001d7] 11:24:18 PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep named: "com.apple.powermanagement.delayDisplayOff"

pid 12873(helpd): [0x0000000c000002a1] 00:10:34 BackgroundTask named: "com.apple.helpd.sdmbuilding"


... etc. ...


I see no valid reason for a background process like "helpd" to prevent the screen from going to sleep ... especially a long-running background process. I therefore believe that this is a bug. My guess is that the Apple developer might have accidentally typed "PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep" instead of "PreventUserIdleSystemSleep" in the 10.8.2 "helpd" source code.


I will soon report this to Apple as a bug. In the mean time, do any of you have thoughts about this issue?


Thanks in advance.

.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), Take a hippopotamus to lunch today.

Posted on Oct 7, 2012 10:16 AM

Reply
1 reply

Oct 9, 2012 2:08 AM in response to HippopotamusMan

I realize now that helpd is not the cause, but rather, certain other programs are setting the PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep power-management assertion within powerd, and that this assertion remains in effect even after those badly behaved programs exit. I'm looking for a way to clear PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep within powerd without killing and restarting powerd.


Does anyone know how to do this?


The 10.8.2 version of "helpd" incorrectly sets "PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep"

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