App Nap - Reason not to upgrade?

I'm thinking it's more of a visual freezing than background processes. I seriously doubt it would stop command line things, or torrents in my case, just because you aren't looking at them.

 

I read the PDF earlier, and have the same concerns. Applications like NZBVortex/Transmission o) have had problems in previous OS X updates when Sleep functionality was messed with. Hell, Sleep still ignores my Handbrake encodes! Can see it being the same with App Nap.

Hope it is just a visual thing, but I'm sort of betting against it.

 

Wait, what? How did you know?

I'm sure there'll be a toggle or command line hack to disable it. If it is indeed a problem at all.

 

http://www.apple.com/osx/preview/advanced-technologies.html

It slows the process down without freezing it altogether. So nothing to worry about?

 

I doubt it's going to stop a script from running because it's backgrounded and even if that was the default behavior surely they would have a command just like caffeinate(stop your computer from sleeping while running something) to get around this.

 

You guys are overreacting. I promise.

 

In your example, the background app would still be actively running. So no problem.

 

Any ideas if things like youtube videos will buffer in browsers when not active? I have horrible internet and if I have to sit and watch videos buffer for hours I won't be happy!

Also, how does it handle minimised windows, fullscreen (not in view) apps and tabs?

(Presumably minimised/fullscreen would enable app nap, but not for individual tabs in a browser?)

 

I think HandBrake ignores the Power Management APIs in OS X! So this a HandBrake problem. Do you use the newest version!?

 

Apples developer documentation says:

In other words: Application developers can use the new APIs to improve the power efficiency of their apps.

 

Oh it's definitely a HandBrake problem. I always forget to extend sleep time when encoding, come back an hour later and it's stopped at 2%

 

Handbrake in last version supports power assertions:

Code:

 pmset -g assertions
11.06.13 21:12:00 GMT+02 
Assertion status system-wide:
   PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep    0
   PreventSystemSleep             0
   PreventUserIdleSystemSleep     1
   ExternalMedia                  0
   UserIsActive                   0
   ApplePushServiceTask           0
   BackgroundTask                 1

Listed by owning process:
  pid 98945(HandBrake): [0x0000000100002498] 00:00:02 NoIdleSleepAssertion named: "HandBrake is currently scanning and/or encoding" 
  pid 40(mDNSResponder): [0x000000010000016e] 119:53:34 NoIdleSleepAssertion named: "mDNSResponder.40 vnic0 does not support NetWake" 
  pid 103(coreaudiod): [0x0000000100002435] 00:46:00 NoIdleSleepAssertion named: "com.apple.audio.'AppleHDAEngineOutput:8,0,1,2:0'.noidlesleep" 
  pid 98939(helpd): [0x0000000c00002496] 00:00:22 BackgroundTask named: "com.apple.helpd.sdmbuilding" 

Kernel Assertions: 0x0396 

 

Don't worry...App Nap is completely dynamic, so there is no possibility of OS X ignoring an App or not providing resources.

In it's simplest form, here's how App Nap works: If an Application doesn't request system resources (a threshold set by Apple) for a period of time, it enters App Nap. The App is still running, still open and still fully functional. If the Application requests system resources (network, CPU, GPU, RAM, etc), App Nap is disabled.

It's completely seamless and works completely within the RAM. Higher RAM machines will be able to take advantage of App Nap to a greater degree than lower RAM machines, although the new memory compression algorithms in Mavericks will make 4GB feel like 8GB in Mountain Lion.

Hope this helps a little!

 

It can be turned on or off per app basis, problem Solved!

 

Did you changed your fonts or something? Because your info panel window have totally different (much lighter) fonts than my.

 

Really? I mean, really?

Yes, Apple is about to BLOCK background processes with Mavericks. You figured it out.

 

Yes, I'm using Proxima Nova for my system font.

 

guys guys i just thought of a very obvious usage case that wasn't explicitly addressed by apple

there's no chance that apple thought of this very obvious usage case though as demonstrated through evidence that they didn't mention it specifically

everyone let's have a contest to see who can scream and crap their pants the fastest

 

OP: watch the WWDC video on App Nap and/or the dev documentation. You can sign up for a free dev account, if you need to, to access the videos and docs. Some of the other energy and performance subjects are also interesting.

Anyway, as some others are posting, if an app needs to be doing work in the background, it will get the resources needed. AppNap doesn't simply suspend background apps. The Mavericks Core Technogies Overview lists a few of the major features, but there's much more to it than can be covered in the overview.

If, for some reason, an app that doesn't use the new API misbehaves, there's the option to disable all App Nap functionality for that app (just as there are options to run in 32-bit mode, or low resolution, for instance).