SET_POWERON_TIME(8)

🌸 SET_POWERON_TIME(8) 🌸

ok so this one lives in the Power Service Tools part of the manual (section 8, system admin girlies 💅) and honestly it's kind of a queen.

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✨ NAME ✨

set_poweron_time — sets a time in the future for the system to be powered on 🫶

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

/usr/sbin/set_poweron_time [-s] -t absolute_time
/usr/sbin/set_poweron_time [-s] -d delta_time
/usr/sbin/set_poweron_time -m
/usr/sbin/set_poweron_time -h

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💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

bestie. okay. here's the vibe: the set_poweron_time utility is used to set a time in the future to power on the system. that's it, that's the whole job. it does this by using firmware interfaces provided by IBM ppc64 systems — so like, this is very much an IBM ppc64 moment, no cap ✨

When you run it with the -t option, the utility will configure the system to power-on at the specified date and time. super useful for stuff like saying "hey, restart at 6 AM on Monday morning" — like, imagine telling your machine when to wake up instead of the other way round, main character energy fr fr 👑

When you run it with the -d option, the utility treats the specified time as a delta from the present. so it's giving "in 2 days" rather than "on this exact date" — perfect for saying the system should be restarted in 2 days, for example 🦋

ok so the times for the -t and -d options should be specified in this format, literally exactly:

Y<year>M<month>D<day>h<hour>m<minute>s<second>

⚠️ vibe check on the ranges, don't skip this part:

• The month, if specified, should be in the range of 1-12.
• The day, if specified, should be in the range of 1-31.
• The hour, if specified, should be in the range of 0-23.
• The minute and second, if specified, should be in the range of 0-59.

🌈 defaults, because this matters

For the -t option:

• Year, month, and day default to the current date if not specified.
• Hour, minute, and second default to 0 if not specified.

For the -d option:

• Year, month, day, hour, minute, and second all default to 0 if not specified.

When you run it with the -m option, the utility will print the maximum amount of time in the future that the power-on time can be set (in days). 🗓️ and heads up: this option cannot be used with any others. it's a solo act, let her have her moment.

When you run it with the -s option, the utility will shut down the system with shutdown -h now after the power-on time has been set. and bestie, important: if the utility is unable to set the power-on time for any reason, the system will not be shut down. safety first, we respect it 💖

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🧚 OPTIONS 🧚

• -t absolute_time — specify the power-on time (an actual date-and-time moment, not a countdown) ⏰
• -d delta_time — specify the power-on time as a delta from the current time (i.e. "from now") ⏳
• -m — print the maximum amount of time in the future that the power-on time can be set (in days). cannot be used with any other option, periodt 🙅‍♀️
• -s — shut down the system after setting the power-on time. the system will not be shut down if the power-on time cannot be set for any reason 💀
• -h — print a usage message with examples. the helpful icon it is 🎀

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🍓 EXAMPLES 🍓

Shut down the system and schedule it to restart in 12 hours and 10 minutes:

set_poweron_time -d h12m10 -s

Schedule the system to restart at noon on June 15th of this year:

set_poweron_time -t M6D15h12

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ok that's the whole page, you ate that 💅 the Linux peeps put this one out back in May 2004 and it's still serving, so like… iconic behavior, honestly. go schedule something, bestie 🌸⭐🫶