Personal website of Evgeny Metelkin, a Computational Biologist and Systems Pharmacology Architect 2025-10-04T00:00:00Z https://metelkin.me/ Evgeny Metelkin 2025-10-04T00:00:00Z https://metelkin.me/keep-julia-awake/ <p><img src="https://metelkin.me/keep-julia-awake/img/fig0-cover.jpg" alt="Cover"></p> <p>When you run long Julia simulations or heavy computations on a laptop, you don't want your machine to fall asleep in the middle of the job.<br> On Windows, macOS, or Linux, the system may suspend itself even if Julia is still crunching numbers — leading to wasted time, broken HTTP calls, or stalled jobs.</p> <p>This is the reason <a href="https://github.com/hetalang/NoSleep.jl" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NoSleep.jl</a> exists: a lightweight cross-platform Julia package that prevents your machine from falling asleep during long computations.</p> <h2>How it works</h2> <ul> <li><strong>Windows:</strong> uses WinAPI <code>SetThreadExecutionState</code>.</li> <li><strong>macOS:</strong> uses the built-in <code>caffeinate</code> tool.</li> <li><strong>Linux (systemd):</strong> uses <code>systemd-inhibit</code>.</li> </ul> <p>Each backend is safe: once your block finishes (or Julia exits), the inhibitor is released automatically.</p> <h2>Usage</h2> <p><strong>Block form</strong></p> <pre class="language-julia"><code class="language-julia"><span class="token keyword">using</span> NoSleep with_nosleep<span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span> <span class="token keyword">do</span> <span class="token comment"># Your long computation</span> <span class="token keyword">end</span></code></pre> <p><strong>Keep the display awake too</strong></p> <pre class="language-julia"><code class="language-julia">with_nosleep<span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span> keep_display<span class="token operator">=</span><span class="token boolean">true</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span> <span class="token keyword">do</span> <span class="token comment"># Your long computation</span> <span class="token keyword">end</span></code></pre> <h2>Notes &amp; Side-effects</h2> <ul> <li> <p>Saves you from wasted hours if the OS suspends mid-job. No frustration.</p> </li> <li> <p>Useful when running code overnight or unattended.</p> </li> <li> <p>Cross-platform: works out of the box on Windows, macOS, and Linux.</p> </li> <li> <p>Does not prevent suspend/hibernate when you close the lid or press the laptop's power button — it only blocks automatic idle sleep.</p> </li> <li> <p>Feedback and contributions welcome: <a href="https://github.com/hetalang/NoSleep.jl" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">GitHub repo</a>.</p> </li> </ul>