Xubuntu suspend by commandline / keyboard shortcut

[^rooker]

This HowTo explains how to be able to suspend a (X)ubuntu machine using a keyboard shortcut.
(That's super convenient. I loooove it! )

This method was tested on Xubuntu 12.04 and 16.04, but should work on all GNU/Linux distros that offer a shell-command for suspend.
You need to configure your user to be allowed to execute the supend command "pm-suspend" with superuser-rights, but without prompting for a password.

Therefore you need to configure the "sudo" configuration.
IMPORTANT: Never edit /etc/sudoers directly, but use "visudo":

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$ sudo visudo

Add a line to sudo config so that your user can suspend without requiring to enter a password.

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me ALL= NOPASSWD: /usr/sbin/pm-suspend

In this example the username is "me".

Now assign a keyboard shortcut for your window manager.
In XFCE this is done in "Settings > Keyboard > Application Shortcuts".
Add the following command:

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sudo pm-suspend

... and assign a keyboard shortcut as you like

That's it!
You can now send your PC to sleep using a keyboard shortcut.

[peter_b]

I just realized this:

• pm-suspend does *not* lock the screen.
• For security reasons you *want* your screen locked for suspend.
• Is it a bug? No. Locking is not pm-suspend's job.
• Depending on the system (desktop) environment, locking is done by another program.
• for XFCE4 that's: "xflock4"

===> To suspend properly in Xubuntu, use the command:

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xfce4-session-logout --suspend

This behaves identical to the graphical configuration.