Uptime Library

3.0.1 · active · verified Thu Apr 16

The `uptime` library provides a cross-platform way to retrieve system uptime and boot time, aiming to do so without relying on external processes like parsing `uptime(1)` command output. It works on various major platforms, including Linux, Windows, macOS, and BSD systems. Despite its current version 3.0.1 being released in 2013, it remains a stable and widely used utility for basic system information.

Common errors

```
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'uptime'
```
cause The `uptime` package is not installed in the current Python environment.

fix Install the package using pip: `pip install uptime`.
```
RuntimeError: The datetime module isn't available
```
cause The standard `datetime` module, which is a dependency for `uptime.boottime()`, is missing or inaccessible in the Python environment. This is highly unusual for a standard library module.

fix This indicates a potentially corrupted or non-standard Python installation. Verify the integrity of your Python installation and ensure the `datetime` module is present and importable. Reinstalling Python might be necessary.

Warnings

gotcha The `uptime` library heavily relies on Python's standard `ctypes` module for platform-specific system calls. On less common or custom Python installations, a broken or misconfigured `ctypes` can result in incorrect uptime values or `None` being returned.
Fix: Ensure your Python installation's `ctypes` module is functioning correctly. It is advisable to test `uptime` on your specific deployment environment before critical reliance. If `None` is returned, implement checks in your code.
gotcha `uptime.uptime()` returns the system's uptime as a `float` representing seconds, while `uptime.boottime()` returns the boot time as a `datetime.datetime` object. These different return types should be handled appropriately in arithmetic or display operations.
Fix: Always check the return type of each function. For calculations involving both, convert `float` uptime to a `datetime.timedelta` object, or the `datetime.datetime` to a timestamp, to prevent `TypeError`.

Install

pip install uptime Install with pip

Imports

uptime
```
from uptime import uptime
```
boottime
```
from uptime import boottime
```

Quickstart

This quickstart demonstrates how to fetch the system's uptime in seconds and its boot time as a `datetime` object. It includes error handling for cases where uptime or boot time cannot be determined.

from uptime import uptime, boottime
import datetime

def run_quickstart():
    try:
        system_uptime_seconds = uptime()
        if system_uptime_seconds is not None:
            print(f"System Uptime: {system_uptime_seconds:.2f} seconds")
            uptime_timedelta = datetime.timedelta(seconds=system_uptime_seconds)
            print(f"System Uptime (formatted): {uptime_timedelta}")
        else:
            print("Could not determine system uptime.")

        system_boot_time = boottime()
        if system_boot_time is not None:
            print(f"System Boot Time: {system_boot_time}")
        else:
            print("Could not determine system boot time.")

    except RuntimeError as e:
        print(f"An error occurred: {e}")
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"An unexpected error occurred: {e}")

if __name__ == '__main__':
    run_quickstart()

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