This document is defined by (pending) RFC xxxx and is referenced as the document of record for the variable names and the instant commands used in the protocol described by the RFC.
On behalf of the RFC, this document records the names of variables
describing the abstracted state of an UPS or similar power distribution
device, and the instant commands sent to the UPS using command INSTCMD,
as used in commands and messages between the Attachment Daemon (the upsd
in case of NUT implementation of the standard) and the clients.
This document defines the standard names of NUT commands and variables. Developers should use the names recorded here, with dstate functions and data mappings provided in NUT drivers for interactions with power devices.
If you need to express a state which cannot be described by any existing
name, please make a request to the NUT developers' mailing list for
definition and assignment of a new name. Clients using unrecorded names
risk breaking at a future update. If you wish to experiment with new
concepts before obtaining your requested variable name, you should use
a name of the form experimental.x.y for those states.
Put another way: if you make up a name that is not in this list and it gets into the source code tree, and then the NUT community comes up with a better name later, clients that already use the undocumented variable will break when it is eventually changed. An explicitly "experimental" data point is less surprising in this regard.
In the descriptions, "opaque" means programs should not attempt to parse the value for that variable as it may vary greatly from one UPS (or similar device) to the next. These strings are best handled directly by the user.