Gentoo Archives: gentoo-announce

From: Arcady Genkin <agenkin@g.o>
To: gentoo-announce@g.o, gentoo-user@g.o, gentoo-core@g.o
Subject: [gentoo-announce] New ALSA 0.9 packages
Date: Thu, 02 May 2002 00:38:46
Message-Id: uoadrj1549.fsf@bashful.cdf.toronto.edu
1 ALSA packages version 0.5.X are now officially deprecated and no
2 longer supported by the ALSA developers[1]. Gentoo now offers
3 packages to compile and install the latest version of ALSA packages
4 from the 0.9 tree. Namely, the following Ebuild scripts have been
5 updated to 0.9.0rc1, committed to the portage tree and unmasked:
6
7 alsa-driver
8 alsa-lib
9 alsa-utils
10 alsa-oss
11 alsa-tools
12
13 Feel free to update your portage tree and install them. If you are
14 upgrading from the previous versions, please first have a look at the
15 upgrade instructions below.
16
17
18 Installing ALSA for the first time
19 ==================================
20
21 If you want to install ALSA modules for the first time, make sure that
22 you have generic sound support compiled into your kernel
23 (CONFIG_SOUND=y), but don't compile in any other sound-related
24 drivers. Then merge the above packages, update /etc/modules.d/alsa
25 file, and you should be on your way.
26
27
28 Upgrading from any previous version
29 ===================================
30
31 Note that ALSA's sound card kernel modules' names have changed! For
32 instance, what previously was 'snd-card-emu10k1' is now named
33 'snd-emu10k1'.
34
35 Also note that the alsa init script has changed. Make sure that you
36 get rid of any old alsa-related init scripts in /etc/init.d. To use
37 the new init script (/etc/init.d/alsasound) you *have* to edit
38 /etc/modules.d/alsa to specify the correct driver for your hardware.
39 After you edit it, make sure to run `update-modules' script. The new
40 strartup script takes care of loading the sound hardware modules and
41 restoring mixer settings at boot time.
42
43
44 Upgrading from previously masked 0.9.X packages
45 ===============================================
46
47 There had been some confusion with alsa package 0.9 version numbering
48 in the past. If you have any alsa packages with versions 0.9.0.1_rc10
49 installed, you need do the following, *before* installing the new
50 version:
51
52 1. Unmerge your current alsa packages (this is very important, or
53 else portage will think that you have a newer version of ALSA
54 installed).
55 2. Make sure that your /usr/portage/profiles/package.mask file is
56 up-to-date and contains the following lines:
57
58 ~media-sound/alsa-utils-0.9.0.1_beta10
59 ~media-libs/alsa-lib-0.9.0.1_beta10
60 ~media-libs/alsa-oss-0.9.0.1_beta10
61
62 This should happen automatically when you update your portage
63 tree, unless you update /usr/portage with CVS (in which case
64 there *may* be a CVS conflict around those lines).
65 3. Only then follow the installation instructions below.
66
67
68 Upgrading from 0.5.X packages
69 =============================
70
71 If you have been using alsa 0.5.X series alsa drivers and libraries,
72 some applications may stop working for you. In any case, it might be
73 a good idea to recompile all applications with native ALSA support
74 after you install ALSA 0.9. Gentoo's package for 0.9.X drivers
75 installs a symlink libasound.so.1 -> libasound.so.2 in /usr/lib, which
76 should work in most cases; however, some applications may still break.
77 So, unless you are ready to spend some time debugging the possible
78 problems, it may be best for you not to upgrade to 0.9 right away, but
79 wait for a few days.
80
81 If you want to upgrade to 0.9, simply unmerge your previous alsa
82 packages, and then merge the new packages.
83
84
85 Footnotes:
86 [1] See http://alsa-project.org/
87 --
88 Arcady Genkin