[gentoo-dev] ALSA and kernel 2.6.1-gentoo-r1 and /etc/init.d/alsasound

[Kevin]

Hi All-

(To the developers, though this may be a long post and it may initially 
appear to be appropriate for strictly the user list, I'm pretty sure 
there is an important point for you near the bottom (about the 
script /etc/init.d/alsasound).  I'm not a developer, so I'm not certain 
that you'll find it noteworthy, and so if I'm wrong, my apologies for 
sending this cc to the developer's list.  Also, is there a list archive?  
I considered searching for this subject in a list archive, but didn't see 
one listed on http://www.gentoo.org/main/en/lists.xml)

I'm following the thread "Alsa & 2.6.1" on gentoo-user since it seems to 
be related, but my issues are slightly different---or maybe I just have 
more detail than I see described in that thread, not sure.  This may be a 
long post, so I offer apologies for that in advance.

Anyway, I've been using the Gentoo Linux ALSA Guide, but it clearly 
distinguishes between the kernel versions 2.4 and 2.5/2.6.  I see (from 
the Gentoo Guide) that much of the ALSA code is already in 2.6.x.

I've noted that the Guide describes setting up ALSA with a 2.4.x kernel, 
and it seems to be that the instructions for doing so with a 2.6.x kernel 
would probably be different, in light of the presence of ALSA in the 2.6 
kernel, but I'm not sure exactly how they should differ.

Anyway, my first specific problem comes when following the "ALSA modules" 
section of the guide.  I've grep'd my /proc/pci file and also done lspci 
with the following relevant output:
======================================
# grep audio /proc/pci
    Multimedia audio controller: PCI device 10de:006a (nVidia Corporation 
(rev 161).

# lspci | grep audio
00:06.0 Multimedia audio controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 AC97 Audio 
Controler (MCP) (rev a1)
======================================

This is an Asus A7N8X motherboard, with onboard 6 channel audio that the 
motherboard docs describe as a "Realtek ALC650 6CH with built-in HP 
amplifier".  I didn't find such a device in the ALSA Soundcard Matrix 
linked to from the Gentoo Guide, but I did find in the Matrix 
what /proc/pci and lspci show.  There's only one Nvidia device ("nForce") 
in the Matrix, and since I seem to have nForce2 (output from lspci), I 
thought it would be the appropriate entry for me to use.  The Matrix 
mentions the module: snd-intel8x0 as being associated with this device.

So, following the Gentoo Guide, I did a:
# env ALSA_CARDS='intel8x0' emerge alsa-driver

Now, I'm not really sure if this step is required since I did build 
modular ALSA support with my 2.6.1 kernel build, but I tried it anyway 
and it failed with error listed here:

=============================================
In file included from 
/var/tmp/portage/alsa-driver-0.9.8/work/alsa-driver-0.9.8/include/sound/driver.h:42,
                 from 
/var/tmp/portage/alsa-driver-0.9.8/work/alsa-driver-0.9.8/alsa-kernel/core/oss/rate.c:22,
                 from rate.c:2:
/var/tmp/portage/alsa-driver-0.9.8/work/alsa-driver-0.9.8/include/adriver.h:42:31: 
linux/modversions.h: No such file or directory
make[3]: *** [fastdep] Error 1
make[3]: Leaving directory 
`/var/tmp/portage/alsa-driver-0.9.8/work/alsa-driver-0.9.8/acore/oss'
make[2]: *** [_sfdep_oss] Error 2
make[2]: Leaving directory 
`/var/tmp/portage/alsa-driver-0.9.8/work/alsa-driver-0.9.8/acore'
make[1]: *** [dep] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory 
`/var/tmp/portage/alsa-driver-0.9.8/work/alsa-driver-0.9.8'
make: *** [include/sndversions.h] Error 2

!!! ERROR: media-sound/alsa-driver-0.9.8 failed.
!!! Function src_compile, Line 64, Exitcode 2
!!! Parallel Make Failed

=============================================

As is clear here, I do seem to have the file, but apparently the make is 
not finding it where it resides:
# locate modversions.h
/usr/src/linux-2.6.1-gentoo-r1/include/config/modversions.h

FWIW:
# cat /usr/src/linux-2.6.1-gentoo-r1/include/config/modversions.h
#define CONFIG_MODVERSIONS 1

The following is the relevant portion of my kernel .config file.  I was 
being lazy when I built it and didn't look up the particular sound 
hardware that I had and instead just built all likely devices as modules, 
thinking that I'd only insmod the one that I needed.  This detail may be 
important because when I do an lsmod now (after following the steps in 
the Gentoo Guide), I see what looks like ALL of the sound device modules 
(that I built) loaded into the kernel.  Perhaps not surprisingly, this 
seems to be causing lots of problems in and of itself.  So, my 
kernel .config file (Sound portions):

=============================================

#
# Sound
#
CONFIG_SOUND=y

#
# Advanced Linux Sound Architecture
#
CONFIG_SND=m
CONFIG_SND_SEQUENCER=m
CONFIG_SND_SEQ_DUMMY=m
CONFIG_SND_OSSEMUL=y
CONFIG_SND_MIXER_OSS=m
CONFIG_SND_PCM_OSS=m
CONFIG_SND_SEQUENCER_OSS=y
CONFIG_SND_RTCTIMER=m
# CONFIG_SND_VERBOSE_PRINTK is not set
# CONFIG_SND_DEBUG is not set

#
# Generic devices
#
CONFIG_SND_DUMMY=m
CONFIG_SND_VIRMIDI=m
CONFIG_SND_MTPAV=m
CONFIG_SND_SERIAL_U16550=m
CONFIG_SND_MPU401=m

#
# PCI devices
#
CONFIG_SND_ALI5451=m
CONFIG_SND_AZT3328=m
CONFIG_SND_CS46XX=m
# CONFIG_SND_CS46XX_NEW_DSP is not set
CONFIG_SND_CS4281=m
CONFIG_SND_EMU10K1=m
CONFIG_SND_KORG1212=m
CONFIG_SND_NM256=m
CONFIG_SND_RME32=m
CONFIG_SND_RME96=m
CONFIG_SND_RME9652=m
CONFIG_SND_HDSP=m
CONFIG_SND_TRIDENT=m
CONFIG_SND_YMFPCI=m
CONFIG_SND_ALS4000=m
CONFIG_SND_CMIPCI=m
CONFIG_SND_ENS1370=m
CONFIG_SND_ENS1371=m
CONFIG_SND_ES1938=m
CONFIG_SND_ES1968=m
CONFIG_SND_MAESTRO3=m
CONFIG_SND_FM801=m
CONFIG_SND_ICE1712=m
CONFIG_SND_ICE1724=m
CONFIG_SND_INTEL8X0=m
CONFIG_SND_SONICVIBES=m
CONFIG_SND_VIA82XX=m
CONFIG_SND_VX222=m

#
# ALSA USB devices
#
CONFIG_SND_USB_AUDIO=m

#
# Open Sound System
#
CONFIG_SOUND_PRIME=m
CONFIG_SOUND_BT878=m
CONFIG_SOUND_CMPCI=m
# CONFIG_SOUND_CMPCI_FM is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_CMPCI_MIDI is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_CMPCI_JOYSTICK is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_CMPCI_CM8738 is not set
CONFIG_SOUND_EMU10K1=m
# CONFIG_MIDI_EMU10K1 is not set
CONFIG_SOUND_FUSION=m
CONFIG_SOUND_CS4281=m
CONFIG_SOUND_ES1370=m
CONFIG_SOUND_ES1371=m
CONFIG_SOUND_ESSSOLO1=m
CONFIG_SOUND_MAESTRO=m
# CONFIG_SOUND_MAESTRO3 is not set
CONFIG_SOUND_ICH=m
CONFIG_SOUND_SONICVIBES=m
CONFIG_SOUND_TRIDENT=m
CONFIG_SOUND_MSNDCLAS=m
CONFIG_MSNDCLAS_INIT_FILE="/etc/sound/msndinit.bin"
CONFIG_MSNDCLAS_PERM_FILE="/etc/sound/msndperm.bin"
CONFIG_SOUND_MSNDPIN=m
CONFIG_MSNDPIN_INIT_FILE="/etc/sound/pndspini.bin"
CONFIG_MSNDPIN_PERM_FILE="/etc/sound/pndsperm.bin"
CONFIG_SOUND_VIA82CXXX=m
# CONFIG_MIDI_VIA82CXXX is not set
CONFIG_SOUND_OSS=m
CONFIG_SOUND_TRACEINIT=y
# CONFIG_SOUND_DMAP is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_AD1816 is not set
# CONFIG_SOUND_AD1889 is not set
CONFIG_SOUND_SGALAXY=m
CONFIG_SOUND_ADLIB=m
CONFIG_SOUND_ACI_MIXER=m
CONFIG_SOUND_CS4232=m
CONFIG_SOUND_SSCAPE=m
CONFIG_SOUND_GUS=m
CONFIG_SOUND_GUS16=y
CONFIG_SOUND_GUSMAX=y
CONFIG_SOUND_VMIDI=m
CONFIG_SOUND_TRIX=m
CONFIG_SOUND_MSS=m
CONFIG_SOUND_MPU401=m
CONFIG_SOUND_NM256=m
CONFIG_SOUND_MAD16=m
# CONFIG_MAD16_OLDCARD is not set
CONFIG_SOUND_PAS=m
CONFIG_SOUND_PSS=m
# CONFIG_PSS_MIXER is not set
CONFIG_SOUND_SB=m
CONFIG_SOUND_AWE32_SYNTH=m
CONFIG_SOUND_WAVEFRONT=m
CONFIG_SOUND_MAUI=m
CONFIG_SOUND_YM3812=m
CONFIG_SOUND_OPL3SA1=m
CONFIG_SOUND_OPL3SA2=m
CONFIG_SOUND_YMFPCI=m
# CONFIG_SOUND_YMFPCI_LEGACY is not set
CONFIG_SOUND_UART6850=m
CONFIG_SOUND_AEDSP16=m
# CONFIG_SC6600 is not set
# CONFIG_AEDSP16_MSS is not set
# CONFIG_AEDSP16_SBPRO is not set
# CONFIG_AEDSP16_MPU401 is not set
CONFIG_SOUND_TVMIXER=m
CONFIG_SOUND_KAHLUA=m
CONFIG_SOUND_ALI5455=m
CONFIG_SOUND_FORTE=m
CONFIG_SOUND_RME96XX=m
CONFIG_SOUND_AD1980=m

=============================================

So, continuing with this saga, the very first part of the instructions in 
the Gentoo Guide (energe alsa-driver) fail for me.  Maybe it's not 
necessary?

But as I mentioned above, I now have other problems too.

What I did to get where I am now was simply follow the Gentoo Guide, 
specifically:

"ALSA modules"
env ALSA_CARDS='intel8x0' emerge alsa-driver
(I also edited my /etc/make.conf and added ALSA_CARDS="intel8x0" in case 
this would influence the loading of modules, but no help there)


"Configuration of ALSA"
# emerge alsa-utils (no apparent problems here)

modified the file "/etc/modules.d/alsa" as directed in the Guide (with 
changes for my soundcard module of course)

# modules-update (no apparent problems here, though it took a long time)

Verified that /etc/devfsd.conf looked as described in the Guide.

"Starting ALSA"
# rc-update add alsasound boot

Although the next step in the Guide is to run
# /etc/init.d/alsasound start
I never did that manually.  Instead, I rebooted (for various reasons that 
I won't bother listing here) which apparently ran that script 
automatically because of my previous rc-update add alsasound boot 
command.

# /etc/init.d/alsasound status
status: started

I stopped following the Guide here because of this problem with about 50 
sound modules being loaded into my kernel.  Clearly, this is a problem 
and I'm not sure how to solve it.

It looks to me like the script /etc/init.d/alsa automatically loads all 
modules that it finds in the output of "modprobe -c | grep snd.* | grep 
pci:" (see line 50-59 from that script quoted below) and that's quite 
alot in my case because of all the modules that I built.

================================================
50   ebegin "Loading ALSA drivers"
51
52   # I really dislike this and would like to tidy it up.
53   # Anyone running 2.4 + alsa-driver willing to help me?
54
55   DRIVERS="$(modprobe -c | grep snd.* | grep pci: | awk '{ print $3 }' 
| uniq)"
56   if [ -z "${DRIVERS}" ] ; then
57           # Fallback on older modprobe syntax
58           DRIVERS="$(/sbin/modprobe -c | grep -E 
"^[[:space:]]*alias[[:space:]]+snd-card-[[:digit:]]" | awk '{print $3}')"
59   fi

================================================

So, my real issues I think are just these two:
1) How to configure ALSA while using 2.6.1 kernel (Gentoo Guide doesn't 
seem to work in my case)
2) How to get only one PCI sound device module loaded via the 
script /etc/init.d/alsasound even though I have many available to load.  
Must I rebuild my kernel and just not build modules for any sound devices 
except those that I have installed?

Maybe this last is a question for developers.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

-Kevin

--
gentoo-dev@g.o mailing list