Re: [gentoo-user] problem trying to play sound when pulse audio is enabled

[Michael Hampicke]

Am 29.04.2013 11:43, schrieb covici@××××××××××.com:
> Kevin Thompson <phlux@×××××.net> wrote:
>
>> On Mon, Apr 29, 2013 at 04:43:46AM -0400, covici@××××××××××.com wrote:
>>> Canek Peláez Valdés <caneko@×××××.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Mon, Apr 29, 2013 at 12:35 AM,  <covici@××××××××××.com> wrote:
>>>>> Canek Peláez Valdés <caneko@×××××.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> On Sun, Apr 28, 2013 at 11:57 PM,  <covici@××××××××××.com> wrote:
>>>>>>> Canek Peláez Valdés <caneko@×××××.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On Sun, Apr 28, 2013 at 11:08 PM,  <covici@××××××××××.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>>> Canek Peláez Valdés <caneko@×××××.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> On Sun, Apr 28, 2013 at 10:07 PM,  <covici@××××××××××.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>> Canek Peláez Valdés <caneko@×××××.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> On Sun, Apr 28, 2013 at 7:56 PM,  <covici@××××××××××.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Hi.  I have not used pulseaudio at all, but with gnome 3.8 I guess it
>>>>>>>>>>>>> must be there, but when I try to play a sound using either mplayer from
>>>>>>>>>>>>> the console which works fine withalsa, or even aplay, I get no sound
>>>>>>>>>>>>> unless I change the /etc/pulse/client.conf to spawn=no .
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> Unless you have a very specific setup, you should not need to touch
>>>>>>>>>>>> the files under /etc/pulse. Also, are you trying to run the
>>>>>>>>>>>> system-wide PulseAudio service? Because that's basically wrong:
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/PulseAudio/Documentation/User/WhatIsWrongWithSystemWide
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Anyway to fix this?
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> If you are running PA as a normal user (as you should), then perhaps
>>>>>>>>>>>> the per-application volume for MPlayer is muted. While playing
>>>>>>>>>>>> something with MPlayer, go to Settings -> Sound, then select the
>>>>>>>>>>>> Applications tab, and there should be a volume slider for all the
>>>>>>>>>>>> applications using audio. Just adjust as necessary.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> I got no sound when pa was run as a user.  I am running these apps from
>>>>>>>>>>> the console -- apps such as aplay or anything which uses alsa.  So I
>>>>>>>>>>> can't adjust any volumes under gnome, etc.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Also, from the console you can use pactl. To play a sample sound there, do:
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> pactl play-sample 0
>>>>>>>>>> pactl play-sample 1
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> It should work. You can also set the volume from here:
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> pactl set-sink-volume 0 "100%"
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> 0 is usually the "master" volume.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Check out man pactl.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Well, in either system or user mode, root can play sound whereas a
>>>>>>>>> regular user gets silent, but without pulseaudio -- spawn=no, then a
>>>>>>>>> regular user can play sound.  Does this give a clue?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Not really; as I said, the PA documentation clearly says that if you
>>>>>>>> use system mode "You are on your own. You need to know you way around,
>>>>>>>> be able to write init scripts, dbus policies, to fix up device
>>>>>>>> permissions, and unix users, you need to pass around security cookies
>>>>>>>> and more."
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I haven't ever used system-wide PA.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I think of the following; try to delete both /root/.pulse and
>>>>>>>> $HOME/.pulse, and rebooting (probably a logout/login should suffice,
>>>>>>>> but you never know).
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Another thing: if you installed PA since GNOME 3.8 needs it, why are
>>>>>>>> you using it without GNOME? If you use GNOME, the session manager will
>>>>>>>> automatically start PA as a user for you, and everything should work.
>>>>>>>> If you are not running GNOME, why do you run PA? If you are at the
>>>>>>>> console without X running, just don't use PA. Use mplayer -ao alsa or
>>>>>>>> whatever.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Or do you want to run several audio apps in the console?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I want to run apps from the console, but to start gnome when I need it.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Then do that. When you start GNOME, it will start PA automatically:
>>>>>> you don't need to do anything. Don't try to start PA yourself; it's
>>>>>> DBus activated.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I am running pa as a user and things are still not working, except for
>>>>>>> the root user who can play sounds.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I repeat: you don't need to run PA. GNOME will start it for you.
>>>>>
>>>>> But will that workif I have spawn=no in my /etc/pulse/client.conf which
>>>>> I have to have for regular apps to work from theconsole?  Or is there
>>>>> some other way to make this happen?
>>>>
>>>> I don't understand the question. If you don't run PA by yourself, then
>>>> it will be started only when using GNOME. And if you are using GNOME,
>>>> you can use the nice sound settings dialog to get your sound.
>>>>
>>>> If you don't start GNOME, then PA will not be started. If you don't
>>>> have sound in your console even without PA running, then is for some
>>>> issue completely unrelated to PA.
>>>>
>>>> PA should not be started if you only log in through the console.
>>>> Unless you are still running it system-wide, which is basically
>>>> unsupported.
>>>
>>> OK, we will see what happens, so I have set spawn=no which should work
>>> to prevent pa except in gnome, so hopefully that should work.
>>>
>>> Thanks for clarifying this for me.
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Your life is like a penny.  You're going to lose it.  The question is:
>>> How do
>>> you spend it?
>>>
>>>          John Covici
>>>          covici@××××××××××.com
>>>
>>
>> I had the same issue here when installing pulseaudio. I don't use GNOME,
>> so that does take part of the equation away. The problem was solved by
>> changing permissions to /dev/snd and it's containing files. After
>> chmodding /dev/snd/* to 666, I was able to play sounds as a normal user.
>> In the Gentoo guide, it mentions this, and it also mentions taking your
>> user out of the audio group if you're currently in it. Please see
>> http://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/PulseAudio#Root_can_play_sound.2C_other_users_cannot
>> for more detailed information.
>
> Thanks for your response, but here is my /dev/snd directory, so its a
> mystery to me.  I am, however in the audio group, I wonder if that makes
> a difference.
> total 0
> drwxr-xrwx   3 freeswitch apache     280 Apr 27 15:53 ./
> drwxr-xr-x  17 root       root      4980 Apr 28 22:58 ../
> drwxr-xrwx   2 freeswitch apache      60 Apr 27 15:53 by-path/
> crw-rw-rw-+  1 freeswitch apache 116, 10 Apr 27 15:53 controlC0
> crw-rw-rw-+  1 freeswitch apache 116,  2 Apr 27 15:53 hwC0D0
> crw-rw-rw-+  1 freeswitch apache 116,  3 Apr 27 15:53 midiC0D0
> crw-rw-rw-+  1 freeswitch apache 116,  9 Apr 27 15:53 pcmC0D0c
> crw-rw-rw-+  1 freeswitch apache 116,  8 Apr 29 00:15 pcmC0D0p
> crw-rw-rw-+  1 freeswitch apache 116,  7 Apr 27 15:53 pcmC0D1c
> crw-rw-rw-+  1 freeswitch apache 116,  6 Apr 27 15:53 pcmC0D2c
> crw-rw-rw-+  1 freeswitch apache 116,  5 Apr 27 15:53 pcmC0D2p
> crw-rw-rw-+  1 freeswitch apache 116,  4 Apr 27 15:53 pcmC0D3p
> crw-rw-rw-+  1 freeswitch apache 116,  1 Apr 27 15:53 seq
> crw-rw-rw-+  1 freeswitch apache 116, 33 Apr 27 15:53 timer
>
> I run freeswitch, so this is why I have the users this way.
>

Those devices in there should be owned by root:audio

$ ls -al /dev/snd/
total 0
drwxr-xr-x   3 root root      260 Apr 28 20:07 .
drwxr-xr-x  17 root root     4100 Apr 29 12:50 ..
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root       60 Apr 28 20:07 by-path
crw-rw----+  1 root audio 116, 10 Apr 28 20:07 controlC0
crw-rw----+  1 root audio 116,  2 Apr 28 20:07 hwC0D0
crw-rw----+  1 root audio 116,  3 Apr 28 20:07 midiC0D0
crw-rw----+  1 root audio 116,  9 Apr 28 20:24 pcmC0D0c
crw-rw----+  1 root audio 116,  8 Apr 29 12:51 pcmC0D0p
crw-rw----+  1 root audio 116,  7 Apr 28 20:07 pcmC0D1c
crw-rw----+  1 root audio 116,  6 Apr 28 20:07 pcmC0D2c
crw-rw----+  1 root audio 116,  5 Apr 28 20:11 pcmC0D2p
crw-rw----+  1 root audio 116,  4 Apr 28 20:07 pcmC0D3p
crw-rw----+  1 root audio 116, 33 Apr 28 20:07 timer