PulseAudio - A great sound server

PulseAudio is the fedora’s default sound server…

I installed it today on my arch and i have to say that it’s great!!!

Finally i can manage my different audio sources… without searching the program that is busying my sound card… and finally i can manage volumes… as in this screenshot:

For the other (very interesting) features:

Links

• About PulseAudio
• Main Site
• ArchWiki PulseAudio
• Module’s Page

ArchLinux Installation:

Simply following ArchWiki’s instruction you’ll be able to get PulseAudio working.

I’ll only write a few tips for some errors that cause me problems about starting PulseAudio.

1. Avahi-daemon (PulseAudio Device Chooser opening problem)

• avahi-daemon[6241]: cap_set_proc() failed: Operation not permitted

This is the error that was located in /var/log/errors.log and that gave me problem for starting avahi-daemon. This is related to a section related to security options in the kernel.

First of all we’ve to rebuilt our kernel with “Security Options —-> Enable different security models —-> Default Linux capabilities” and “Socket and networking security hooks” that is in the same option… both enabled.

Then we’ve to put avahi-daemon after dbus in /etc/rc.conf and restart.

2. Pulseaudio Error

I think this is written also in the ArchWiki but i’ll talk about it the same:

• an error about “main.c”

Simply go to /etc/pulse/default.pa and comment .fail

• sudo nano /etc/pulse/default.pa
• put ‘#’ next to .fail —–> #.fail
• put ‘#’ next to load-module module-x11-publish —>#load-module module-x11-publish

3. Alsa-plugins update causes pulseaudio stop working (BUG TASK)

After updating to alsa-plugins 1.0.16-1 I can listen no sounds with every player… amarok… mplayer… just everything.

The problem is a compatibility error between alsa-lib @ 1.0.15-1 and alsa-plugins @ 1.0.16-1

Waiting for an official solution… to get pulseaudio working back… we’ve just to update alsa-lib to 1.0.16-1.

Here is a PKGBUILD for alsa-lib with no arch patches based on the official one.

#PKGBUILD BEGIN

pkgname=alsa-lib
pkgver=1.0.16
pkgrel=1
pkgdesc=”An alternative implementation of Linux sound support”
arch=(i686 x86_64)
url=”http://www.alsa-project.org”
depends=(’glibc’)
makedepends=(’python’)
license=(’GPL’)
options=(!libtool)
source=(ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/lib/$pkgname-1.0.16.tar.bz2)

build() {
cd $startdir/src/$pkgname-$pkgver
./configure –prefix=/usr
make || return 1
make DESTDIR=$startdir/pkg install
}

# PKGBUILD END

Just create a new file called PKGBUILD in a folder and paste it…

Open a terminal and type makepkg -i

Done! :)

4. Libtool update to 2.2-2 problem

To fix this problem we’ve to install pulseaudio from svn

• Get the PKGBUILD from here
• extract it to a folder
• cd to the folder
• makepkg -si
• sudo nano /etc/group
• add your user to pulse and pulse-access groups
• sudo nano /etc/pulse/default.pa
• put ‘#’ next to .fail —–> #.fail
• logout
• login
• sudo /etc/rc.d/pulseaudio restart

Done ;)

PS. Don’t forget to add your user to pulse-access group in /etc/group

If you have some tips for pulseaudio just comment… and i’ll update post :)

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