[pulseaudio-discuss] ubuntu usb "desktop-server" with single user and constant audio feed from mpd

[Martin Hamant]

Hi there,

I need to setup a server that permanently plays audio by mpd thru 
pulseaudio. With or without X/gnome started. Means pulseaudio and mpd 
should start before the graphical part.
There will be only one unique user on this box.

using Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, pulseaudio daemon starts thanks to the 
auto-spawn feature, when a gnome user logs in -  the issue is,  if I 
start mpd (or any software that use pulseaudio) before gnome, it'll 
spawn a pulseaudio daemon that belongs to the mpd user. So I get two 
pulseaudio instances: one which belongs to mpd, the other to my unique 
system user... But here I need my system user to "supervise" volumes and 
pulseaudio properties for the whole system !

if I delay mpd startup (by modifying init.d script....), all's going 
well - as it connects to the existing pulseaudio instance. But I don't 
feel good about that  "strap".

In a common usage you won't really notice what I describe here, but as I 
am running this ubuntu from a USB stick, there is a period of time 
before gnome starts where any program that use pulseaudio will start its 
own instance.

Of course the solution that comes in mind is System Mode. Not good.
Second: delays => not good
So... What is the best pratice to do that ? Is running mpd as the user 
which runs the gnome session is a working /or good solution ?

Thanks !!