[pulseaudio-tickets] [PulseAudio] #285: Pulse ALSA Plugin (libasound2-plugins) and SDL

[PulseAudio]

#285: Pulse ALSA Plugin (libasound2-plugins) and SDL
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 Reporter:  zman0900            |       Owner:  ossman
     Type:  defect              |      Status:  new   
 Priority:  high                |   Milestone:        
Component:  alsa-plugins-pulse  |    Severity:  major 
 Keywords:                      |  
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 I am noticing some strange behavior when I try to play audio from SDL
 programs through ALSA.  I have the ALSA plugins installed for Pulse
 (libasound2-plugins), and I have configured my /etc/asound.conf file
 properly to redirect ALSA through Pulse.  I have tested this by playing
 music through Amarok while its output is set to Pulse audio and then
 playing the test tone from System>Preferences>Sound while it is set to
 ALSA.  This worked, and it also worked reversed with Amarok on ALSA and
 the other on Pulse.

 The problem I am having is when I try to run a game that uses SDL while
 SDL_AUDIODRIVER=alsa, the sound quickly stops, and the game locks up on
 exit, forcing me to restart X and kill the game process.  The only way I
 am able to get these games to work properly through Pulse is to use
 SDL_AUDIODRIVE=dsp and run the game with padsp.  It will also work with
 the esd driver, but this inserts about 1 second of lag (maybe another
 bug?).  I have seen this behavior in several SDL games including but not
 limited to: Neverputt, Urban Terror, World of Padman.

 I have also noticed similar, but less severe behavior in Supertux2, which
 I believe uses ALSA, but is not an SDL game, so this may be related.

 I believe this is a rather important bug to fix because the alsa plugin
 provides a very useful functionality to Pulse that needs to work as well
 as possible before Pulse is an attractive option to many.

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Ticket URL: <http://www.pulseaudio.org/ticket/285>
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