[pulseaudio-discuss] My computer thinks I'm schizophrenic, is PA for me?

[Tanu Kaskinen]

On Sat, 2010-04-17 at 16:42 +0200, Jan Braun wrote:
> Hmm, why not? I've set up PA as you describe (except for the additional
> auth-group parameter), and PA is creating entries in /dev/shm , even for
> other users than "albert".

Oh, maybe shm does work? I assumed that the logic was that only
connections from the same user could use shm, but maybe the logic is
that shm is forcibly disabled only in the system wide mode.

> Yep, this is exactly what I was looking for. "not perfecly" because
> consolekit may be confused about whether albert should be considered
> logged in, I guess? Hmm, I'll see...

Pulseaudio suspends the access to the sound card when it detects that it
doesn't have access to it anymore (this feature doesn't directly use
consolekit, but consolekit is still a requirement for this to actually
work). When albert is in the audio group, it never loses access rights
to the sound card, so if albert plays something while another user logs
in, the logged in user can't use the sound card. Don't log in with any
of your alter egos simultaneously with other people, and you should be
fine.

> Yes, and just what I wanted. But the behaviour of new users can be
> easily adjusted by modifying /etc/pulse/client.conf .
> So how exactly is this better than system mode? Or isn't it?
> I'm confused.

I rely on http://pulseaudio.org/wiki/WhatIsWrongWithSystemMode for
judging this:

 * Most of the security issues are not so relevant, because only you can
access pulseaudio when you're logged in (although, the security concerns
probably have some relevance, because if I understood correctly, you
don't fully trust all your alter egos).
 * Module loading is allowed (it can be allowed for system wide mode too
with configuration, though)
 * Apparently you are able to use shm.
 * In case you add other people at some point to your system, your
personal settings stay separated.
 * Consolekit integration works to some extent.
 * Bridging to jack and rygel may also work (I'm not sure, though).

-- 
Tanu Kaskinen